A most unusual sight one will come across when travelling along the Hume Hwy and passing through
Holbrook NSW is a huge Submarine sitting in a
park such a long way from the ocean, HMAS OTWAY was the second of 6 submarines built for the Royal Australian Navy at Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company,at
Greenock, in Scotland.
The Otway was Launched 29th November 1966 and Commissioned on 22nd April 1968, The "O" Class
Oberon boats were considered among the very best of the conventional submarines in the world being very quiet and stealthy when diving and almost undetectable when on patrol.
During the years following the change of name from "Germanton" to "Holbrook", Norman
Holbrook made a number of visits to the town before his untimely death in 1976. In 1982 his widow, Gundula
Holbrook donated his medals to the town. The unlikely link between the inland farming town and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Submarine Squadron developed between 1986 and 1992 when submariners were given Freedom of Entry to the Shire.
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Today,
Holbrook's vision of erecting a fitting
memorial to Australian submariners has become a reality. Following the Navy's gift of the decommisioned OTWAY's 'fin' in 1995, a submarine working party was formed to investigate ways of obtaining a real submarine and overseeing its erection. Finance was the biggest stumbling block. Several thousand dollars were raised by public spirited people and organisations who believed in the project. Then out of the blue came the amazing gift of $100,000 from Gundula
Holbrook, widow of the late Commander Norman D
Holbrook. Mrs
Holbrook's generosity has enabled the project to forge ahead. In 1995, when the decommissioned OTWAY was being disposed of, an unsuccessful tender by
Holbrook led to
discussions and eventually the purchase of the 'outer skin to the waterline' from a
Sydney scrap yard.
Resolving the problem of moving the submarine inland, the structure was cut into sections and transported by semi-trailer down the Hume Highway. It was reconstructed at
Holbrook with the assistance of a team of unemployed trainees during the New Work Opportunities Program co-ordinated by
Billabong Skill Share and
Holbrook Shire Council.
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The spectacular, traffic-stopping inland submarine is a fitting
memorial to those brave men who serve and have served in submarines in both war and peace.
Development of a Submarine Museum housing photographs, submarine components and mock areas of the submarine interior such as engine room, galley and living quarters is now open and worth a visit.
AUSTRALIAN
OBERON CLASS SUBMARINE SPECIFICATIONS
Builder: Scotts Shipbuilding adn Engineering Company,
Greenock, Scotland
Displacement: 2070 tonnes
Length: 89.9 metres
Beam: 8.1 metres
Two English electric main propulsion motors with two Admiralty standard range diesel generators.
Submerged speed more than 15 knots
Each of the RAN's
Oberon Class submarines was a tube of steel 18ft in diameter and 300ft long.
Within its dimensions each submarine housed, Living quarters for 64 men, 22 weapons, consisting of torpedoes, missiles and mines each capable of sinking, or damaging a large ship.The equivalent of 9,400 car batteries, Two road tankers of lubricating oil.
Two generators with the capacity of Dubbo power station.