Every now and then, we have a guest speaker who can engage the listeners well. Then sometimes, we have one where the engagement is so strong that the meeting Chairman has to stop question time. Nigel Hennessy is one of those speakers. Then, when you look at his CV, no wonder: In a previous life, he was the principal analyst for Polaris Submarines in the UK. "I have always had a background in subs" he said. "To the extent that I was "banned" from working in other jurisdictions..." Since then, he has worked as a company director in some 50 companies, both listed and unlisted in a wide range of industries. For example he was Managing Director of CCN Ltd, the owner of Cabcharge and also head of defence for BAE Systems as well as Chairman for a US Golf Technology company.
But Nigel's main subject was Nuclear Submarines, and in particular the cancellation of the 'French Contract', that made so many headlines. According to Nigel, the debate of 'nuclear' or 'not nuclear' has been going on since 1959. Going nuclear was on the agenda even in 2011, when the Federal Government commissioned a 'root-and-branch review' relating to sustainment, maintenance and upgrade of the Collins Class submarine fleet. And as to surprise: "The French probably did know that Australia intended the cancel" he said. Many people are not aware that the original design of the French sub was nuclear, but Australia had it converted to diesel electric. Staying with the French would have been the cheapest option, according to Nigel.
Nigel conducted a brief Q&A on diverse subjects such as 'Why do we need submarines', 'How many submarines are there in the world?' 485 all up, of which 128 are nuclear, of which the West (US, UK and France) have 90. And possibly the most frightening fact: every one of the nuclear subs has the capacity to totally obliterate the world... [Hope you sleep well tonight, my friends. Ed.]
Photo: Nigel Hennessy (right) with our Chairman of the day, PDG Darrell Brown.