HMS Oxley (originally HMAS Oxley) was an Odin-classsubmarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) then Royal Navy (RN). Very slightly off course, near Obrestad, on the south-western cape of Norway, she was hit by friendly fire seven days after the start of World War II costing 53 lives and leaving two survivors.
The Odin-classsubmarines were built to a slightly modified design for Australian service.[1] They were 275 feet (84m) in length overall, with a beam of 29feet 7inches (9.02m), and a mean draught of 13feet 3inches (4.04m).[1] Displacement was 1,350 tons when surfaced, and 1,870 tons when submerged.[1] The boats had diesel motors for surface running and electricity generation, but when underwater ran off electric motors.[1] They had two propeller shafts.[1] Maximum speed was 15.5 knots (28.7km/h; 17.8mph) on the surface, and 9 knots (17km/h; 10mph) when dived.[1]Oxley had a ship's company of 54.[1] Armament consisted of eight 21-inch (530mm) torpedo tubes (six facing forward, two facing aft), one 4-inch (100mm) deck gun, and two machine guns.[1]
Oxley was laid down by Vickers-Armstrong Limited at Barrow-in-Furness, England in March 1925, under the designation OA1.[2][3] She was launched on 29 June 1926, completed on 22 July 1927, and commissioned into the RAN on 1 April 1927.[3] The submarine was named after explorer John Oxley.[2]
Operational history
After commissioning, Oxley and Otway were temporarily assigned to the Royal Navy's 5th Submarine Flotilla.[1] On 8 February 1928, the two submarines set out for Australia in the longest unescorted voyage undertaken by a British submarine.[1] The submarines were diverted to Malta after cracks were found on Otway's engine columns.[1] On arrival in Malta, similar fractures were found in Oxley's engine columns, and the two boats were detained while improved columns were fabricated and installed.[1] They resumed their voyage in November, and reached Sydney on 14 February 1929.[1] Because of the deteriorating financial conditions leading into the Great Depression, the two submarines were placed into reserve a year later;[1]Oxley was paid off into Reserve on 10 May 1930.[3]Oxley underwent diving exercises every second week until 9 April 1931,[3] when the submarine was paid off in full prior to transfer to the RN.[3]
The ongoing cost of maintaining the boats, coupled with the tonnage limits imposed by the London Naval Treaty prompted the Australian government to offer Oxley and Otway to the Royal Navy.[1] The submarines were transferred and commissioned on 10 April 1931.[1]
On 29 April, Oxley and Otway (which had also been recommissioned into the RN) left Sydney for Malta.[3] At the onset of war the submarine was a member of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla. From 26 to 29 August 1939, the 2nd Submarine Flotilla deployed to its war bases at Dundee and Blyth.[4] Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Oxley was assigned to patrol duties off the coast of Norway.[3] She was assigned the pennant number 55.[2]
On 10 September 1939, Oxley was sunk by HMS Triton. Oxley was the first British submarine lost during the Second World War.[2]
When the Admiralty was notified that British Government would declare war on Germany, five submarines of the Second Flotilla, including HMS Triton and HMS Oxley, were ordered to patrol on the Obrestad line off Norway on 24 August 1939. Thus, on 3 September all British submarines were in their combat patrol sectors.
At 19:55 on 10 September 1939, Triton had surfaced, fixed a position off the Obrestad Light, set a slow zigzag patrol, and began charging batteries. Lieutenant Commander Steel, having verified that the area was clear and having posted lookouts, gave the bridge to the officer of the watch and went below, leaving orders that he was to be called if anything unusual appeared. At 20:45, he was called to the bridge when an object in the water could be seen very fine on the port bow.
Steel ordered propulsion shifted to the main motors, the signalman to the bridge, and torpedo tubes 7 and 8 readied for firing. The object was recognised as a submarine low in the water.
Once on the bridge, the signalman sent three challenges over several minutes with the box lamp, none of which were answered. Steel wondered if the boat could be HMS Oxley, which should have been patrolling next in line, but some distance away. Steel and his bridge crew studied the silhouette, but could not distinguish what type of submarine it was.
A fourth challenge was sent: three green rifle-grenade flares. After firing, Steel counted slowly to 15 and then decided that they were seeing a German U-boat. He ordered tubes 7 and 8 fired with a three-second interval. Less than a minute later, an explosion was heard.
Triton moved into the area to investigate and heard cries for help. The light from the Aldis lamp revealed three men floundering amid oil and debris.
Lieutenant Guy C. I. St.B. Watkins and Lieutenant Harry A. Stacey entered the water and rescued Lieutenant Commander H.G. Bowerman, Oxley's commanding officer, as well as Able Seaman Herbert Guckes, a lookout. The third person in the water, Lieutenant F.K. Manley, was seen to be swimming strongly when he suddenly sank from view. Neither Manley's body nor any other survivors from Oxley were found.
A Board of Enquiry found that Steel had done all he reasonably could in the circumstances. Oxley was out of position, Triton had acted correctly, and the first Allied submarine casualty of World War II was due to "friendly fire." During the war, the loss of Oxley was attributed to an accidental explosion. After the war, it was explained to have been a collision with Triton. The truth was not made public until the 1950s.
Memorial
As Oxley was operating from Dundee (code/base name "HMS Ambrose") with the 2nd Submarine Flotilla when sunk, the 53 of her crew that died are all commemorated on the Dundee International Submarine Memorial.[5] Two crewmen survived.
HMS Triton was a submarine of the Royal Navy named for the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, the personification of the roaring waters. She was the lead ship of the T class of diesel-electric submarines. Her keel was laid down on 28 August 1936 by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched on 5 October 1937, and commissioned on 9 November 1938.
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HMS J2 was a J-class submarine operated by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.
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HMS J4 was a J-class submarine operated by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.
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HMS Trump was a British submarine of the third group of the T class. She was built by Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow, and launched on 25 March 1944. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy (RN) to bear the name Trump. She spent the majority of her life attached to the 4th Submarine Squadron based in Australia. She was kept in service following the war and was refitted for greater underwater performance, and was the final RN submarine to be posted in Australia, departing in January 1969. She was sold off and broken up for scrap in August 1971.
HMAS Vampire was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was lent to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II. Reactivated for war service, the destroyer served in the Mediterranean as part of the Scrap Iron Flotilla, and was escorting the British warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse during their loss to Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea in December 1941. Vampire was sunk on 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft while sailing with the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes from Trincomalee.
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A infantry landing ship was one of a number of types of British Commonwealth vessels used to transport landing craft and troops engaged in amphibious warfare during the Second World War. LSIs were operated by the Royal Navy, British Merchant Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Indian Navy, and Royal Australian Navy. They transported British Commonwealth and other Allied troops in sea assaults and invasions throughout the war.
HMS Swordfish (61S) was a first-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. Commissioned in 1932, she was given the pennant number 61S and was assigned to the 2nd Submarine Flotilla.
HMAS Otway was an Oberon-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of the first four Oberon-class boats ordered for the RAN, Otway was built in Scotland during the mid-1960s, and commissioned into naval service in 1968. The submarine was decommissioned in 1994. The submarine's upper casing, fin, and stern are preserved at Holbrook, New South Wales.
HMS Otway was an Odin-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Navy (RN).
HMAS Oxley was an Oberon-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
HMS Starfish was a first-batch S-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. Completed in 1933, she participated in the Second World War.
HMS L27 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat was not completed before the end of the war and was one of three L-class boats to serve during World War II. She served as training boat before being broken up in 1944.
HMS L26 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat was not completed before the end of the war and was one of three L-class boats to serve during World War II. She was sunk as a target in 1946.
Dundee International Submarine Memorial commemorates the 296 sailors and commandos lost on operations from the submarine base at Dundee in Scotland, HMS Ambrose, during World War II.
References
Bastock, John (1975). Australia's Ships of War. Cremorne, NSW: Angus and Robertson. ISBN0207129274. OCLC2525523.
Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Revised & Expandeded.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-119-2.
External links
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