A US nuclear-powered SSN attack-class submarine has been logged for a "maintenance" visit to Australia for the first time later this year.
Until now, all nuclear-powered warship and submarine visits to Australian have been for "goodwill" and supply replenishment.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy confirmed the sub's visit in a statement issued on Tuesday in which he also revealed that more than 20 Royal Australian Navy sailors and officers are currently undertaking training in the US and UK nuclear schools.
"Three Royal Australian Navy Officers have graduated from the US Navy's Submarine Officer Basic Course, ready for their assignment to Virginia class submarines, to serve as division officers," he said.
The increase in visits this year is a precursor to US and UK submarines beginning a rotational presence at HMAS Stirling in WA through an initiative called "Submarine Rotational Force - West" (SRF-West).
The first visit by a nuclear-powered submarine to Australia was USS Halibut II, which berthed in Sydney alongside HMAS Canberra in May 1960.
USS Halibut also was the United States Navy's first nuclear-powered cruise missile-armed submarine.
That visit by the submarine attracted much attention at the time, with several thousand onlookers on the nearby wharves and the Domain area on Sydney Harbour.
According to a report by historian Dr John Nash, the Halibut demonstrated preparations for launch, opening the launch housing, and displaying a Regulus missile - actions which in this era would be greeted with considerable alarm.
Under the new AUKUS arrangement, three Virginia class nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarines will be supplied to the Royal Australian Navy from the early 2030s, with the potential to acquire up to two more if needed.
The submarines will be designated 'SSN-AUKUS', incorporating Australian, UK and US technologies.
Australian steel produced by Bisalloy in Port Kembla has been delivered to US military shipbuilder Newport News as part of the US commitment to Australian construction materials in the AUKUS Pillar 1 program.
In May this year, the RAN marked 110 years since taking delivery of its first submersible vessels, the AE1 and AE2, commanded by Royal Navy officers, with a mixture of British and Australian crew.
Both began active service in the Great War but just months later, in September 1914, the AE1 was lost with its entire complement of 35 crew off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Despite 40 years of searching, the wreck was not discovered until 2017.
The AE2 became the first submersible vessel to successfully run the mine-infested Dardanelles Strait on April 25, 1915, and harassed enemy vessels off the Turkish Coast before taking fire and being scuttled.
In service for the RAN through the years has been the British-designed Odin and Oberon class submarines, and then the Swedish-designed Collins class.
