HMAS Success (OR 304) - Construction

Construction

Seeing a need to replace the ageing oiler HMAS Supply, the RAN placed an order in 1971 for a combat support ship-a replenishment vessel capable of supplying ammunition and stores in addition to fuel-to be named HMAS Protector. However, concerns about the cost of construction prompted the order's cancellation in 1974. Instead, the Directions Techniques Des Constructions Naval was approached about constructing a Durance class replenishment oiler for the RAN, and a design contract was awarded to the Government of France in 1977. The $68.4 million (in 1978 prices) construction contract was awarded to Vickers Cockatoo Dockyard in October 1979, with ship delivery by 31 July 1983.

Success was laid down by Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, New South Wales on 9 August 1980. She was launched on 3 May 1984, and commissioned into the RAN on 23 April 1986. Success is the largest ship to ever be built in Australia for the RAN, and is the largest ship to be built in Port Jackson (the port of Sydney). She was also the last major vessel to be constructed at Cockatoo Island Dockyard.

In June 1983 the contract were renegotiated while construction was underway, with the acceptance date being extended by three years and the project cost increased to $187.3 million. The cost and time overruns was primarily due to protracted dispute between the Commonwealth and the builder over the drawings and specifications received from France, with evidence that the Department of Defence underestimated the extent of the differences between the original Australian building specifications and those supplied. Additional factors in the time and cost increases were a lack of tradesmen skilled in naval construction, overly bureaucratic management, and low labour productivity. The final project cost was estimated at $197.41 million; the dramatic increase in cost prevented the construction of a planned second ship.