HMAS Otway (S 59)

The Oberon class was based heavily on the preceding Porpoise class 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. This was the fourth time the RAN had attempted to establish a submarine branch. The submarine was long, with a beam of , and a draught of when surfaced. At full load displacement, she displaced 2,030 tons when surfaced, and 2,410 tons when submerged. The submarine could travel at up to on the surface, and up to when submerged, had a maximum range of at , and a test depth of . Between 1977 and 1985, the Australian Oberons were upgraded to carry United States Navy Mark 48 torpedoes and UGM-84 Sub Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Otway was laid down by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Greenock, Scotland on 29 June 1965, 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. 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. ==Decommissioning and fate==

HMAS Otway paid off on 17 February 1994. The submarine's fin was donated to the town of Holbrook, New South Wales, an inland community with strong ties to submarines since World War I, when the town was renamed after British submariner and Victoria Cross recipient Norman Douglas Holbrook. The community decided to tender for the purchase of the rest of the submarine, but despite fundraising efforts and a large donation from Holbrook's widow, the town did not win the tender. ==Citations==