Politics

Hegseth calls US-built nuclear submarines the ‘apex predator’ of the seas. But are they right for Australia?

4 Oct 2026 06:00 AEDT Summary

Royal Australian Navy Aukus Pete Hegseth Australian Military Australian Foreign Policy

From the report

Some experts argue Virginia-class submarines government is buying second-hand are good for fighting American wars, but not for defending Australia.

Headline check

All three things this headline claims are in the report.

Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. How this is checked

This is a summary. The indicators are not. Every score on this page was measured over the full 1528-word report, which is the only way the numbers mean anything.

How it is written

Niral Score 14.7 · mostly calm mundaneloaded

10 more readings adjectives, repeated words, sentiment, political diction and 3 more and 3 at zero

Highlighted in the text. Words that carry a fact and quoted words are not counted.

submarines29boats11defence9nuclear8submarine8buy5smaller5argue4built4deal4fighting4force4independent4maritime4nation4open4region4trade4war4waters4world4able3air3apex3argument3around3attack3buying3capability3class3cost3country3deter3economic3inquiry3large3north3nuclear-powered3ocean3platform3predator3propulsion3provide3quieter3seven3shallow3suited3across2active2approaches2best2better2budget2build2chains2conflict2conventional2conventionally2crew2deep2and 45 more

Sentiment +0.1 hostilefavourable Political diction +0.0 left-codedright-coded Jingoistic 3.7 reports to a readerwrites from a camp Sourcing 65 unattributednamed sources Mood 24.9 sorrowjoyful

3 read zero: generational, gender, religious

Generational 0 harder on the oldharder on the young Gender 0 no gendered framingframing throughout Religious 0 not invokedovert

How the article is written, not whether it is correct. How each is measured.

Measured on The Guardian Australia’s report as filed, which is all we may publish of this one.

How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it

No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.

Outlet	Niral Score
The Guardian Australiaas they published this story	14.7

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