Defence leaders are vowing to cut out the cancer of extreme tribalism that developed on HMAS Success, after an independent report outlined predatory sexual behaviour and a culture of cover-ups.

In his report on the supply ship's tour of Asia in mid-2009, former federal court judge Roger Gyles, QC, said discipline had broken down and the crew had been out of control while ashore.

''There was damage to two bars in Manila; a public sex act and property damage in Qingdao [in China on Anzac Day]; the [bath] robe run; so-called fancy dress incidents and severe alcohol-related collapse in Hong Kong; along with numerous instances of verbal and physical confrontation between males and females in public in all three ports.

''This, occurring as it did without any disciplinary action being taken, either on the spot by senior sailors or later by the responsible officers, is sufficient to illustrate that point,'' he said.

''If decisive action had been taken after the serious behaviour ashore in Manila, at least some of the later excesses would probably have been avoided. The extraordinary failure to deal with the public sex act in Qingdao effectively and promptly or, indeed, at all on the deployment reinforced the notion that discipline did not apply ashore. No wonder the serial offenders were at it again in Hong Kong.''

The large amounts of alcohol consumed contributed to almost every incident, many of which were not reported.

''A combination of the culture of silence and mutual protection among [some engineer] sailors and intimidation and fear of repercussions on the part of those contemplating complaints against [the engineer] sailors provided a powerful cover against exposure of poor behaviour,'' he said.

Competitions to have sex with nominated women had been part of the folklore of Success since at least 2004. It was not possible to say whether there was a sex ledger, but sailors had placed a bounty on the head of one young woman.

''There was evidence of sexual relations between [some engineer] sailors and female sailors that might or might not have been the result of an organised competition because the targeted female would not know of the existence of the competition,'' he said.