Australian sailors, soldiers share knowledge with Samoa

By Anina Kazaz 18 June 2018, 12:00AM

As part of a four-day visit to Samoa, the Royal Australian Navy ship H.M.A.S. Success demonstrated to the Samoa Police Force how to control and fix electrical equipment during the weekend.

The crew was working with the Samoa Police Service to do maintenance work on the Pacific Patrol Boat SPB Nafanua, combined with small boat training exercises, boarding and ship damage control demonstrations.

“The process is simple, first see what can be fixed, second what can’t at the moment and then organizing and planning how to actually fix it. It is all about what we do know and piece it up together,” Lieutenant Alexander Quintal explains.

 “We have been checking the equipment since we arrived and we are pretty much done. It is all part of this knowledge sharing experience.

“We did a boarding with this boat as well to show them how we are doing it. We sent a boarding team over and showed them how we insert the board, how the process works and how the responsibilities are shared.

“It was actually surprising the Samoans do it very similar like we do. We did so much training together. They way they approach things and negotiate techniques they use are different and we can get those as new inputs for us. It is good to see how they do negotiation.

“It is sharing experience and learning from each other, the collected knowledge which we put together that helps us and the locals. Everyone is really keen, they are all very motivated to share and learn,” Lieutenant Quintal said. 

H.M.A.S. Success is in Samoa as part of a maritime engagement activity designed to strengthen bilateral relationships and enhance partnerships between the two countries. 

The ship brought around 200 sailors and soldiers on board.

H.M.A.S. Success is setting sail to Hawaii to participate in Exercise Rim of the Pacific (R.I.M.P.A.C.).

By Anina Kazaz 18 June 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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