page_title: HMAS Onslow
section_title: 1990–1999
hierarchical_section_title: HMAS Onslow / Operational history / 1990–1999
caption_attribution_description: HMAS Onslow
context_page_description: HMAS Onslow was one of six Oberon-class submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy. The submarine was named after the town of Onslow, Western Australia, and Sir Alexander Onslow, with the boat's motto and badge derived from Onslow's family heritage. Ordered in 1963, Onslow was laid down at the end of 1967 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Scotland, launched almost a year later, and commissioned into the RAN at the end of 1968.
  Although never involved in war, three major incidents occurred during Onslow's career. The first occurred in 1972, when a disgruntled sailor who disobeyed orders caused the submarine to dive to almost twice her safe operating depth. As a result, the RAN changed the Submarine Service from being able to "conscript" any sailor for submarine service to volunteer only.
  The second happened in 1981, when carbon monoxide fumes from one of the diesel generators filled the submarine, resulting in the death of one sailor. Although changes were made to submarine operating procedures, the boat's company was not provided with any psychological counselling, and the incident report remained classified until 2009.
context_section_description: In the early 1990s, four of Onslow's sister boats were decommissioned from service. By 1996, Onslow and Otama were the only members of the class in active service.
  During 1995, Onslow was deployed to South East Asia. During this deployment, the personnel of Onslow were involved in a controversial line-crossing ceremony while operating near the equator. During this particular ceremony, normally intended to induct new sailors into the 'court of King Neptune', the victims were verbally and physically abused, had their pelvises and genitals covered in what was described as a "blistering concoction", then thrown overboard and forced to stay there until the rest of the company permitted them on board. When one of the victimised sailors complained to superiors, he became subject to several administrative errors and inconveniences, to the point where he was forced to resign a year later. The sailor acquired a copy of a videotape made of the ceremony and presented it to the Nine Network, which broke the story on 6 July 1999. An inquiry into the incident aboard Onslow was held, which found that although guidelines had been developed in the years after the incident to prevent harassment in the Australian Defence Force, disciplinary charges against the sailors involved could not be laid, as more than three years had passed since the offence. The inquiry also stated that while line-crossing ceremonies would continue to be held aboard RAN vessels, they would be supervised by a non-involved member of the crew to prevent similar extreme situations developing. The deployment ended in December, with Onslow visiting her namesake town for the last time on her return to Australia.
  On the evening of 16 April 1997, three Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldiers were injured when they were thrown from their Zodiac boat during launch and recovery exercises with the submarine. Later that year, in November, Onslow participated in a joint RAN-RAAF exercise off the coast of Western Australia. Over the end of 1997 and the start of 1998, Onslow and Otama were used for trials of the Australian-designed Narama towed array sonar. The Narama sonar was one of the towed arrays under consideration for incorporation with the under-development Collins-class submarines, and was the array selected.
  In mid-1998, the date of Onslow's decommissioning was announced for early 1999. Representatives from the town of Onslow, Western Australia requested that the submarine visit her namesake town before decommissioning, but were informed that the submarine's planned operational schedule could not accommodate such a visit. As part of this schedule, Onslow participated in the 1998 RIMPAC exercise. The submarine had to pull out of the early part of the exercise: a resistor in the motor room switchboard had begun to smoke, forcing Onslow to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. She departed on 12 July, but was forced to return less than 24 hours later when a smouldering smell was noticed. The boat's luck changed during the latter part of RIMPAC 98, when on the morning of 10 August, Onslow located the 'enemy' Nimitz-class USS Carl Vinson, closed to within 300 metres (980 ft) without being detected, then released green flares to indicate her location, 'sinking' the supercarrier. From 7 November onwards, Onslow was used as the target submarine for the annual Fincastle competition. Onslow operated on a secret patrol course 130 nautical miles (240 km; 150 mi) south of Kangaroo Island while aircraft from the competing Australian, British, Canadian, and New Zealand air forces attempted to locate and 'sink' her. No. 5 Squadron RNZAF was declared the winner, although all teams were successful in locating the submarine during at least one of their three attempts.
caption: Bunks onboard HMAS Onslow
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