HMS Onyx (S21)

2024-12-21T04:35:54Z

2601:602:8701:D455:846E:E206:314B:D4CA: /* Decommissioning and preservation attempts */

{{short description|Submarine of the Royal Navy}}

{{other ships|HMS Onyx}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= Hms_onyx_s21.jpg
|Ship caption= HMS ''Onyx''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Onyx''
|Ship namesake=[[Onyx]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Cammell Laird]], [[Birkenhead]]
|Ship laid down=16 November 1964
|Ship launched=18 August 1966
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=20 November 1967
|Ship decommissioned=1991
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Scrapped May 2014
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Header caption=as designed
|Ship class={{sclass|Oberon|submarine}}
|Ship displacement=*1,610 tons standard
*2,030 tons full load surfaced
*2,410 tons full load submerged
|Ship length=*{{convert|241|ft}} [[between perpendiculars]]
*{{convert|295.2|ft}} [[length overall]]
|Ship beam={{convert|26.5|ft}}
|Ship draught={{convert|18|ft}}
|Ship power=
|Ship propulsion=*2 × Admiralty Standard Range 16 VMS diesel generators
*2 × {{convert|3,000|shp}} electric motors
*2 shafts
|Ship speed=*{{convert|17|kn}} submerged
*{{convert|12|kn}} surfaced
|Ship range=
|Ship endurance=
|Ship test depth=
|Ship complement=68
|Ship sensors=*Type 186 and Type 187 sonars
*I-band surface search radar
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*8 × {{convert|21|in|adj=on}} torpedo tubes (6 forward, 2 aft)
*24 torpedoes
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Onyx''''' was an {{sclass|Oberon|submarine}} of the [[Royal Navy]].

==Design and construction==
{{main|Oberon-class submarine}}
The ''Oberon'' class was a direct follow on of the [[British Porpoise-class submarine|''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]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Chant |first=Christopher |title=Submarine Warfare Today: The World's Deadliest Underwater Weapons Systems |publisher=Silverdale Books |location=Wigston |date=2005 |isbn=1-84509-158-2|oclc=156749009 |page={{page needed|date=June 2015}}}}</ref>

As designed for British service, the ''Oberon''-class submarines were {{convert|241|ft}} in length [[between perpendiculars]] and {{convert|295.2|ft}} in [[length overall]], with a beam of {{convert|26.5|ft}}, and a draught of {{convert|18|ft}}.<ref name=Moore490>{{cite book |editor=Moore, John |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1977-78 |edition=80th |year=1977 |series=[[Jane's Fighting Ships]] |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |location=London |isbn=0531032779 |oclc=18207174 |page=490}}</ref> Displacement was 1,610 tons standard, 2,030 tons full load when surfaced, and 2,410 tons full load when submerged.<ref name=Moore490/> Propulsion machinery consisted of two Admiralty Standard Range 16 VMS diesel generators, and two {{convert|3,000|shp|adj=on}} electric motors, each driving a {{convert|7|ft||adj=mid|diameter}} three-bladed propeller at up to 400 rpm.<ref name=Moore490/> Top speed was {{convert|17|kn}} when submerged, and {{convert|12|kn}} on the surface.<ref name=Moore490/> Eight {{convert|21|in|adj=on}} diameter torpedo tubes were fitted (six facing forward, two aft), with a total payload of 24 torpedoes.<ref name=Moore490/> The boats were fitted with Type 186 and Type 187 sonars, and an [[I band (NATO)|I-band]] surface search radar.<ref name=Moore490/> The standard complement was 68: 6 officers, 62 sailors.<ref name=Moore490/>

''Onyx'' was laid down by [[Cammell Laird]] on 16 November 1964, and launched on 18 August 1966. During ''Onyx''{{'}}s construction there was an explosion which took the life of a shipyard worker and severely wounded communist union leader [[Barry Williams (politician)|Barry Williams]].<ref name=Moore490/> The boat was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 20 November 1967.<ref name=Moore490/> ''Onyx'' was ordered after a previous ''Oberon''-class submarine of the same name (laid down by [[Chatham Dockyard]] in 1962) was transferred to the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] as {{HMCS|Ojibwa|S72|6}} before launching in February 1964.<ref name=Moore490/>

==Operational history==
{{expand section|date=June 2015}}
The first commission of ''Onyx'' saw her visit [[Swansea]] in South [[Wales]] for the investiture of His Royal Highness [[Charles, Prince of Wales|The Prince of Wales]]. She also attended the bicentennial celebrations of the [[United States|United States of America]] in 1976.

===Falklands War===
''Onyx'' was the only non-nuclear submarine of the Royal Navy to take part in the [[Falklands War]].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 <ref>P. Hennessy & J. Jinks. The Silent Deep.The RN Submarine Service since 1945. Allen Lane (2015) London, p 444</ref>

''Onyx'' was tasked with providing reconnaissance photographs of enemy installations enforcing the exclusion zone around the Falklands.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT, APRIL - JUNE 1982 |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205018850 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Imperial War Museums}}</ref> Her smaller displacement compared to the nuclear submarines also made her ideal for landing [[Special Boat Service|SBS]] and [[Special Air Service|SAS]] special forces, picked up from [[Ascension Island]], ashore on the [[Falkland Islands|islands]] in shallow waters.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Bonds2003">Bonds, Ray and Miller, David (2003). ''illustrated Directory of Special Forces''. Zenith Imprint, p. 109. {{ISBN|0-7603-1419-5}}</ref> The charts used for these landings, however, were made 200 years before the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dean Rogers from the RNRMC recalls the end of the Falklands conflict {{!}} The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity |url=https://www.rnrmc.org.uk/news/dean-rogers-rnrmc-recalls-end-falklands-conflict |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.rnrmc.org.uk}}</ref>

During one of these missions, ''Onyx'' hit an uncharted pinnacle while submerged at {{convert|150|ft}} and suffered minor damage to her bow.<ref name="Exocet">[[Ewen Southby-Tailyour]], ''Exocet Falklands''</ref><ref name="Ships1993">Ships Monthly, Volume 28. Waterway Productions Ltd., 1993</ref> Another claim is that the damage was inflicted by one of two torpedoes dropped by an Argentine Navy [[Grumman S-2 Tracker|S-2E Tracker]] aircraft<ref>J C Cicalesi & S Rivas, 'Argentine Strike Frustrated' in Warship International Fleet Review, August 2007, p 40</ref> from {{ship|ARA|Veinticinco de Mayo|V-2|6}} operating {{convert|70|nmi}} off the Argentine coast. The Tracker S-2 twice detected sub-surface and electronic traces and a [[magnetic anomaly detector]] contact on 5–6 May while searching for {{ship|ARA|Alférez Sobral}} which was out of contact after being hit by [[Sea Skua]] missiles launched by [[Westland Lynx]] helicopters.

Contrary to some reports,<ref name="Telegraph2002-03-08">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/1387091/SAS-suicide-mission-to-wipe-out-Exocets.html|title=SAS 'suicide mission' to wipe out Exocets|publisher=The Telegraph|date=2002-03-08|access-date=2011-12-16}}</ref> after the British cancelled [[Operation Mikado]], there was never a plan to use ''Onyx'' to land the SAS in order to destroy Argentina's remaining stockpile of [[Exocet]] missiles. Prior to the submarine being damaged the SBS had been embarked to attack a mainland airfield but this operation, too, was cancelled.<ref name="Exocet" />

Postwar, ''Onyx'' sank the hulk of the landing ship {{RFAux|Sir Galahad|1966|6}} 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<ref>P. Hennessy & J Jinks. The Silent Deep. The RN Submarine Service since 1945. Allen Lane (2015) London, pp. 443–444, 451–452</ref> probably due to torpedo battery faults. ''Sir Galahad'' had been damaged beyond repair during an [[Argentine air forces in the Falklands War|Argentine Air Force]] raid at [[Bluff Cove Air Attacks|Fitzroy and Bluff Cove]].

==Decommissioning and preservation attempts==
[[File:Historic warships Birkenhead - geograph.org.uk - 60479.jpg|thumb|''Onyx'' and other ships at Birkenhead in 2005]]
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]], UK.

In May 2006, ''Onyx'' was sold to the [[Barrow-in-Furness]] businessman Joe Mullen, for a reported £100,000 as a 'gift to the people of Barrow'. She left Birkenhead on 13 June 2006<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.photoboxgallery.com/MaritimeAviationNews/collection?album_id=94092267& |title=Photo: HMS Onyx leaves Birkenhead|access-date=12 August 2007}}</ref> to form the centrepiece of The Submarine Heritage Centre, a new heritage museum in Barrow-in-Furness, [[Cumbria]], 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]] amid continued uncertainty as to whether at least part of ''Onyx'' might be preserved.<ref>{{cite news|title=Remains of submarine in Barrow dock set to be scrapped|url=http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/remains-of-submarine-in-barrow-dock-set-to-be-scrapped-1.1131486|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=North West Evening Mail|date=23 April 2014|location=Barrow-in-Furness|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502055928/http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/remains-of-submarine-in-barrow-dock-set-to-be-scrapped-1.1131486|archive-date=2 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Falklands veteran sub leaves Barrow and embarks on her final voyage|url=http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/falklands-veteran-sub-leaves-barrow-and-embarks-on-her-final-voyage-1.1133207|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=North West Evening Mail|date=1 May 2014|location=Barrow-in-Furness|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502054803/http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/falklands-veteran-sub-leaves-barrow-and-embarks-on-her-final-voyage-1.1133207|archive-date=2 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Onyx'' was alongside Rosneath Jetty on the [[Gare Loch]], Scotland on 18 July 2014. She was scrapped in Rosneath later that year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.drbmarine.co.uk/hms-onyx.html|title = RB Marine Services Limited}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[British Naval Forces in the Falklands War]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.submarineheritage.com/ The Submarine Heritage Centre]

{{Oberon class submarine}}
{{Falklands War British ships}}
{{National Historic Ships}}
{{1982 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onyx (S21)}}
[[Category:Oberon-class submarines of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Mersey]]
[[Category:1966 ships]]
[[Category:Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1982]]

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HMS Onyx (S21)