Instead sensors and alarms will be used to guard the ships, with the ultimate aim being to do away with the need for any people at all. Navy chiefs say the drastic measures are part of a plan to combat recruitment problems by creating a more family-friendly environment. All local commanders have also been ordered to allow personnel affected by the ABC Learning child-care crisis more flexible working arrangements - and to work from home if necessary - until they have found alternative care. Defence, like most of the public service, relies on ABC Learning for child-care services for its workers. Hundreds of children of navy personnel have been affected by the collapse of the child-care giant.

Navy chiefs, in a communication to all local commanders, directed that "following the announcement that ABC child care has gone into receivership", they must be "understanding of this stressful situation as the new working year approaches". "Local commanders are to make every effort to negotiate flexible working arrangements that allow families to manage their commitments at home and at work until the situation is resolved," the directive says. The stand-down period will run from December 3 to February 3, and will be a permanent arrangement every year.

This Christmas 500 navy personnel will remain deployed overseas and in waters north of Australia. If an emergency occurs, other personnel will be ordered back to work. But thousands of sailors who might previously have been deployed on ships over December and January on exercises or training activities will not be this year, and will be able to take longer than usual holidays. The extraordinary measures are a part of an initiative called "New Generation Navy" aimed at attracting and retaining more staff by changing the culture of the navy and improving the work-life balance of personnel. The navy loses 11 per cent of its workforce every year and last financial year only achieved 73 per cent of its full-time recruitment targets.

The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Crane, told the Herald "this program is about, where I can, providing an opportunity for our people to have a good break. "This is about generating some space and taking advantage of an opportunity for [personnel] to be able to have a bit of time to spend with their families at home, a bit of time to spend with their mates." He added: "It's about getting a culture in place that's about working smarter not harder, and I think we owe that to our people.

"By doing that I believe we can significantly reduce some of the separation rates we're seeing at the moment." Leading Seaman Christine van Lieshout is a mother of three whose husband is also in the navy.

She believes the new Christmas arrangements will be "fantastic". A reservist at navy headquarters at Russell in Canberra, Leading Seaman van Lieshout recalls spending Christmas in 2003 alone with her children because her husband, a chief petty officer, was on deployment to Christmas Island. "That was pretty horrible," she said. "We were basically watching everyone else with their families … we received a phone call late in the afternoon from him and that was Christmas."

This year Leading Seaman van Lieshout and her husband, Rodney, will both go on leave on December 19, and will spend the holidays with their children Daniel, 16, Ashley, 11, and Stephanie, 13. Her husband has just returned from a six-month deployment in the Gulf, during which time he missed his children's birthdays, Father's Day and a confirmation. "The children have not had an opportunity to see their dad very much, so having the opportunity to have Rodney home a lot longer is fantastic because it gives them bonding time and takes a bit of pressure off me."

She said the initiatives were "fantastic for a lot of people".