Fates
As of 2006, at least fourteen Oberons are confirmed to have survived in some form. Seven have been preserved and converted into museum vessels or tourist attractions. Two have been partially preserved as monuments, while another five are awaiting conversion for museum work, or are otherwise awaiting disposal.
Two of the ex-Royal Navy submarines have been preserved in the UK. HMS Onyx has now moved to Barrow-in-Furness after the museum at Birkenhead, Merseyside closed, where another Falklands veteran, the frigate HMS Plymouth, has remained. The other boat, Ocelot, is located at Chatham. Otus is harboured in Sassnitz, Germany on the island of Rügen and can be visited. Another two British Oberons were transferred to Canada: Olympus as a non-commissioned training vessel, and Osiris for spare parts. The other British submarines were disposed of.
Australia's six Oberons have been preserved and are on display, either completely or partially. HMAS Ovens is located at the Western Australian Maritime Museum at Fremantle, while HMAS Onslow is located at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. The fin, outer hull, and stern section of HMAS Otway are preserved on land at Holbrook, New South Wales. HMAS Otama is located at Westernport Bay, Victoria, where she has been awaiting conversion into a museum vessel since 2000; a lack of funding and cooperation from local and state governments means that the volunteer group hoping to preserve Otama attempted to sell the submarine on eBay but to no avail. HMAS Oxley's fin stands as a permanent memorial at HMAS Stirling, Garden Island, Western Australia. HMAS Orion's fin stands as a permanent memorial at Rockingham Naval Memorial Park in Western Australia.
In 2005, it was announced that the four surviving Canadian submarines (minus Osiris, which was scrapped in 1992 after being stripped for parts) were to be sold for scrapping, as they had deteriorated beyond the point of use. Onondaga was purchased for C$4 plus tax by the Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père for use as a museum vessel, and was towed from Halifax to Pointe-au-Père, Quebec in July 2008. In July 2011, Olympus was towed to a scrapyard in Port Maitland, Ontario, with Okanagan to be delivered to the same scrapyard in August 2011. Ojibwa has been earmarked for preservation at the Elgin Military Museum.
One of the Brazilian Oberons (Tonelero) sank while docked at the navy yards at the Praça Mauá on Rio de Janeiro, on 24 December 2000. The surviving Brazilian Oberon, Riachuelo, was converted into a museum at the Brazilian Navy Cultural Center (Espaço Cultural da Marinha Brasileira) in Rio de Janeiro.
The Chilean Navy sold O'Brien to the city of Valdivia, to be converted into the first submarine museum of Chile. The submarine is to be modified in Asenav shipyard with better access for general public and to be moored in the Calle-Calle river that cross the city.
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Famous quotes containing the word fates:
“On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s life also, in our own, to the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This Day, whate’er the Fates decree;
Shall still be kept with Joy by me:
This Day then, let us not be told,
That you are sick, and I grown old,”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“However, our fates at least are social. Our courses do not diverge; but as the web of destiny is woven it is fulled, and we are cast more and more into the centre. Men naturally, though feebly, seek this alliance, and their actions faintly foretell it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)