Submarines

Association

Australia 

HMAS ONSLOW





Crest


"HASTEN SLOWLY"
22 December 1969 - 29 March 1999

HMAS Onslow was named after an Australian river. The name comes from a family well known in early Australian history. The founder was Arthur Pooley Onslow who carried out surveying duties for the administration during the early part of of the 19th century and then became Justice of the Peace. He had two sons, Arthur Alexander and Alexander Campbell.

The first joined the Navy, retired after achieving the rank of Captain and then entered politics. the second was called to the English Bar in 1868, became Attorney General of Western Australia and finally the state's Chief Justice in 1883. He was knighted in 1895. The town of Onslow in Western Australia is named after this brother.

The significant aspects of the submarines crest are a Chief Justice's wig and a bunch of flowers used by the justice when investigating the case of the rather smelly prisoners who predominated in those days. The submarine's motto "Festina Lente" is latin for Hasten Slowly.

The first hull section was placed in position on the 29th of May, 1967 by Commodore DHD Smith RAN. The submarine was launched by HRH Princess Alexandria on the 22nd of December, 1969 at Scott's Shipyards in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.



On 1 March 1981, Onslow participated in wargames with a Royal New Zealand Navy frigate off the coast of Sydney. While operating at periscope depth, the submarine spotted an 'enemy' P-3C Orion aircraft and stopped snorting (the process of taking in air to operate the boat's two diesel generators and expelling the produced exhaust through a snorkel) in preparation to go deep. Both generators were turned off, but upon diving, it was quickly discovered that the starboard diesel had failed to switch off or had restarted and as the exhaust snorkel was sealed, the carbon monoxide exhaust filled the submarine. Onslow rapidly resurfaced, and the exhaust was pumped from the submarine. Able Seaman Christopher Passlow, who had been on the lower deck of the submarine at the time, died of asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning, while another eighteen were rendered unconscious or were convulsing because of blood poisoning. Upon returning to base, doctors found that one-third of the 66 survivors had absorbed twice the lethal limit of carbon monoxide into their blood. The crew onboard were taken to Soldiers Beach surf club and provided with free alcohol for 3 days before returning back to duties. They were not compensated in any other way as stated they were by the RAN.

The RAN Board of Inquiry into the incident concluded that the accident was caused by human error—the duty engineer failed to shut down both engines—but members of Onslow's complement disagree with this, claiming the problem to be mechanical in origin. Changes were made to Submarine Service operating procedures as a result of the Inquiry, but the investigation and subsequent report remained classified until 2009, when the information was acquired by the Sunday Night newsmagazine program under the Freedom of Information Act. When interviewed by Sunday Night in March 2009, the deputy Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas (who had been Passlow's divisional officer prior to the incident) promised counselling for the survivors, and claimed that prior treatment of the Onslow submariners was due to a limited understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder back in the 1980s.


During her career, Onslow became the first conventionally powered submarine to be fitted with anti-ship missiles, and was successful in wargames, "sinking" a seven-ship flotilla during Exercise Kangaroo 3 in 1980 and the United States supercarrier USS Carl Vinson at RIMPAC 1998. After being decommissioned in March 1999, Onslow was then presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum in April, where she is preserved as a museum ship.

Images of HMAS Onslow over the years

LCDR CAB
Nixon-Eckersall RN  CO 
LEUT TDA Bowra XO  LCDR GD White  LEUT BC Clarke 
 LEUT MT Dunne LEUT GD Anderson   SBLT KF Pitt  
SBLT GW Fisher      
     
CPO Cox'n RW Budd †  CSAW DJ Luck   MECH JC Sneyd  
ERA CC Corney   MECH DJ Elliott †   POUC L Clarkson 
POME HJ Rutter RS G O'Keefe †  POEWR WC Watego  
LSUC RA Hardwicke LME JR Dale  LME CG Stocker  
LRO JL Brown   LEMP KG Thompson   LEMP KG Thompson  
 ABUW RT Kelly ABRO RV Sylvester †  EMWR PKR Thorpe 
ABUW DK Petty ABRO ME Regan   ME RF Wilson 
ABUC IP Haw ME AC Ellard  ABUC NH Steyn  
ME JE Clelland ME RW Mees  ME MJ Hamilton  
ME RW Evans CME HJ Carey †  CERA RJ Dunstan  
MECH MJ Kidd †   ERA PC Edwards  PORP JR Head  
POEP BJ Birch † POUW R Lawrence  SAP RI Madden  
SAWS J Beekman LEMP K Brazier  LSUW WR Cummins  
LSRP RP Glover LSTD JR Cornish  LME T Rutherford  
ABUC TJ Spencer † ABCK JD Simounds  ME JR McCrohen  
EMWR RW Andrews ABUW JA Rana  EMP WJ Bacon 
ABUW RA Steley EMP DC Petherick  ABUC AM Urquhart  
ABRP JW Heinze   ABRP JR Kelly  ME JH Joyce

DE-COMMISSIONING CREW
HMAS ONSLOW - 29 MARCH 1999

LCDR SPM O'Dwyer  CO
LCDR RS Walker LCDR MW Orr   LEUT BK Slape 
LEUT JR Martins   LEUT GA Miles  LEUT SJ Doolin 
     
CPONPC RA Young   CPOUW AS Florance  POET RJ Muir  
CPOMT SAC Hendrick POMT GR Bunting  POMT GW Anderson  
CPOET BC Snow POEW SW Bartlett  LSMT JT Woodward  
POMT MA Jones PORS MD Cossey  LSMT PC Mullins  
LSMT RJ Hodson POMT K Harris   LSET DJ Crouch 
LSET MP Foster LSMT GR Milne  LSET TJ Samuels  
LSET DI White LSMT MA Watherston  LSMT DL Excell  
LSAWA DE Engi LSRO PW Powell  LSAWA WG Smith  
LSAWA GDWells LSAWA GA Mawhinney  LSRO MJ Ploenges  
LSRO PR Wrigley LSCK GS Walsh   LSMT PI Bopf 
LSMT PJ Bennett LSEW AJ Kennedy  LSET NS Leach  
LSEW AJ Henry † LSMT BT Elstone  LSMT BS Warton  
ABAWA DW Croke   ABAWA RA Wilkinson  ABAWA KR Murphy 
ABAWA IF Crouch   ABAWA C Dickson   ABAWA GS Thomms 
ABMT RJ Driscoll ABMT RF Scott ABMT   DJ Priestly  
ABMT KR Howell ABMT DJ Walker   ABMTMP Young  
ABMT TD Manwaring   ABMT MR Bournes  ABMT MB Slater  
ABET JE Thrift ABET SL Robson  ABET MA Wernas  
ABET SA Loynes ABCK SJ Carman  ABCK SB Rowell  
ABCK MG Ollet     
  † On Eternal Patrol    

COMMANDING OFFICERS - HMAS OXLEY

LCDR CAB Nixon-Eckersall RN   11 February 1969  
LCDR DPR Ryan RN   16 June 1971 
LCDR IDG Mc Dougall RAN 31 December 1971  
LCDR RRH Fayle RAN 07 August 1973  
LCDR PW Horobin RAN 29 November 1974  
LCDR ASL Smith RN 10 January 1975  
Decommissioned 14 January 1975  
LCDR ASL Smith RN 01 February 1977  
LCDR GD Anderson RAN 26 May 1978  
LCDR KF Pitt RAN 05 July 1979  
LCDR JAC Miers RN 15 August 1980  
LCDR AB Parkin RAN 27 May 1981  
Decommissioned 30 September 1982  
LCDR DW Mole RAN  16 April 1984 
LCDR DM Forbes RN 28 October 1985  
LCDR BL Beveridge RAN 06 March 1987  
LCDR JN Edgell RN 14 March 1988 
LCDR BG Anderson RAN 15 December 1989  
LEUT IR Bray RAN 04 March 1990  
Decommissioned   05 May 1990  
LCDR IR Bray RAN 13 December 1992  
LCDR MA Sander RAN 15 November 1994  
LCDR SG Dalton RAN 01 April 1996  
LCDR SPM O'Dwyer RAN 07 October 1997  
Decommissioned 29 March 1999  

ONSLOW BOI Report ONSLOW BOI