Defence reveals fire on Collins submarine

Defence has admitted one of its Collins submarines experienced a small fire at sea earlier this month.

The fire on September 15 occurred as the unnamed vessel cruised back to its port on the surface.

Fuel from one of the submarine's two diesel engines leaked onto some pipe insulating material which started smouldering, igniting a small fire.

“The engine was immediately shut down in accordance with normal procedures,” defence said in a “hot issues brief” posted on its website.

The small fire was quickly extinguished with a portable appliance. There were no injuries.

The boat continued its voyage back to port with engineers conducting a technical inspection to determine what happened.