HMAS Otway (S 59) was an of the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN).

Design and construction

The Oberon class was based heavily on the preceding Porpoise class

British Porpoise class submarine

The Porpoise class was an eight-boat class of diesel-electric submarines operated by the Royal Navy. This class was originally designated patrol submarines, then attack. They were the first conventional British submarines to be built after the end of World War II...

 of submarines, with changes made to improve the vessels' hull integrity, sensor systems, and stealth capabilities. Eight submarines were ordered for the RAN, in two batches of four. The first batch (including Otway) was approved in 1963, and the second batch was approved during the late 1960s, although two of these were cancelled before construction started in 1969, with the funding redirected to the Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm (RAN)

The Fleet Air Arm , known formally as the Australian Navy Aviation Group, is the division of the Royal Australian Navy responsible for the operation of aircraft. The FAA was founded in 1947 following the purchase of two aircraft carriers from the Royal Navy...

. This was the fourth time the RAN had attempted to establish a submarine branch

Royal Australian Navy Submarine Service

The Royal Australian Navy Submarine Service is the collective name of the submarine element of the Royal Australian Navy. The service currently forms the Navy's Submarine Force Element Group and consists of six Collins class submarines....

.

The submarine is 295.2 feet (90 m) long, with a beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

 of 26.5 feet (8.1 m), and a draught of 18 feet (5.5 m) when surfaced. At full load displacement, she displaces 2,030 tons when surfaced, and 2,410 tons when submerged. The two propeller shafts are each driven by an English Electric motor providing 3500 bhp and 3500 shp; the electricity for these is generated by two Admiralty Standard Range supercharged V16 diesel generators. The submarine could travel at up to 12 knots (6.5 m/s) on the surface, and up to 17 knots (9.3 m/s) when submerged, had a maximum range of 9000 nautical miles (16,668 km) at 12 knots (6.5 m/s), and a test depth of 200 metres (656.2 ft). When launched, the boat had a company of 8 officers and 56 sailors, but by the time she decommissioned, the number of sailors had increased to 60. In addition, up to 16 trainees could be carried.

The main armament of the Oberons consisted of six 21 inches (533.4 mm) torpedo tubes. The British Mark 8 torpedo was initially carried by the submarine; this was later replaced by the wire-guided Mark 23. Between 1977 and 1985, the Australian Oberons were upgraded to carry United States Navy Mark 48 torpedo

Mark 48 torpedo

The Mark 48 and its improved ADCAP variant are heavyweight submarine-launched torpedoes. They were designed to sink fast, deep-diving nuclear-powered submarines and high-performance surface ships.-History:...

es and UGM-84 Sub Harpoon

Boeing Harpoon

The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system, developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas . In 2004, Boeing delivered the 7,000th Harpoon unit since the weapon's introduction in 1977...

 anti-ship missiles. As of 1996, the standard payload of an Australian Oberon was a mix of 20 Mark 48 Mod 4 torpedoes and Sub Harpoon missiles. Some or all of the torpedo payload could be replaced by Mark 5 Stonefish

Stonefish (mine)

Named after a venomous fish, the Stonefish influence mine is manufactured by a British company . Originally, the weapon was supplied to the Royal Navy, but it has also been exported to friendly countries such as Australia, which has both warstock and training versions of Stonefish.Stonefish mines...

 sea mines, which were deployed through the torpedo tubes. On entering service, two stern-mounted, short-length 21 inches (53.3 cm) torpedo tubes for Mark 20 anti-submarine torpedoes. However, the development of steerable wire-guided torpedoes made the less-capable aft-firing torpedoes redundant; they were closed off, and later removed during a refit.

Otway was laid down by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde.- History :...

 at Greenock, Scotland on 29 June 1965, The submarine was launched on 29 November 1966 by Princess Marina: the first RAN submarine and second RAN vessel after the cruiser to be launched by a member of the Royal Family. In January 1968, RAN personnel sent to Scotland to train before the submarine was completed provided assistance to residents whose houses were destroyed in a storm. Otway was commissioned into the RAN on 23 April 1968.

Operational history

Otway arrived in Australian waters in September 1968 after sailing from the United Kingdom via ports in Africa. During this voyage, the boat became the first RAN vessel to visit Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, and the first RAN submarine to round the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

.

On 10 January 1969, the submarine escorted , the last submarine of the Royal Navy's Australia-based 4th Submarine Squadron out of Sydney Harbour.

During 1970, the submarine visited New Zealand and was involved in training exercises in the Indian Ocean.

In March and April 1971, Otway participated in SEATO Exercise Subok. On 26 August 1971, Otways fin was struck by a dummy helicopter-dropped torpedo during training exercises in Jervis Bay. There was only superficial damage to the submarine, which was quickly repaired. On 1 September, the fin was damaged again when a periscope mast was hit by a whale: repairs were completed in Sydney that day. In October, the submarine visited Brisbane for Navy Week, but was forced to sail on short notice and with only two-thirds of her personnel to locate and rescue the crew of the ketch One and All, which had run aground on Middleton Reef

Middleton Reef

Middleton Reef is a coral reef in the Tasman Sea. It is separated by a deep oceanic pass some 45 km wide from nearby Elizabeth Reef, forming part of the Lord Howe Rise underwater plateau. Middleton Reef is around 220 km from Lord Howe Island and 555 km from the coast of New South...

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Decommissioning and fate

HMAS Otway paid off on 17 February 1994 and was sold in November 1995. The casing and fin of Otway is on display at a park in Holbrook, New South Wales

Holbrook, New South Wales

Holbrook is a small town in Southern New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Hume Highway, 356 km North-East of Melbourne and 491 km south-west of Sydney between Tarcutta and Albury. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire Council area which was established in May 2004 from the merger of...

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