Groton ― Three Royal Australian Navy officers began school Tuesday at the Naval Submarine Base, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, announced.

Lt. Cmdr. James Heydon, Lt. Cmdr. Adam Klyne and Lt. William Hall, enrolled in the base’s Naval Submarine School, are being trained as part of AUKUS, the 2021 agreement among Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to equip Australia with nuclear submarines.

They arrived in Groton late last week, having graduated last month from the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Prototype Power Training Unit in Charleston, S.C., and in July from the Navy’s Nuclear Power School in Goose Creek, S.C.

“It is an exciting day for the AUKUS security agreement and our community ― home to America’s oldest submarine base ― as the first of many Royal Australian Navy sailors begin their Submarine Officer Basic Course,” Courtney said in a statement. “The centerpiece of AUKUS is to create a fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian Navy. The threshold requirement for success is training Australia’s Navy to operate these submarines.”

Courtney led enactment of legislation in 2022 to establish a naval training pipeline.

“These sailors have already qualified aboard Australia’s Collins class diesel-electric submarines and have proven their aptitude for nuclear power, so I have no doubt they will excel here as well,” Capt. Matthew Fanning, commanding officer of the Naval Submarine School, said.