HMAS Otway submarine - Holbrook, Australia
Posted by: 
ThePacman
S 35° 43.147 E 147° 19.045
55H E 528709 N 6047158
The display of the submarine HMAS Otway is the main tourist attraction of the small inland town of Holbrook, New South Wales.
Waymark Code: WMNWAF
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 05/10/2015
Views: 9
HMAS Otway was an Oberon-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy. It was built in Scotland during the mid-1960s and commissioned into naval service in 1968.
It is 90m long with a beam of 8m. It displaced 2,030 tons when surfaced and 2,410 tons when submerged. The submarine could travel at up to 17 knots when submerged, and had a range of 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km). Up to 64 sailors could be accommodated.
The submarine was decommissioned in 1994.
Holbrook had strong ties to submarines since World War I when the town was renamed after British submariner and Victoria Cross recipient Norman Holbrook, so in 1995 the HMAS Otway's fin was gifted to the Holbrook community by the Navy. The community then decided to purchase the whole submarine, and raised some finances with a sizeable donation of $100,000 from Gundual Holbrook, widow of the late Commander Norman Holbrook. They were then able to acquire the outer skin of the HMAS Otway from the Sydney scrapyard who had purchased the submarine from the Navy in 1995.
The submarine was moved inland by cutting the structure into sections, transporting them by semi-trailer down the Hume Highway, and then reassembled with the help of unemployed trainees on site at Holbrook. The HMAS Otway's upper casing, fin, and stern are now preserved at the Holbrook Submarine Museum. It was dedicated as a submarine memorial on the 7th June 1997, and is a fitting memorial to all the brave men who served in submarines in both war and peace.
The "Official Tourism" URL link to the attraction: [Web Link]
The attraction’s own URL: [Web Link]
Hours of Operation:
Outside display
Admission Prices:
Free
Approximate amount of time needed to fully experience the attraction: Up to 1 hour
Transportation options to the attraction: Personal Vehicle Only
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