Royal Navy Oberon SSK Sub Brief 

When I was a kid in the 70s an Oberon class sub came and docked in my town of New Bedford Massachusetts. I went down to look at it. I was thrilled to see it, as not many subs docked here. One of the only thing I remember was the crew trying to give us sacks of American beer, which friendly Americans had given to them. They said it basically tasted like horse piss, and they didn’t want it,,,

We had 2 Oberon class subs here in Chile. The O'Brien and the Hyatt. They served up until 2001 when the Chilean Navy aqcuired 2 Scorpene class subs. O'Brien, S-22, is currently a museum boat at Valdivia. Amazing boat!

Fun fact: According to wiki, 14 Oberons still exist, with 7 as museum ships and the other 7 either being converted to museums or being scrapped. Which means at least 1/4 of the Oberon fleet is preserved, which has to be one of the most well-preserved classes of mass-produced warship.

Oberon-class submarines were highly regarded even into the 80's and 90's by modern fast attacks. The Australian O-boats are my favorite variant of the Oberons. Because of their highly risky operations close to Soviet/Chinese/North Korean naval bases and ships.

I served on two Oberon Submarines

Thank you for releasing this. My father was an Officer on board both HMS Porpoise and Oracle. I was Christened on board Porpoise and my name is on the ship's bell. My father said that Porpoise's diesels were so strong that on the surface they could get 22kns out of her. He also spent time on exercise with the Chilean Navy who ran a few Oberons boats themselves.

As a kid growing in Sydney, Australia during the 80's I remember every time we drove over the Harbour Bridge looking out for the Oberon subs that were based at HMAS Platypus in Neutral Bay. There were usually 1 or 2 subs docked there at a time that I'd get a quick glimpse at as we drove past.

As a trainee officer in the Royal Australian Air Force my division received a briefing from an Oberon captain. He told us about lying quietly near Russian harbours listening to the traffic coming and going. He also told us a tale about picking up an Australian agent from a fishing boat on a pre-arranged night (name of country not mentioned). They almost shot the person in the head, on the forward deck, as he couldn’t remember the correct password. Five minutes later, password remembered, they were laughing over a whiskey in the wardroom. And those were just the stories he was allowed to tell us...

The RCN took HMS Olympus for a trainer and HMS Osiris for parts.We used the stern tubes for beer stores.

My Uncle had 2 Oberon HMAS commands, Otway and Oxley, Iv also had a tour of the museum Oberon Sub in Western Australia ( HMAS Ovens). Good Boats by all reports.

I just want to say congratulations on 100k. I'm not in any branch of armed forces but I enjoy listening to you, thank you for what you do and your service.

I was signalman on the bridge of Opportune at the time of the collision with Orpheus. My opinion was that the blame should have been attributed to the Isle of White ferry which ignored warning light signals sent by me and stood on between two submarines in narrow waters!

I live in Chatham (unfortunately) and heading down to the dockyard it is great to see HMS Ocelot (S17) moored there. I used to go on her a lot as a kid and I was always thinking what it must have been like serving on a submarine! Great stuff as always.

I remember as a midshipman sleeping on my bed while my roommate and three friends sat on the edge of my bed, excitedly shouting and jumping up and down playing Goldeneye. When you are tired enough, nothing matters.

One of my earliest memories is going onboard an O boat when I was about 5 or 6 as a school excursion in Australia. I think it was HMAS Oxley. Also lots of memories of seeing them tied up in Kirribili before crossing the Harbor Bridge. Wonderful boats.

My late father served on the O-boats. Orpheus and Opposum. He had a great story about being rammed by a russian spy trawler in the english channel, the returned to portsmouth with a 45 degree list after the ballast tank was punctured. I have newspaper clippings he saved from that. Great brief Arron.

A high school friend was a sonar operator on the Australian O boats (he joined the Navy a couple of years before I did). The stories of what they got up to were crazy.

In another life, on a submarine far, far away, my SQ was acoustic analysis, one of the things we looked for on these boats was the 'main motor slot frequency'. We were training for under ice work and were tasked against HMS Onslaught. On batteries these boats were superb, deathly quiet AND in later years, when towed array became available, they exceeded all expectations on their 'take'. HMS Onslaught was simulating an 'ice picked' boat (a light bulb will have gone on with those guys in the know as to what our intended target was) and we were tasked to underwater look her hull, after we'd 'spiralled in'. On running underneath her, from less than fifty feet, there it was the MMSF... to detect it one had to be within 50 feet and so it proved. Onslaught said at the time that although she knew were running underneath her, she didn't hear a thing. AND that surprised her, what with us being a great big noisy nuclear submarine (tongue firmly in cheek) however we knew from our Rona ranging in Scotland that we were (a T class SSN) exceptionally quiet. It was great to know because of where we would be taking the boat later on that year. HMS Onslaught was 'ice picked' (stopped trim at 100 feet) and she was alerted to our presence, she had her sensors primed and groomed for us, and yet we passed under her without a sniff. The O Boats were superb submarines and what they got up to around the coastlines of our collective opposition was legendary among the various submarine squadrons in the Royal Navy. The SSN and SSK boats complimented each other superbly well, Britain had a formidable combination, and one of these days, the UK tax payer will be told what we used to get up to in their name, however, don't hold your breath, I did my stuff 50 odd years ago now and probably there's another 50 years to go! Hells bells we were good at what we did, and just a very faint rise in background noise... if that, we had to remain undetected... because we were going to be coming back to do it again!

I worked with a Petty Officer sparker (radioman) that served on our Oberons (RCN, 80's). He had a few stories, including taking pics of a USN carrier undetected, and some stuff he wasn't allowed to talk about. Great guy, bit crazy but that's to be expected from a submariner, it seems.

There's one of these (HMAS Onslow) located in the National Maritime Museum next to the destroyer HMAS Vampire. She doesn't have any war stories but apparently she was the first conventional submarine to use anti-ship missiles, and was involved in an absolutely degenerate line-crossing ceremony 1995.

Great video. One mission you didn’t mention that I believe was frequently handled by O boats was distraction and delousing for RN and USN SSBNs departing and returning to Holy Loch and Faslane. They were a flexible, cheap platform for such work, and this freed up SSNs for blue water operations.

In the Australian O boats, the aft torp tubes were used as alcohol storage lockers. On the subject of alcohol in the Australian Navy, officers are not allowed to drink at all at sea. Sailors are allowed but the rules basically boil down to 2 beers per person per day perhaps.

Great to see more commonwealth subs covered. Hope you'll cover the Upholder/Victoria Class someday as I'm serving on one currently.

First submarine I ever went saw was an Oberon conducting a port visit to Albany, Western Australia in the 90s. I was about 5 and I distinctly remember being terrified of falling into the harbour as a walked across the hull to the sail.

Oberooooon! :D I was always begging you to do these, glad when you got them done. Thanks old chap!

Was on a ship out of Portsmouth in the 80's.. got some 8mm cine film of one of these coming out of port somewhere

That's so crazy, I literally just did a 3D model of this sub last week and then you post a sub brief.

The good old O boats! Those things just kept on going.

Submarines are definitely for the young. I crawled through two O-boats in museums, one in Darling Harbour, Sydney and the other in Chatham. I don't remember having to wriggle through holes-in-the-wall on the Australian boat, which was the case in Chatham. I passed on the museum sub in San Francisco opting instead for Alcatraz.

In the late 70s/80s I went aboard one of our Aussie Oberons - I can't remember which one I was probably 10 years old then. In the good old days the RAN used visit most Australian capital cities and open their ships up to the public when they were in port and let the public view (some parts) of them. I can remember how huge I thought the tropedos were - I'm not sure of they were MK48s in those days. I was surprised because there were beds made up on the torpedos , so I guess they had visitors on noard that trip. I also recall how tiny the captain's cabin was IIRC essentially a bed and a fold down desk. Other vessels I remember visiting were HMAS Vampire with it's Limbo mortars, HMAS Perth, HMAS Adelaide II the first FFG7 in RAN service (we lived in Adelaide) one of the River class - I think it was HMAS Stewart - they were showing a film of the Ikara in action in the mess - I guess it was like 16mm or something film - real film with a porjector. I remember thinking how cool that was - a torpedo dropped from a missle) and the training ship of the day (HMAS Stalwart??), a survey ship - maybe HMAS Port Moreseby. They used to have professionally printed handouts, like an A4 page folded intoa. booklet with specs, the ships motto anda. bit of hisotry about the ship and the class. I wish I still had all those little pamphlets. These visits gave me an interest in naval warfare and naval vessels which has not left me to this day - more than a few decades later. So I guess Aaroon can thank the RAN and their PR port calls in the 80s and 90s for my subscription. That said, the RAN got me here - but Aaroon's quality content keeps me coming back.

That photo of the bow section with the torpedo in it was taken at the Western Australian Maritime Museum. They have a complete Oberon there that you can take a guided tour of.

Free ascent from 500 feet wow that's a bloody long way! I was lucky enough to go around the Onyx (and Plymouth) in Birkenhead when she was a museum ship (before she was scrapped) we're so bad at preserving ships in the UK. One thing that having conventional subs in the RN did (apart from their obvious abilities) was it kept the UK experienced in building subs, now we're down to just 6 SSNs and the SSBNs it isnt' enough to maintain sub building capability.

Been on the O-Boat at Chatham Docks, very tight inside and even has a crate of beer in the rear torp tubes. You can even see the RN escape tube trainer.

Hearing somebody as professional as you big up my nations armed forces fills me with national pride even though I never served lol. Thank you

I clambered over a few of these as a kid in the 80s. Portsmouth naval base used to run "Navy Days" where it was open to the public, and you could tour active duty vessels along with there being demonstrations, displays, and all sorts of other stuff. There were usually a couple of Oberons in port. They were... not exactly spaceous!

Having worked in the ASW role it was the diesel subs that worried me. Properly maintained and run they are pretty much invisible.

I have an idea for a video: a primer of submariner traditions, like Dolphins, the Jolly Roger, and the broom on the mast after a patrol.

The thumbnail is looking at the Gosport Ferry in Portsmouth Harbour. I live about 20 seconds from there, and used to go across the ferry most days when I was in the Navy, and then every day when I worked for BAE Systems supporting the RN.

They have a fantastic sense of humour. The best in England by far!

Nice just visited Onondaga sub in Rimouski, Canada. This is an O class sub use by the Royal Canadian Navy.

My grandad was an electrical engineer who worked on the construction of HMS Odin and HMS Oracle, I always thought they were really cool subs with such a brutal looking aesthetic compared to the Upholder Class and the nuclear subs that came after.

I've actually gotten to climb around in one of these, the HMCS Ojibwa, it's in Port Burwell Ontario and you can get a 1.5 hour guided tour, and it's really, really cool.

I retired aged 70 over three years ago as a designer and builder of submarines (mainly nuclear boats), I was a subject matter expert on stealth, sonar and propulsion. I was at Barrow in Furness at the yard there; outside my office was HMS Onyx after being sold to a private buyer/trust and was berth there for a number of years it left before I retired and I do not know where it went I hope it is preserved somewhere. This is a nice piece on these boats which did great service thank you for the video it brought back some memories. Kind regards.

Cammell Laird still very much a beating heart of our city today and a focus of the local economy. Take walks along the Mersey’s bank regularly and see the dockyard on the other side - currently with Type 45 DD HMS Dauntless (I think) and an RFA Tanker in dry dock. If you’re ever looking to visit a city rich in Naval and Maritime history Aaron, no better place than Liverpool. Enjoyed this sub brief, thank you!

The daily Rum ration wasn't just for subs. It was a Royal Navy tradition going back to the age of sail that they only begrudgingly abolished in the modern era. During WW2 RN officers and USN officers often served on each others ships for various reason's. it was agreed by all that RN ships were great because you could get a drink. But because USN ships all had refrigeration so the food was much better.

Hey Jive? Why don't we (Americans) build boats like this anymore? I mean non nuclear? Nuke boats are SO damn expensive, It seems we could get alot more of these boats if we stoped useing nuke power? I'm sure that if we built non nuke boats with all the modern sound mitigation and modern sensors it would still be way less expensive than the freaking underwater tube of money that the seawolf turned out to be.

Hi Aaron, very good brief as always. The refitted Aussie Oberons used Mk48s and US sourced fire control systems. They also could launch UGM84s so toungue in cheek they were SSGs... Well sort of. Great brief.

Thank you for this sir. Very interesting.

I'm born in Cumbria, and know Barrow-in-Furness well. Its still called the "Old Vickers Yard"

Another great brief!

For me as a German it is very intersting, that the legacy of tne Type XXI lived on that long.

I served, briefly in an Australian O-boat. She had been modernized and had a great combat system, sonar and weapons fit (for the early 1980s). But my navy (RNZN) did not operate submarines so I didn't go on to qualify as a submariner. One of my classmates did transfer to the RAN and serve in several of their O-boats.

Great article Mr Brief. Just to add, Cammell Laird is in Birkenhead opposite Liverpool waterfront (Mersey river), most recently built the RRS Sir David Attenborough with its remote operating vehicle Boaty Mcboatface !! Ps there are two football teams here, Liverpool and Everton. I recall we had the USA's honourary Sec. of Defence play in goal for us. I am a blue (Everton) btw 🙂.

Thank you for another fantastic sub brief on a British submarine 😁👌🏾 I'm looking forward to the upcoming Udaloy brief too!

Sharkey Ward was very critical of the Royal Navy for doing much less tooting of its own trumpet over the Flaklands conflict than the RAF. He had a lot to say about the Royal Navy's pride in it's moniker "the Silent Service".

HMS Ocelot is part of the Historic Chatham dockyard now and it's in a dry dock there open for tours on peak days.

One other small point - the max diving depth of the Oberons was shallow by modern SSN standards but they were built before the Skipjack class which had a test depth (at least as far as I know :-)) of 700 ft (210 m) so for their era they were pretty normal.

ex- HMAS Ovens is on display as a museum ship here in Fremantle, its an interesting claustrophobic experience. infact that cut off bow shot with torpedos in it, is another piece of an oberon in front of the Ovens

Hi Aaron, they even Be-Dazzle their Submarines. Awesome

There was an excellent 1980s BBC documentary called Submariner (all episodes on RU-vid.) The first episode was about the Perisher, the Submarine command course. That episode was filmed aboard Oracle.

Congrats on 100K subscribers

Did a walk through of a retired RAN Oberon when it was on display in Sydney many years ago. Now I am not a tall person but damn, those boats are a tight fit inside. Some of the racks were so short that even I would not have been able to fit without bending my knees. If you were 6' you'd need an accordion spine to lay down.

My Aunt lived in Sassnitz.....and i have been to the Otus :D ............... Sorry could catch you CW Stream today....had an appointment for blood donation :)

Brazil had some of the Oberon-class subs, and IIRC were used for special forces diver operations. Wikipedia has something on them. Brazilian military is very shy with its toys.

let me just say, can you appreciate how effective splinter camo was in the time before radar? at 7:30 ish just look at the second ship there,, what it must have been like on the rolling sea, cold and wet, your own ship rolling and heaving,, thats impressive! getting 25+ years of service from a basically 1940's design sub is noteworthy. talk is about the steel, but its the crews who did all the work, indeed, give it up for the sailors

Heard a story that once the Mark 20s were removed they used the aft tubes to store beer kegs, apparently the tubes kept them nice and cool.

Ive been on one of these at sea with my grand pa who was doing gravity wave testing around australia

Good brief! Enjoyed it! 👍

I have actually been on one of these subs. Its a museum in port Burwell Ontario the whole boat one of three built for the RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) HMCS Ojibwa. They should consider using your video for a basic guide to the sub.

I have visited HMS Ocelot in Chatham. I could have gone on her decommissioning cruise, many of my friends did.

Nice brief spent some time on the ocelot as a museum boat in my younger days Not sure you know this but the 3 Canadian boats all had different layouts inside something that I only found out on Ojibwa Our main sub base though is Devonport not Davenport

Congrats on 100k Also i wish i was good enough in school to get a degree and work my way to working in the drawing room for military aircraft development projects

HMAS Ovens was an Oberon-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy. She was one of six Oberons built for the Royal Australian Navy by the Scottish Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, and entered service in 1969. HMAS Ovens is an authentic Cold War-era vessel situated on Fremantle's historic World War Two submarine slipway

Cammel Laird - Laird is pronounced similarly to a lair, as in wolf's lair - with a D on the end. Not Lard.

O for old school! Cheers Jive for your time and efforts...

I was lucky enough to go on board HMS Orpheus when I was a child. My uncle took his perisher on it 😊

I love the non Russian sub videos. Sometimes I forget the US and USSR weren't the only countries putting out capable submarines.

FYI - Cammell Laird is in Birkenhead - not ‘Liverpool City Region’ . The river Mersey is a moat dug to separate the two places ;)

You could go as far ast to say that the Oberon was built on Porpoise.

In the late Eighties, these boats got a very signifcant upgrade to the combat system with the 2051 sonar suite and DCH. 2051 was an upgrade to the inboard electronics and lots of pen recorders dedicated to individual sonars were replaced by a very compact suite with screens capable of displaying any of the sonars at any position. DCH was comparable to the AIO and fire control systems of nuclear submarines and replaced manual plots and a mechanical fire control system! Of course, having spent the money, politiicans then decided to take the boats out of service as a savings measure in 1990 ish.

I lived and worked in Chatham Dockyard last year in a role very un-related to ships, but Chatham really didn't recover socially after the dockyard closed, it's very sad really

The stern tubes where turned into Beer lockers if I remember correctly... at least it would keep the beer cool...

Yay new video again!!! Good for while I'm on guard night shift

Do you know if it is possible to wind up the HF vertical antenna by hand on the Oberon class sub? I know hydraulics are normally used but must have a fail-safe method one would think. Working on one at Australia National Maritime Museum. We want to operate Amateur radio on board.

Hi from Canada Jive, SBS= Special Boat Service naval version of the SAS= Special Air Service all super badass soldiers. HMCS Ojibway an Oberon class Sub is a museum ship currently just outside London Ontario in Lake Erie at Port Burwell, not too far from Michigan.

Hey i've kayaked around the HMAS Otama in westerport bay! keen to watch this one. ed: I see she's really in some trouble now. Bad list after rust through a ballast tank :( Still hoping Otama can be brought out for the museum project...

and a great Shakespearian name... (as ever still awaiting the arrival of the Snodgrass class, but you never know...)

Very impressive range - 10,000 nautical miles - for a 2,000 ton hull. I believe the German type VII had a 7,000 nm range by comparison

Otus and Osiris are my fathers old boats. His favourite time in.

Don't know if this has already been mentioned, but HMS Onyx's ship motto was: "Taurus excretum cerebrum Vinci." Dog Latin for "Bullshit baffles brains."

Wooo! new sub brief!

Hi Aaron, great brief, but just for your information, due to the Lack of special forces in 1982, to the British requirement(people with the SBS and SAS) were kind of combined and deployed together.

This sounds like someone went eh the old hull design is nice let's try to get every sensor we can think of on this and they somehow succeeded

loved it. thanks do more british subs

I duno about the submarine, but the beer is great!

Went aboard HMS Onyx as a kid at Birkenhead.

My father server on 1 uk and at least 1 Canada Oberon Being in Nato Canada navy would borrow 1 for training. I had to live in uk for 9 months due to being cheaper ship me brother and mom to uk it was cheaper that way. Cause shipping dad back to Canada every 30 days cost a lot money in 1968/1969 time frame. Dad told me 1 story about what happen to uk sub but I save for a book one day. Dad was one of few Canadians that server on all three types of warships/sub Canada had back then. Meaning CV, Destroyer and Subs. Dad wasn't a officer cause he didn't want paper work and so on. But he job on the Subs too was make sure anything with wires it was working repair and designed things as needed. This includes pumps/comm panel/solar/radar/batteries/cooking stoves CTC stuff and so on ya name if had wire it was he job make it work or design it. Oh Canada Subs all 3 are on display now. I was 1 of first civilian to visit Canada sub I bearly remember the trip but i do remember climbing in one I was so young like about 5 or 6 or so.

Yes they were the best and very silent

Hey sub brief, hope you remember me from yesterday. Great sub brief, I've been wanting this for a while now!

I watched a video , it may be on here . Of a British sailor , taking about his time on subs. He never mentioned what type he was on . And may have been something to do with sonar, he talked about the different noises the fish make . He also said , on at lest one occasion they got so close to the Russian sub they could hear the crew talking .