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The Flood - Episode 4: The Fallout · The Front

0:04
Speaker 1: Hi, it's Claire from the Front. We're bringing you a
0:07
Speaker 1: new mini series from The Australian called The Flood, and
0:10
Speaker 1: this is episode four. The series is hosted by Chief
0:14
Speaker 1: International Correspondent Cameron Stewart and created by Cam with me
0:18
Speaker 1: and our audio lead Jasper Leik, plus all of us
0:21
Speaker 1: here at The Australian. It tells the incredible true story
0:25
Speaker 1: of how sixty Australian sub mariners saved their own lives
0:29
Speaker 1: and their boat. The Flood is a truly inspirational story
0:32
Speaker 1: of human courage, resilience, teamwork and ingenuity. You can follow
0:37
Speaker 1: the show by searching The Flood wherever you listen and
0:40
Speaker 1: going to the floodpodcast dot com, where you can also
0:44
Speaker 1: watch it as a video. The Flood is brought to
0:55
Speaker 1: you by the Australian War Memorial. Some stories define a nation,
1:00
Speaker 1: others reveal what it means to be human. Through Their
1:03
Speaker 1: Eyes is a new podcast from the Australian War Memorial
1:06
Speaker 1: that uncovers powerful human stories, revealing war through unexpected perspectives
1:12
Speaker 1: and immersive storytelling. Through Their Eyes will be live soon
1:15
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.
1:23
Speaker 2: I wrung my wife and said, we've had a bit
1:25
Speaker 2: of a misshoe. Can you come and pick me up
1:28
Speaker 2: and pick up some cigarettes? Whine got wet.
1:40
Speaker 3: I'm Cameron Stewart and this is the fourth and final
1:43
Speaker 3: episode of the flood, the fallout. The shadow was back
1:48
Speaker 3: on the surface, but Peter Scott and his crew were
1:52
Speaker 3: still a long way from dry land.
1:55
Speaker 4: We didn't know the state about hydraulic systems, electrical systems.
1:59
Speaker 5: We didn't know how much war we had on the boat.
2:01
Speaker 4: We didn't know what casualties we'd suffered them therefore, you know,
2:04
Speaker 4: what expertise we'd lost and so on. We didn't know
2:08
Speaker 4: probably at that point whether there'd been other issues, like,
2:11
Speaker 4: you know, had fire started or whatever. So once we
2:15
Speaker 4: were on the roof, a really serious damage control battle
2:20
Speaker 4: kind of began.
2:21
Speaker 2: It was the long trens at back. I can remember
2:23
Speaker 2: that because we were severely speed restricted because of the
2:26
Speaker 2: damage that had been done to the main mater cooling gear.
2:30
Speaker 2: There was a lot of work going on to try
2:32
Speaker 2: and get systems back up to get us home safe,
2:34
Speaker 2: and that was obviously carried out. But that time coming
2:39
Speaker 2: back in was I guess, just the time to reflect
2:44
Speaker 2: and come to groups with what had just happened.
2:48
Speaker 3: Jordie Buntzing had more to reflect on the most. He
2:51
Speaker 3: lost a round of rock paper scissors, nearly drowned in
2:54
Speaker 3: the lower major room, and soakedy cigarettes. For the next
2:57
Speaker 3: six hours, the submarine chugged to the naval based HMAS
3:02
Speaker 3: Sterling near Perth Top Brass, led by Commodore Mike Diggs,
3:06
Speaker 3: commander of the Australian Submarine Group, that scrambled an emergency response.
3:11
Speaker 6: I can recall it very clearly. We set the wills
3:13
Speaker 6: in motion to provide the support for the submarine, so
3:17
Speaker 6: that included some medical support, HR support, psychological people on standby,
3:23
Speaker 6: as well as engineering support. Obviously we needed to find
3:27
Speaker 6: out what the problem was and make sure the submarine
3:29
Speaker 6: was saved.
3:30
Speaker 4: It was a tremendous relief to get back alongside and
3:36
Speaker 4: great to see a guy like Mike Dieks, who I've
3:39
Speaker 4: known from my very.
3:41
Speaker 7: First days in the Navy.
3:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it was just really good to see your
3:48
Speaker 4: boss there and know that you've sort of got yourself
3:51
Speaker 4: through that.
3:52
Speaker 6: I was on the wharf when Dashana arrived back alongside,
3:56
Speaker 6: and I was the first person at Peter Scott spoke
4:00
Speaker 6: to when he came off the submarine on arrival. My
4:04
Speaker 6: emotions were a degree of thankfulness and relief, but also
4:08
Speaker 6: of pride. Peter is a very matter of fact sort
4:12
Speaker 6: of person and a very calm person, and that shone
4:16
Speaker 6: through on that occasion, and he, probably without any intention,
4:22
Speaker 6: underplayed the seriousness of the event. As I got more
4:25
Speaker 6: information about it, I realized exactly how serious it was.
4:28
Speaker 3: The Navy had to urgently find out what went wrong
4:30
Speaker 3: with Dushana and ensure the problem didn't extend to the
4:33
Speaker 3: other Colins class submarines. It immediately recalled all submarines to
4:38
Speaker 3: port and reduced the deep diving depth, therefore reducing the
4:41
Speaker 3: pressure on the seawater hoses until the accident could be investigated.
4:45
Speaker 4: In the immediate aftermath, they just recalled the submarines because
4:49
Speaker 4: we didn't understand what had happened. We didn't know what
4:51
Speaker 4: risk the other boats might have been exposed to, and
4:54
Speaker 4: so on. It was probably within a week that they
4:56
Speaker 4: were released to sail again when we understood the recourse
5:00
Speaker 4: the problem.
5:02
Speaker 3: Investigators put the seawater hoses through rigorous pressure tests, much
5:06
Speaker 3: more intense than the Colon submarine's deep diving depth, but
5:09
Speaker 3: couldn't find any fault to explain the flood months dragged
5:13
Speaker 3: into several years with no answers, and the Navy had
5:16
Speaker 3: no choice but to maintain a reduced deep diving depth
5:19
Speaker 3: for many years. This cantailed their potency because submarines are
5:23
Speaker 3: easier to detect and have more limited options for attack
5:26
Speaker 3: if they are subject to depth restrictions. Since World War One,
5:30
Speaker 3: submarines have been a critical part of warfare with their
5:33
Speaker 3: ability to sneak up on hostile forces and destroy them.
5:37
Speaker 3: In World War Two, U boat fleets of the Germans
5:40
Speaker 3: and the Allies played a critical role in the war's outcome.
5:43
Speaker 4: The Commander in chief at fleet moments, they should have
5:46
Speaker 4: brief given a came from Pearl Harbor.
5:48
Speaker 5: He has to do afternoon.
5:49
Speaker 3: I don't think that the theft of a large and Japanese.
5:54
Speaker 3: Today there are two types of submarines. Attack submarines which
5:58
Speaker 3: hunt and destroy enemy submarines and server ships gather intelligence
6:02
Speaker 3: and launch tactical cruise missiles. Then there are the larger
6:06
Speaker 3: ballistic missile submarines operated by nuclear weapons states. These sophisticated
6:11
Speaker 3: submarines are armed with nuclear weapons and roam the world's
6:14
Speaker 3: oceans twenty four to seven, creating a permanent nuclear deterrent,
6:18
Speaker 3: which allows the nation to hit back through these submarines
6:21
Speaker 3: if it's ever subjected to a nuclear attack. The Colins
6:25
Speaker 3: class submarines, which Australia operates, are attack submarines. As an
6:29
Speaker 3: either nation, they are considered a most formidable defense capability.
6:35
Speaker 3: Here's Peter Scott.
6:36
Speaker 7: The failure was basically a flexible hose.
6:41
Speaker 4: One of the things about submarines is you want to
6:43
Speaker 4: be out there and you want to be as quiet
6:44
Speaker 4: as you possibly can. You do need to operate a
6:47
Speaker 4: lot of machinery on board, so you want to isolate
6:49
Speaker 4: that machinery from the hull so that the noise from
6:52
Speaker 4: the machinery doesn't vibrate out into the ocean. One of
6:55
Speaker 4: the ways that we do that is rather than connecting
7:00
Speaker 4: hard pipes from the system to the whole, there's pressure
7:03
Speaker 4: rated flexible hoses and they just create that sort of
7:07
Speaker 4: acoustic barrier between the machinery and the whole. So these
7:10
Speaker 4: are tested to all sorts of pressures and there are
7:14
Speaker 4: hundreds of them on board the submarines. This one failed
7:18
Speaker 4: and eventually the investigations found that it was a manufacturing defect.
7:24
Speaker 6: Mike Dix again, the nature of the pressure on those
7:27
Speaker 6: hoses were somewhat different to what they were designed for,
7:31
Speaker 6: if I recall correctly.
7:32
Speaker 5: In other words, the constant.
7:34
Speaker 6: Pressure versus pulse pressures may have caused the hose to
7:38
Speaker 6: fail because there hadn't been properly designed for the situation
7:42
Speaker 6: that found itself.
7:42
Speaker 3: In the Other dilemma was what to tell the media.
7:46
Speaker 6: The clowns class had had a lot of bad press.
7:48
Speaker 6: We didn't need any more, but we needed to really
7:52
Speaker 6: draw out the positives out of this situation.
7:56
Speaker 4: Maybe probably didn't have a whole lot of tolerance for
7:58
Speaker 4: the media at that time, To be honest, there wasn't
8:00
Speaker 4: much more to be said, so I think within probably
8:03
Speaker 4: a week or two, the Navy probably shut down on
8:06
Speaker 4: it again and said, we've told you what we can
8:08
Speaker 4: tell you.
8:08
Speaker 7: That's all there is to it.
8:10
Speaker 3: Do you think they played it down to a degree
8:12
Speaker 3: because of a circumstance.
8:18
Speaker 4: So the Navy would not have played it up, because
8:23
Speaker 4: there's nothing to be gained by playing it up. My
8:30
Speaker 4: sense is they would have played it with a pretty
8:32
Speaker 4: straight bat.
8:34
Speaker 3: The Navy did not completely cover up the flood on d. Shane,
8:37
Speaker 3: but it did all that it could to ensure that
8:39
Speaker 3: the real story was not told. Four days after the flood,
8:43
Speaker 3: the Navy stated merely that a number of tons of
8:46
Speaker 3: water had entered the submarine after a host failed, but
8:49
Speaker 3: it made no mention of deep diving depth a critical factor,
8:53
Speaker 3: and it did not say how close the submarine came
8:57
Speaker 3: to being lost as a result. Within a tent for
9:00
Speaker 3: our news cycle, the story had all but banished. Meanwhile,
9:04
Speaker 3: the Navy had the cruise word there to think of.
9:08
Speaker 6: You know, you hear very often nowadays about PTSD. Well,
9:11
Speaker 6: that was certainly we're aware of that at those times,
9:13
Speaker 6: and we needed to look after the crew both immediately
9:16
Speaker 6: after the incident itself, but then follow up in the
9:20
Speaker 6: weeks and months to come. Sometimes these things take a
9:22
Speaker 6: while to reveal themselves.
9:24
Speaker 3: Jeordie Bunting.
9:25
Speaker 2: Again, there was advice and psychology advice that was offered,
9:32
Speaker 2: but I was a blog and we don't do that.
9:35
Speaker 2: We just get on the part of me says how
9:40
Speaker 2: do I have taken those opportunities up?
9:42
Speaker 5: Then it.
9:44
Speaker 2: Might have changed things. But down the track I did
9:47
Speaker 2: seek help. I was broken and.
9:48
Speaker 4: It worked organizationally. I knew that different people would need
9:54
Speaker 4: different kinds of support, you know, depending on what their
9:57
Speaker 4: experience had been on the day.
9:58
Speaker 7: I think we probably asked it. I ran to sit
10:00
Speaker 7: down with a psychologist at some stage.
10:03
Speaker 4: Through those next several weeks, there was kind of barely
10:06
Speaker 4: a moment when some of that wasn't playing out in
10:09
Speaker 4: my head, and I think that's just you know, your
10:13
Speaker 4: body and your brain still trying to comprehend what's happened
10:16
Speaker 4: and place it somewhere.
10:18
Speaker 7: I know that.
10:21
Speaker 4: Certainly for the first couple of weeks afterwards, I'd go
10:25
Speaker 4: to bed at night and just find myself just lying
10:32
Speaker 4: as still and quiet as I.
10:34
Speaker 7: Could, while I was sort of really liiving some of
10:38
Speaker 7: this stuff, and.
10:42
Speaker 5: I was kind of most determined not to.
10:48
Speaker 4: You know, Sean and my wife, she's been around sumarines
10:51
Speaker 4: as long as I have, right so, but what I
10:54
Speaker 4: didn't want to do was sort of betray to her
10:57
Speaker 4: the full sense of the trauma that we'd we've been through,
11:01
Speaker 4: because I knew we had to go back to sea,
11:03
Speaker 4: and I didn't want to add two her concern while
11:10
Speaker 4: we were away for another three months, totally out of
11:13
Speaker 4: contact as you are for weeks and weeks on end.
11:17
Speaker 3: To the amazement of the Navy's top rast despite the
11:19
Speaker 3: traumatic experience of the Deschena's crew. Every one of them
11:23
Speaker 3: reported back for duty just two weeks after the flood
11:26
Speaker 3: to go back to see.
11:28
Speaker 2: We were part of a crew that wanted to get
11:30
Speaker 2: back to doing what we were doing. If anything had
11:33
Speaker 2: brought the crew together.
11:36
Speaker 4: Trauma aside, they actually came away with a much renewed
11:41
Speaker 4: and maybe even reinvigorated sense of confidence in themselves, what
11:46
Speaker 4: they were able to do, what they're training had given
11:49
Speaker 4: them on the day, and in their butt.
11:52
Speaker 7: To a degree, it was what I expected.
12:00
Speaker 4: But I know how hard it was to get my
12:05
Speaker 4: own ass back on that submarine, so I don't imagine
12:11
Speaker 4: it was any easier for the others. So you know,
12:16
Speaker 4: a lot of a lot of respect for those people.
12:21
Speaker 3: For some crew members, like Jordie Bunting, the trauma of
12:24
Speaker 3: the flood had the delayed impact. It created demons which
12:28
Speaker 3: came back to haunt them months and even years later.
12:34
Speaker 3: Do you think about it much?
12:36
Speaker 5: It's in your mind every day every day.
12:40
Speaker 2: You know, my wife sleeps beside me at night and
12:43
Speaker 2: knows I have nightmares.
12:44
Speaker 5: It's nights a better.
12:48
Speaker 6: YEA.
12:48
Speaker 2: What do you do? You either get on the horse
12:51
Speaker 2: and get going, or you let it rule your life,
12:54
Speaker 2: and it certainly changed my life, but it's not going
12:56
Speaker 2: to own me. It changed my life, for we're in
13:00
Speaker 2: the blink of an eye, and it's not only for me,
13:02
Speaker 2: I guess for the whole crew. We've been through an
13:05
Speaker 2: experience which was near death. My appreciation of people have
13:11
Speaker 2: certainly changed, and being very conscious of those around you
13:16
Speaker 2: that if you treat them with respect, they may well
13:19
Speaker 2: save your life. And that's dear to me. I carry
13:24
Speaker 2: that ethos from a civilian life now in the second
13:27
Speaker 2: career that I've got very very risk adverse Now I
13:33
Speaker 2: don't take risks a lot more calculating it certainly led
13:41
Speaker 2: to mental health issues. No, I don't holde behind that,
13:46
Speaker 2: but now look, the incident made me the person that
13:49
Speaker 2: I am today. Would I do it again?
13:52
Speaker 5: Yeah?
13:53
Speaker 7: Probably.
13:54
Speaker 3: John Ryan was the chief engineer all the crew. John
13:58
Speaker 3: that I've spoken to just describe it as a terrifying
14:01
Speaker 3: experience on a scale of one to ten. Where would
14:05
Speaker 3: you rank it.
14:08
Speaker 5: Enough?
14:12
Speaker 8: Why, it's pretty much as close as you ever want
14:16
Speaker 8: to come to death.
14:19
Speaker 3: Melanie Elton was a SINA operator.
14:23
Speaker 9: I've had definitely a lifelong effect. Definitely, anxiety is probably
14:30
Speaker 9: my worst is I don't have any confidence in myself.
14:33
Speaker 9: I don't want any jobs or responsibility. I seem to
14:36
Speaker 9: be staring away from them. Now now the job changed
14:39
Speaker 9: I'm going to do. I mean, it's even less stressful.
14:47
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14:52
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14:54
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14:57
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Speaker 1: deeply human stories drawn from the AWMS vast collections, galleries
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Speaker 1: and expert insights. Through unexpected perspectives and immersive storytelling, each
15:10
Speaker 1: episode brings history to life in a way that's personal,
15:14
Speaker 1: moving and relevant today. Discover the stories behind our history.
15:19
Speaker 1: Listen to Through Their Eyes soon wherever you get your podcasts.
15:26
Speaker 3: Two years after the flood in two thousand and five,
15:29
Speaker 3: I was having a beer with a defense contact when
15:31
Speaker 3: he whispered, have you heard the rumor that the Navy
15:34
Speaker 3: almost lost a submarine a few years ago? I wondered
15:37
Speaker 3: if he was referring to the small story about the
15:40
Speaker 3: broken hose and the Dashano two years earlier. As luck
15:43
Speaker 3: would have it, I still had the contact details for
15:45
Speaker 3: many of the Dashano crew, because I'd spent forty eight
15:48
Speaker 3: hours on board that same submarine just months before the incident.
15:53
Speaker 3: I avoided the giant defense media machine, which I knew
15:55
Speaker 3: would try to shut down the story, so I directly
15:58
Speaker 3: contacted many of the crew members I had sailed with.
16:01
Speaker 3: To my surprise, most of them were willing to brave
16:04
Speaker 3: the wrath of defense pr to tell me their story.
16:07
Speaker 3: But I didn't get the one interview I needed until now.
16:12
Speaker 4: Cameron on Commodore Peter Scott retired from full time service
16:16
Speaker 4: in the ro all Australian Navy.
16:18
Speaker 3: After commander of the Dusheno, Scott was promoted to Commodore
16:22
Speaker 3: and became commander of the Australian Submarine Group, before serving
16:25
Speaker 3: in Iraq, the Persian Gulf in Afghanistan. Even in twenty
16:29
Speaker 3: twenty three, when Scott wrote a memoir called Running Deep,
16:33
Speaker 3: he only touched lightly on the flood, devoting six pages
16:36
Speaker 3: out of two hundred and sixty five to that dramatic day.
16:40
Speaker 3: But in his foreword to Scott's memoir, the then Governor
16:43
Speaker 3: General David Hurley did not ignore those six pages. Hurley
16:48
Speaker 3: described the flood as an extraordinary story of terror, bravery,
16:52
Speaker 3: leadership and team response during a major life threatening emergency
16:56
Speaker 3: at sea. So in early twenty twenty six, I asked
16:59
Speaker 3: petersk Got to finally give me the interview I'd saught
17:02
Speaker 3: for twenty one years.
17:06
Speaker 4: When we sit here like this and you ask me
17:08
Speaker 4: questions about it's pretty bloody heart sometimes to go back
17:10
Speaker 4: to it, But I think it's had a different impact
17:14
Speaker 4: at different times. I think fundamentally professionally, it's been a
17:18
Speaker 4: solid and positive.
17:21
Speaker 7: Impact for the crew.
17:22
Speaker 4: It really was a binding, solidifying piece of professional justification
17:30
Speaker 4: and experience and they.
17:31
Speaker 5: Went on to do remarkable work.
17:35
Speaker 7: For myself, i'd say it was.
17:38
Speaker 4: It would be present more often than it needed to be,
17:42
Speaker 4: But of course it sits alongside a number of other
17:46
Speaker 4: life threatening situations that I've been through in a thirty
17:49
Speaker 4: four year service career, which included time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
17:54
Speaker 4: There were a couple of times when I went off
17:57
Speaker 4: to seek the support of psychologists. Once over a period
18:05
Speaker 4: immediately before I was promoted to Commodore, when I was
18:08
Speaker 4: going to be head of the Summarine n't and I
18:10
Speaker 4: just wanted to sort of get a level on some
18:13
Speaker 4: of the stress and anxiety that I.
18:16
Speaker 7: Was living with I was worried that some of this
18:19
Speaker 7: stuff might come back and bite me on the bum
18:22
Speaker 7: down track.
18:23
Speaker 3: Both Peter Scott and former submarine commander Mike Dix adamant
18:27
Speaker 3: that the floodies are more of the good news story
18:29
Speaker 3: than bad.
18:31
Speaker 6: It was quite a remarkable set of circumstances. I've got
18:34
Speaker 6: no doubt that at the time of the incident there
18:37
Speaker 6: were some people that were very shaken up by it.
18:39
Speaker 6: But being a sub mariner operating in the environment which
18:43
Speaker 6: we do, comes with some inherent risks. But it was
18:47
Speaker 6: a great example of the camaraderie and the sense of
18:51
Speaker 6: even though you're in a very difficult situation, that they
18:54
Speaker 6: are actually in control of that situation, and the things
18:57
Speaker 6: that they did at the time were entirely appropriate to
19:00
Speaker 6: bring that submarine safety to the service.
19:02
Speaker 3: The Colins class submarines have certainly been tested, but as
19:06
Speaker 3: they approach the end of their operational lives, the boats
19:08
Speaker 3: have been a success.
19:10
Speaker 6: They've done some outstanding work in support of government objectives
19:14
Speaker 6: and Australians should be very very proud of their service.
19:18
Speaker 3: The Colins boats are thirty years old and now they
19:21
Speaker 3: need significant taxpayer investment to keep going until Australia gets
19:25
Speaker 3: its new boats under the Australia America, Britain ORCHEST Deal.
19:29
Speaker 8: Australia, the US and the UK will work together to
19:33
Speaker 8: develop unmanned under sea vehicles as part of the trilateral
19:37
Speaker 8: ORCUS agreements.
19:39
Speaker 3: First we'll get nuclear powered Virginia class submarines from America. Then,
19:43
Speaker 3: together with Britain, will build and sustain our own nuclear
19:46
Speaker 3: powered boats, the Orchist class.
19:48
Speaker 4: The US doesn't usually share this type of technology with
19:51
Speaker 4: US allies, so the fact that Australia is getting it
19:53
Speaker 4: is a massive deal.
19:55
Speaker 3: Will need to grow the workforce of sub mariners from
19:58
Speaker 3: around eight hundred and fifty today to more than three
20:01
Speaker 3: thousand in the next twenty years. So can the Collins
20:04
Speaker 3: boats keep us going? In the meantime, the government's scaling
20:08
Speaker 3: back at spending on Colin's sustatement and maintenance, prompting real
20:12
Speaker 3: fears will end up with a capability gap that is
20:15
Speaker 3: no effective submarine fleet at all for a period of time.
20:20
Speaker 3: Mike Dieck says stories like that of the flood on
20:22
Speaker 3: the Dashano, no matter how terrifying, shouldn't deter would be
20:26
Speaker 3: sub mariners from what he says is an exciting life.
20:30
Speaker 6: If I was a kid in high school now, I'll
20:32
Speaker 6: be getting through my AGC exams my year twelve and
20:35
Speaker 6: then looking to join the navy and become a submarner
20:38
Speaker 6: because I think it would be a really exciting career.
20:41
Speaker 6: I think it is interesting times to have another look
20:45
Speaker 6: at the Dashano and what happened back then. But she's
20:48
Speaker 6: still sailing. The submariners are still doing their work, largely unsung,
20:54
Speaker 6: but playing a very important role in the defense of Australia.
20:58
Speaker 4: The submarine has been for a very long time and
21:03
Speaker 4: will remain the nation's principal strategic deterrent. It's an absolutely
21:10
Speaker 4: critical naval capability critical to the nation's security and prosperity.
21:18
Speaker 7: The offensive and deterrent.
21:20
Speaker 4: Capability and capacity of the submarines we have today and
21:25
Speaker 4: the submarines that we will have in the future is remarkable.
21:28
Speaker 4: It is what demands the respect of regional navies and
21:33
Speaker 4: that's where the real value about submarines lies.
21:37
Speaker 7: So if I had the chance.
21:41
Speaker 4: To be a part of that again, no doubt, I'd
21:48
Speaker 4: absolutely be stepping forward again.
21:52
Speaker 3: Despite their traumatic experience, the Dushana Crue say they would
21:55
Speaker 3: do it all again. Here's John Ryan.
21:58
Speaker 8: I mean the buck did what it was supposed to do.
21:59
Speaker 8: The people did what they were supposed to do. Yeah,
22:03
Speaker 8: I mean submarine is just a lump of steel, but
22:06
Speaker 8: the people in it and the systems that run it perfect.
22:10
Speaker 8: The Colins have got a bad wrap back in the
22:12
Speaker 8: day by a lot of the media. I think a
22:15
Speaker 8: lot of it was unfounded or at least dramatized. Living
22:21
Speaker 8: it and seeing what was reported on were two completely
22:25
Speaker 8: different things. So yeah, if someone's thinking about it, I
22:31
Speaker 8: would definitely give it a go. Great life, great experience,
22:34
Speaker 8: great training, see the world. I shall put me on
22:40
Speaker 8: a poster.
22:44
Speaker 3: Pay for that. And here's Melanie.
22:46
Speaker 9: Eleton that you will never find any job with the
22:51
Speaker 9: same amount of loyalty, family, courage, adventure, not one days
22:59
Speaker 9: the same, the bonding of all your crew like it's
23:03
Speaker 9: so worth it. I was a shy girl, got picked
23:05
Speaker 9: on for having red hair at school, and then I've
23:07
Speaker 9: got up to being a leading seaman on a submarine
23:10
Speaker 9: running a sign I watch so anyone can do it.
23:15
Speaker 10: And Greg Sullivan thinking about the flood every now and again,
23:19
Speaker 10: I think probably affects me more. If I'm telling someone
23:22
Speaker 10: the story and going through the events, I get a
23:25
Speaker 10: bit of a shitter, but I mean, in the end,
23:29
Speaker 10: everyone on the boat did a great job and I
23:33
Speaker 10: think that's why it all turned out. In the end.
23:35
Speaker 10: I think everyone on the boat should be proud of
23:39
Speaker 10: everything that we all did on that day.
23:43
Speaker 3: In two thousand and six, Greg Sullivan, who saved Jordie
23:45
Speaker 3: Bunting's life by lifting him out of the flooded live
23:48
Speaker 3: motor room of the Dushina, was quiet the award of
23:50
Speaker 3: the Bravery Medal by the then Governor General, Major General
23:54
Speaker 3: Michael Jeffrey. His citation reads, mister Sullivan was on duty
23:58
Speaker 3: in another compartment of the submarine when he heard a
24:00
Speaker 3: loud bang and ran to investigate. He found that there
24:03
Speaker 3: was a serious flood in the lower motor room and
24:06
Speaker 3: that the crew member was pinned beneath the exit ladder
24:09
Speaker 3: by the force of the flood. Despite the danger, he
24:12
Speaker 3: assisted in reaching through a small access hatch into the
24:16
Speaker 3: rapidly flooding space and pulled the shocked and disoriented crew
24:19
Speaker 3: member to safety, regardless of the risk of electrocution. Mister
24:24
Speaker 3: Sullivan then stayed to assist in damage control operations. By
24:28
Speaker 3: his action, mister Sullivan displayed considerable bravery by his Excellency's command,
24:34
Speaker 3: signed Michael Jeffrey. The crew of the Dushana of Long
24:39
Speaker 3: parted scattered to Walll corners of Australia and even overseas.
24:43
Speaker 3: A few are still in the Navy, but most are
24:45
Speaker 3: out pursuing new careers or retired. Many of the crew
24:49
Speaker 3: now have adult children and even grandchildren, a new generation
24:53
Speaker 3: that came within twenty seconds of never existing. Some of
24:58
Speaker 3: the Dashano crew are still in touch. Those that are
25:01
Speaker 3: say that the shared experience of the flood binds them
25:03
Speaker 3: together forever. Do you think in a strange way that
25:09
Speaker 3: terrifying experience was a binding experience for the crew?
25:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yeah, they called being to brothers or being of
25:16
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters, then they are awesome.
25:20
Speaker 3: But for those who are on board the the shame
25:22
Speaker 3: of that day, the memory of the flood is always
25:24
Speaker 3: there in some form. Peter Scott is adamant that the
25:28
Speaker 3: survival of the submarine on that day was due to
25:30
Speaker 3: his crew rather than himself.
25:33
Speaker 4: I definitely think I've had my fair share of both
25:36
Speaker 4: adventure and misadventure. I spent a lot of time in submarines,
25:40
Speaker 4: so I had some really difficult days.
25:42
Speaker 5: But Thankfully I was trained.
25:44
Speaker 7: And prepared and equipped to deal with.
25:46
Speaker 4: Those and I was with the right people on those days,
25:50
Speaker 4: and they were trained and prepared and equipped to deal
25:52
Speaker 4: with those difficult days as well. And those days are memorable,
25:58
Speaker 4: but they're not the important days, the important days of
26:01
Speaker 4: the days when you're out there having a strategic effect
26:05
Speaker 4: for the nation.
26:06
Speaker 7: So I left the Navy.
26:08
Speaker 4: I spent a lot of time and did a lot
26:10
Speaker 4: of work in the months after I left that job,
26:14
Speaker 4: finding the right ways to reprocess some of those memories.
26:19
Speaker 7: And today it's a part of my life.
26:22
Speaker 4: It's an experience I went through. Most of the time,
26:27
Speaker 4: it doesn't occur to me.
26:29
Speaker 3: For Jordie Bunting, whose will was turned upside down by
26:32
Speaker 3: his near death experience on the Dushano, life still has
26:35
Speaker 3: its challenges, but he says he has no regrets about
26:38
Speaker 3: his time in the Navy.
26:40
Speaker 7: I loved it.
26:42
Speaker 2: I was proud, I was proud to serve, I was
26:45
Speaker 2: proud to be a submarland and I wouldn't change a thing.
26:52
Speaker 3: When he looks back on that faithful day on the Duschano,
26:54
Speaker 3: he says, there are three people he owes his life to.
26:57
Speaker 3: The first are his two crewmates, Greg Sullivan and Michael
27:01
Speaker 3: Morris who ran towards the flood and risked their lives
27:04
Speaker 3: to save him as he was drowning.
27:06
Speaker 2: If I hadn't a true to them with respect, would
27:09
Speaker 2: they have come back and got me? That's a question
27:12
Speaker 2: I'll never know. I'll never know.
27:17
Speaker 3: But there is another person, he says he wants to
27:19
Speaker 3: thank again after all these years, not just for himself,
27:22
Speaker 3: but on behalf of the fifty four men and six
27:25
Speaker 3: women who made it back to Perth against the odds.
27:29
Speaker 2: Cool, calm and calculated Commander Scott. At the time, I
27:36
Speaker 2: had the utmost trust in his crew, and the crew
27:41
Speaker 2: had the utmost trust in Commander Scott. He was a
27:46
Speaker 2: genuine person who was endearing to his crew. He knew
27:50
Speaker 2: what he wanted out of him, and the crew weren't
27:52
Speaker 2: scared to give him what he wanted. He was just
27:57
Speaker 2: an absolute gentleman.
28:00
Speaker 3: What do you say to him today?
28:02
Speaker 2: Thanks for bringing us on.
28:11
Speaker 1: Visus episode four of our four part series, which the
28:14
Speaker 1: Australian subscribers here first at the floodpodcast dot com and
28:19
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. If you haven't seen our beautiful documentary video
28:24
Speaker 1: all Red Cameron Stories, go to The floodpodcast dot com.
28:33
Speaker 1: The Flood is an audio and video investigation for The
28:36
Speaker 1: Australian by Cameron Stewart, Executive producer Claire Harvey and editor
28:40
Speaker 1: Jasper Leiku. You can watch the video right now at
28:44
Speaker 1: the floodpodcast dot com. Our theme is composed by jasperlik
28:49
Speaker 1: cinematography is by Andy Taylor and video editing by Lachlan Clear.
28:53
Speaker 1: Additional footage was shot by Luke Geldard and Peter Aqualina.
28:57
Speaker 1: Our graphics are by Sean Callanan and animations by Franklin.
29:02
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Kristin Amiot, Ryan Elfin, the Australian National
29:06
Speaker 1: Maritime Museum and the Australian War Memorial. Captured, Imprisoned, Determined
29:19
Speaker 1: to Survive through first hand accounts from the Australian War
29:22
Speaker 1: Memorial's archives. Through Their Eyes reveals what it meant to
29:26
Speaker 1: endure captivity, maintain hope and survive against the odds. Listen
29:32
Speaker 1: to Through Their Eyes wherever you get your podcasts