Running Deep An Australian Submarine Life

From conducting top-secret missions to making Australian submarine history, Commodore Peter Scott depicts what it takes to be a Submariner. Over a decorated 34-year career, Commodore Scott served in 10 submarines, passed the most demanding military command course in the world and served as the Head of Profession of the Submarine Arm of the Royal Australian Navy. During that time his character was forged by the challenges of naval service, success and failure as a leader, catastrophic onboard disasters while dived, and life-threatening traumas. Along the way, he also endured personal battles with self-doubt, addiction, depression and anxiety. In this honest and enlightening tale, he shares his quest for self-acceptance, and for the courage, commitment and compassion to lead the warriors of Australia’ s Silent Service.

Peter Scott joined the Royal Australian Navy as a seventeen-year-old Midshipman and rose over three decades to be the professional head of the Navy’ s elite – the Submarine Arm. Having retired from full-time naval service as a Commodore in early 2017, he now works as an Executive Coach using his experience and a Masters in Coaching Psychology to unleash the courage, compassion and wisdom of today’ s leaders.

Foreword pp 8 A note from the author pp 10 Prologue pp 12 PART I SEAMAN AND SUBMARINER pp 15 1 Early years pp 17 2 Setting sail pp 24 3 Learning the ropes pp 32 4 You did what? pp 42 5 Standby to dive pp 46 6 Submariner pp 57 7 Clutching in pp 62 8 Stepping up pp 68 9 St Patrick’ s Day pp 73 10 Seatime pp 81 11 Break in an emergency pp 88 12 Archimedes’ principle pp 95 PART II MASTER AND COMMANDER pp 103 13 They call it ‘ Perisher’ pp 105 14 The Vortex pp 117 15 North to Alaska pp 130 16 Pacific allies pp 141 17 Darker skies pp 169 18 Flood, flood, flood pp 181 PART III CAPTAIN AND STRATEGIST pp 193 19 To war pp 195 20 Capability in decay pp 206 21 In the stratosphere pp 219 22 Among the Fleet pp 227 23 Capability reincarnated pp 237 24 Centenary of submarines pp 246 25 Strategic partners pp 250 26 It’ s time pp 257 Epilogue pp 262 Acronyms pp 266 Glossary pp 270 Index pp 279 Acknowledgements pp 286 About the author pp 287