HMS ''Onyx'' was an ''Oberon'' class

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

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 and construction

The ''Oberon'' class was a direct follow on of the ''Porpoise''-class, with the same dimensions and external design, but updates to equipment and internal fittings, and a higher grade of steel used for fabrication of the

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 ...

. As designed for British service, the ''Oberon''-class submarines were in length

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

and in

length 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, an ...

, with a beam of , and a draught of . Displacement was 1,610 tons standard, 2,030 tons full load when surfaced, and 2,410 tons full load when submerged. Propulsion machinery consisted of 2 Admiralty Standard Range 16 VMS diesel generators, and two electric motors, each driving a 3-bladed propeller at up to 400 rpm. Top speed was when submerged, and on the surface. Eight diameter torpedo tubes were fitted (six facing forward, two aft), with a total payload of 24 torpedoes. The boats were fitted with Type 186 and Type 187 sonars, and an

I-band The NATO I band is the obsolete designation given to the radio frequencies from 8 000 to 10 000 MHz (equivalent to wavelengths between 3.75 and 3 cm) during the Cold War period. Since 1992 frequency allocations, allotment and assignments are ...

surface search radar. The standard complement was 68: 6 officers, 62 sailors. ''Onyx'' was laid down by

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

on 16 November 1964, and launched on 18 August 1966. During the Onyx's construction there was an explosion which took the life of a shipyard worker and severely wounded communist union leader Barry Williams. The boat was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 20 November 1967. ''Onyx'' was ordered after a previous ''Oberon''-class submarine of the same name (laid down by

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...

in 1962) was transferred to the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

as before launching in February 1964.

Operational history

The first commission of ''Onyx'' saw her visit

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

in South

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

for the investiture of His Royal Highness

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...

. She also attended the bicentennial celebrations of the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in 1976.

Falklands War

''Onyx'' was the only non-nuclear submarine of the Royal Navy to take part in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

.The diesel submarine went south with a special 5 man diving chamber and fully armed with 10 MK 24, 2 Mk 20 and 11 Mk 8 torpedoes The smaller displacement of ''Onyx'' compared to the nuclear submarines made her ideal for landing SBS marines ashore on the

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in shallow waters.Bonds, Ray and Miller, David (2003). ''illustrated Directory of Special Forces''. Zenith Imprint, p. 109. During one of these missions, ''Onyx'' hit an uncharted pinnacle while submerged at and suffered minor damage to her bow.

Ewen Southby-Tailyour Lieutenant Colonel Ewen Southby-Tailyour, (born 18 January 1942) is a British author, sailor, and retired Royal Marine. He served for 32 years in the Royal Marines and, after retiring, he concentrated on his sailing and writing careers and has w ...

, ''Exocet Falklands''Ships Monthly, Volume 28. Waterway Productions Ltd., 1993 Other claims are the damage was inflicted by one of two torpedoes dropped by an Argentine Navy S-2E Tracker from '' ARA Veinticinco de Mayo'' operating 70 NM off the Argentine coast, which had been lost by its RN SSN tail. The Tracker S-2 twice detected sub-surface and electronic traces and a MAD contact on 5–6 May while searching for the which was out of contact after being hit by

Sea Skua The Sea Skua is a British lightweight short-range air-to-surface missile (ASM) designed for use from helicopters against ships. It was primarily used by the Royal Navy on the Westland Lynx. Although the missile is intended for helicopter use, Kuw ...

missiles launched by Lynx helicopters. Contrary to some reports, after the British cancelled

Operation Mikado Operation Mikado was the code name of a military plan by the United Kingdom to use Special Air Service troops to attack the home base of Argentina's five Super Etendard strike fighters at Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, during the 1982 Falklands ...

, there was never a plan to use ''Onyx'' to land the SAS in order to destroy Argentina's remaining stockpile of

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

missiles. Prior to the submarine being damaged the SBS had been embarked to attack a mainland airfield but this operation, too, was cancelled. Postwar, ''Onyx'' sank the hulk of the landing ship ''Sir Galahad'' with a Mk 8 Torpedo after firing two Mk 24 Tigerfish, the second Tigerfish, after a ten-minute delay, at the hulk; both failed to explode probably due to torpedo battery faults. ''Sir Galahad'' had been damaged beyond repair during an

Argentine Air Force "Argentine Wings" , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 August (anniversary) 1 May (Baptism of fire during the Falklands War) , equipment = 139 aircraft , equipment_label = , battles = * Operation Independence * Operation Soberanía * Falklan ...

raid at Fitzroy and Bluff Cove.

Decommissioning and preservation attempts

Defence cuts in the UK saw the Royal Navy dispense with its diesel-powered submarines to concentrate on nuclear attack submarines. In 1991, ''Onyx'' was decommissioned from the navy. She was then cared for by the Warship Preservation Trust and was on public display alongside several other ships in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, UK. In May 2006, ''Onyx'' was sold to the

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

businessman Joe Mullen, for a reported £100,000 as a 'gift to the people of Barrow'. She left Birkenhead on 13 June 2006 to form the centrepiece of The Submarine Heritage Centre, a new heritage museum in Barrow-in-Furness,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, as a celebration to the town's illustrious submarine-building history. After the submarine museum went into debt she was taken by an unknown liquidation company as a financial asset, to be broken up for scrap. A small party from HMS ''Exploit'' gave her a send off recognising her contribution to the Navy and country in the cold war and Falklands conflict. On 30 April 2014 she was sailed from Barrow in tow for the Clyde and berthed at

Rosneath Rosneath (''Ros Neimhidh'' in Gaelic) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited ...

amid continued uncertainty as to whether at least part of ''Onyx'' might be preserved. ''Onyx'' was alongside Rosneath Jetty on the

Gare Loch The Gare Loch or Gareloch ( gd, An Gearr Loch) is an open sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland and bears a similar name to the village of Gairloch in the north west Highlands. The loch is well used for sailing, recreational boating, list of w ...

, Scotland on 18 July 2014. She was scrapped in Rosneath later that year.

References

External links