HMAS Oxley (S 57) was an Oberon class

Oberon class submarine

The Oberon class was a 27-boat class of British-built diesel-electric submarines based on the successful British Porpoise-class submarine....

 submarine 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 Oxley) 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 3,500 brake horsepower and 4,500 shaft horsepower; 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) below sea level. 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. During the 1980s, 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.

Oxley 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 2 June 1964, launched on 24 September 1965 and commissioned into the RAN on 21 March 1967.

Decommissioning and fate

Oxley paid off on 13 February 1992 and was scrapped. Her fin is on display outside the Submarine Training and Systems Centre at HMAS Stirling

HMAS Stirling

HMAS Stirling is the Royal Australian Navy's primary base on the west coast of Australia. It is located on Garden Island in the state of Western Australia, near the city of Perth...

 and her bow is preserved at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.