Strange sounds - from subs?

The explosion shook the whole house. My back hunched and shoulders shot up to my ears, retracting my head like a startled tortoise. John jumped off his chair and, crouching, ran across the room and turned off the light. "What the hell was that?" We didn't know, and the other Port Adelaidians who soon formed groups on the street didn't know either. There was nothing about the explosion in the media the next day. But the following day John rang. "There's something in the paper about workers at the sub base going to hospital for hearing problems." I put the phone down and found the article — "Sub workers affected by pressure change" (Adelaide Advertiser, October 20, 1994). "Ten tradesmen were taken to hospital following an incident early yesterday at the Australian Submarine Corporation at Osborne. The incident occurred during routine trials aboard the first Collins-class submarine. Fabricators installing lockers in the bow of the submarine experienced discomfort to their ears following a change in pressure during a generator test." According to the article, no treatment was required and the men went back to work. The ASC's corporate affairs manager, Ross Milton, was very reassuring and is quoted as saying, "Pressure changes are routine for such trials and trial personnel experienced the same discomfort but they are used to it ... Basically their ears popped and it startled them." I had already read this article that morning, but with words like "incident", "experienced discomfort" and "change in pressure", I had not associated this event with the massive explosion I'd heard. Besides, "an incident early yesterday" put the time frame from between midnight and lunchtime on Wednesday, whereas the explosion had occurred about 9pm on Tuesday. Nothing much happened for a few days. Then John rang and told me that when he was at the local pub, the Largs Pier, where some of the sub workers drink, he was told by one about "an explosion" at the base. Another took John outside and punched him so hard he broke his nose. I rang up a journalist with the Advertiser who was very interested in all this and said he'd ring back. He never did, but I noticed that over the next week the paper featured two front-page articles on the submarine and its first sea trials. The second article, titled "Bridging the gulf of two centuries", showed the sub steaming alongside a restored sailing ship. It was a brilliant PR exercise by the submarine corporation. I'm sure the ASC would consider such things to be crucial in building public good will towards the project. And with billions of taxpayers' dollars invested in this project — and with the possibility of lucrative contracts for another two submarines being awarded — what would be allowed to interfere with that? On November 9, the local Portside Messenger printed an article titled "Mystery of the big bangs" (apparently there had also been one on Thursday, October 13) in which a Largs North resident stated that the explosion brought residents "running out of their houses". Another resident said the explosion sounded like "there was a bomb going off next door". I can vouch for that. According to the article, the explosion was heard as far away as Semaphore, three kilometres south of Largs North. John's house is between the two suburbs, while the sub base is one kilometre north of residential Osborne, four kilometres north of Largs. The article continued: "A theory that a sonic boom could have caused an explosive noise like that the locals experienced was also shot down. A spokesperson for the RAAF initially reported that a supersonic F/A18 jet had been on exercises over the peninsula. But a later report from (civilian) air control said there had not been a jet in the area at the time the explosions were heard." So what caused the explosions? I don't know. And the few journalists I contacted probably don't either. But I do know one thing. Military-industrial complexes such as the one we have invited to our shores have been known to bribe officials, bring down governments and murder. Considering this, an organisation which has its hands on an amount of taxpayers' money equal to a State Bank collapse may consider altering the time frame of an explosion, making reassuring noises about the incident and having another arm of the military attempt an absolutely trifling explanation. The only other reference to this incident I found was printed in the letters page of the Portside Messenger on November 16. Cynthia A. Payne wrote: "Re. the mystery of the big bangs. At Osborne, the residents also thought that their neighbour was using explosives. This explosion could have been a meteor we are told — for two weeks in a row we now have meteors coming at us. The residents wonder if explosives could have been used by industry down by the river, the wharf area. But of course we will never know." Despite the explosions being so loud and heard by thousands, I fear, Ms Payne, you may be right.
[The author is a concerned Port Adelaidian.]