Construction
Waller was laid down by Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) on 7 February 1992, launched on 14 March 1997, and commissioned into the RAN on 10 July 1999.
During sea trials, the number of problems and defects with Waller were significantly fewer that with the previous two submarines, indicating that problems with earlier submarines were being fixed in the latter boats during construction.
Despite this, the RAN initially refused to accept Waller into service until all defects in the submarine were repaired, unlike Collins and Farncomb, which had been provisionally accepted while defects were fixed. Although ASC believed that all problems with Waller had been rectified, the Defence Acquisition Organisation refused to accept the boat. In response, ASC began to charge the Australian Government A$100,000 a day over contract for the delays. Despite legal opinion being that ASC did not have the right to make that claim, the Government eventually paid half of what was claimed.
Waller was named for Captain Hector Waller, who commandeed the five-ship 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' from 1940 to 1941, then commanded the cruiser HMAS Perth until his death and the ship's loss on 1 March 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Strait.
Read more about this topic: HMAS Waller (SSG 75)
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