HMS ''Oberon ''was the prototype for the of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Design

''Oberon'' was the prototype for the s and was initially named ''O1'' but renamed in 1924, becoming the first named British submarine. Ordered under the 1923 programme, she was the fifth ship of the

to carry the name ''Oberon''. The submarine was built in response to the demise of the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A dip ...

in 1922, which necessitated a need for a long-range patrol submarine capable of operations in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. ''Oberon'' differed from the predecessor L-class submarines in that she was lengthened by and broadened by , in addition to a two-knot reduction in top speed, expanded range, and double the number of torpedoes and torpedo tubes. With a complement of 54, ''Oberon'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . She displaced standard and normal while surfaced, but displaced normal while submerged. The submarine was propelled while surfaced by two Admiralty

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s rated at and by two

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

s rated at , each driving one propeller shaft. These gave her a maximum speed of surface and submerged – both short of a planned surfaced and submerged. The submarine had a

pressure hull A submarine hull has two major components, the ''light hull'' and the ''pressure hull''. The light hull (''casing'' in British usage) of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure ...

with -thick plating, to which saddle tanks were fitted, allowing for a maximum design depth of , though ''Oberon'' was only tested to a depth of . She was capable of carrying of oil, mostly in leakage-prone external tanks riveted to the hull, which were replaced by welded tanks in a 1937 refit. Initially armed with a single QF 4 inch/40 naval gun Mk IV (replaced with the Mk XII in the 1930s) for surface fighting, ''Oberon'' had eight torpedo tubes – six bow and two in the stern. The submarine could carry sixteen torpedoes, originally Mark IV but later replaced by Mark VIII. ''Oberon'' was the first submarine of the Royal Navy equipped with asdic while under construction, and was additionally equipped with Type 709 hydrophones and a Type SF

direction finder Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...

. Modifications made during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

included the addition of an Oerlikon 20 mm cannon for anti-aircraft defense and a Type 291W

radio direction finder Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...

for air and surface warning.

Construction and service

She was laid down on 22 March 1924, launched on 24 September 1926 at the Chatham Dockyard and commissioned on 24 August 1927. As a result of

torsional vibration Torsional vibration is angular vibration of an object—commonly a shaft along its axis of rotation. Torsional vibration is often a concern in power transmission systems using rotating shafts or couplings where it can cause failures if not contr ...

in her powerplant, the submarine was never deployed to the Far East. ''Oberon'' was stationed at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

between 1927 and 1931, then moved to the Mediterranean before returning to Portsmouth in 1934. On 11 October 1935, she collided with the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

at Devonport. Placed in reserve in 1937, ''Oberon ''was recommissioned on 2 August 1939 and was used for training during the Second World War. Lieutenant

Michael Lindsay Coulton Crawford Captain Michael Lindsay Coulton "Tubby" Crawford Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom), DSC & Medal bar, Bar (27 June 1917 – 28 June 2017) was an officer in the Royal Navy and submariner. Early life and family Michael Lindsay Coulton C ...

, previously commander of in the Mediterranean, was given command on 24 March. She was decommissioned at Blyth on 5 July 1944 and was sold for scrap on 24 August 1945. ''Oberon'' was scrapped at Dunston by Clayton and Davie. She was assigned a

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

of 21.P, which was changed to 21.N in 1939 and to N.21 in 1940.

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

British Pathé newsreel footage of ''Oberon'', 1927
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberon Ships built in Chatham 1926 ships Odin-class submarines of the Royal Navy