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NEXT MONTH
Your next Weapons of War profiles the Handley Page Type O heavy bomber, which
served with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in the Great War and beyond.
The October issue is in the UK shops on September 26 – don’t miss it!
RIGHT
HMCS Onondaga at
sea. She was one
of two boats of the
class (the other
being HMAS Otama)
to serve until 2000.
(SITE HISTORIQUE
MARITIME DE LA
POINTE-AU-PÈRE)
BELOW
The impressive
HMCS Onondaga
in her preserved
state at Rimouski.
(MATHIEU DUPUIS/SITE
HISTORIQUE MARITIME
DE LA POINTE-AU-PÈRE)
more the following decade) was an
instrumental step in the building up
of the Australian submarine fleet. A
significant milestone was accomplished
in 1985, when it successfully launched
a subsurface Harpoon missile from
HMAS Ovens. It was, at that time, one
of only two conventional subs and
the first Oberon boat to achieve that
particular feat.
Later, the RAN embarked on its
own updating programme to upgrade
obsolete technology aboard its boats.
This in itself was another significant
step for the Australian Navy in
asserting its own autonomy and
independence.
LEGACY
In total, 27 Oberon-class boats were
constructed for the various navies
across four British dockyards. While
most have now inevitably succumbed
to the scrap heap, fortunately eight
or so examples are still preserved
worldwide today, with four others
partially complete or awaiting
restoration. Ocelot serves as a floating
museum at Chatham in Kent. It’s a
fitting resting place as the vessel was
the final Royal Navy warship to be
built at the historic dockyard.
Today, all Royal Navy submarines
are nuclear-powered but with defence
budgets constantly squeezed there have
been recent calls from some quarters
to bring ‘conventional’ subs back into
the mix. So, could a weapon like the
Oberon-class see a return?
The classified records mean that
the full extent of the Oberon boats’
impact is tantalisingly out of reach,
yet that very fact seems to suggest it
was involved in sensitive operations
of some significance during the height
of the Cold War. No doubt in the
decades to come we’ll gain a better
understanding of this fascinating,
shadowy character and its daring
escapades.
