Submarines

Association

Australia 

HMAS ORION





Crest

 

"ORBE CIRCUMCINTO"
15 June 1977 - 4 October 1996

The motto for Orion according to the Latin Department of the University of London is either "Encompass the World" or "Belt around the World" or "Over the World". It is apparently very difficult to get a precise translation. When the crew first arrived in Greenock as commissioning crew the motto from the RAN Navy Board was "Over the World" but the crew preferred the Latin as HMAS Orion was the direct descendant from the old 8" cruiser and asked the Navy Board if they could keep the Latin. The College of Heralds and Navy Board (ADM Synot) agreed. It was changed back to "OVER THE WORLD" at a later date when Defence decreed that all mottos had to be in English.

Orion is said in Greek mythology to be the son Hypieus, a mighty hunter of great beauty and gigantic strength. He was beloved of Eos the Greek Dawn goddess who carried him to Delos. Previously he had been struck blind by Dionysus the Greek god of wine. His eye sight was however restored upon exposing his eyeballs to the rays of Eos (Her task was to open the gates of the East for the sun). A hunter, he is alleged to have known Artemis, the sister of Apollo. Artemis became Orion's companion which made Apollo jealous. This caused Apollo to deceive Artemis, whereupon she shot Orion. After his death Orion was changed into a constellation in the form of a warrior wearing a girdle of three stars and a lion's skin carrying a club and sword.

HMAS Orion was the sixth warship to be given the name Orion. The first five were all British warships. The first was a 74 gun ship launched on the Thames on the I st June 1787. She served in the French Wars. In a long fighting career she won the Battle Honours 'First of June' under Lord Howe in 1794, 'Groix Island' under Lord Bridport in 1795 and 'St. Vincent' under Sir John Jervis against the Spanish Fleet in 1797. Under Nelson she fought at the Battle of the Nile (1798) and at Trafalgar. In the final phases of the Napoleonic Wars she served in the Baltic before paying off to be broken up in 1814.

The first hull section of the 5th Orion was placed in position on the 19th of April, 1972 and launched by Mrs John Armstrong, the Australian High Commissioner on the 16th of September, 1974 at Scott's Shipyards in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.


HMAS Orion was the first HMA vessel ever to visit a German port.


The submarine was due to enter service in 1975, but faulty high-power electrical cabling had been installed in Orion and sister boat Otama; stripping out and replacing the cabling delayed each submarine's construction by two years. The delay meant that the two boats could be fitted with Micropuffs rangefinding sonar during construction, and have additional electronic surveillance equipment installed
HMAS Orion called at Spain, Greece, made a transit of the Suez Canal, visited the Seychelles and Singapore, making its Australian landfall at Cockburn Sound WA on the 20th June 1978, arriving at its home base Sydney on July 3, 1978.

During her 19 years of service she steamed over 321,850 nautical miles. Orion was adopted prior to its commencement of building and was granted the rights to the Freedom of the City of Woolongong, NSW on the 27th September 1980.


The Duke of Gloucester’s Cup was instituted in 1946. His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, presented a silver cup to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a prize for the ship that shot down the greatest number of sleeve targets during a calendar year.

The RAN Gloucester Cup was initially assessed on the gunnery accuracy of RAN ships, based on the number of sleeve targets hit as a proportion of shells fired. This was quickly found to be impractical, and the criteria for the award was changed to "overall proficiency", based on each ship's level of operational efficiency during a calendar year; husbandry and seamanship; supply and administration; officer and sailor training; divisional systems, morale and discipline; and equipment reliability, maintenance and resourcefulness. As well as the silver trophy, a winning ship is allowed to paint a yellow star on the superstructure of the ship, which remains until the Cup is passed to a new winner.

HMAS ORION won the CUP in 1985 and it was awarded to the Submarines crew by The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen KG AK GCMG GCVO KBE QC    This allowed ORION to display a yellow star with a red E to prove to others that she had won the Cup.

After decommissioning Orion sat alongside HMAS Striling for many years before Orion was broken up at the WA shipyards




After being decommissioned ORION FIN was removed and sited near the beach in Rockingham WA

COMMISSIONING CREW
HMAS ORION 15 JUNE 1977

LCDR RH Woolrych   CO
LEUT KF Pitt    XO LEUT NJ Lowrie   LEUT JM Hodges  
LEUT JM Taubman   LEUT DW Meredith  LEUT FR Van Der Berg  
     
CPOMTP3 RJ Bateman CPOETS3* K Fremantle  CPOCOX KA Mills †  
CPOMTP3 DK Buck   CPOET3* BJ Birch †  POUC DJ Bryant 
CPOMTP3 JW Johnson   CPOETP3 GH Dagg   LSUC E Bylett 
CPOMTP3 PC Menere CPOETS4 JR Hodgen †   CPOETS4 JR Hodgen †  
CPOMTP4 IM Taber   CPOETS D Roach   LSUC MJ White 
CPOMTP3* TW Wyatt POETS V Hirschausen  ABUC WG Mitchell  
POMTP3* RL Clarke ABUC SG Edwards  LSETP JE Robinson  
POMTP3 RI Marsland † LSETS AJ Barling  ABUC D Wilkinson †  
LSMTP MA Carew   LSETP AJ Phelan †  P0UW TJ Rowell  
LSMTP DT Connors   ABETP AF Radford  POUW AG Wooton † 
LSMTP J Francis ABETP DA Currell  LSUW DN Horne  
LSMTP PF Passmore † ABETS RJ Kemp  ABUW MJ Close  
LSMTP RM Ross † ABUW MR O'Neill  LSSN AX Robinson  
 ABMTP R Steltenpool CPORS WFJ Wells †  ABUW PJ Ballantyne 
ABMTP PJ Dorante   CPORS WFJ Wells †  LSRP RD Bray 
ABMTP BD Earle LSRO JV Dansey †  ABRP WG Donnelly  
ABMTP DA Gregg LSR0 DL Harrison  ABRP RC Thurston  
ABMTP RA Nicholls LSRO R Curtis  LSCK MG Masterson  
ABCK JF Arnold ABMTP AJ O'Connor   ABMTP IG Prodger  
LSSTD BJ Smith †  † On Eternal Patrol 

DE-COMMISSIONING CREW
HMAS ORION 4 October 1996

LCDR SM O'Hearn  CO 
LEUT SPM O'Dwyer LEUT A Eenink  LEUT RD Brown  
LEUT AS Keough LEUT TA Brown   LEUT ML Potter  
SBLT MW Baker   LEUT S Taragel   
     
CPOUW VA Hancock   CPOMT S Ritchie   CPOET JMB Rorke 
POMT T Aldred POAWA AJ Brewer  POMT M Dixon  
POMT LJ Hinch POET DL Johnson  POUW AC Kirkman  
POMT AT Koutsoukis POMT RA Lowe  POMT RW Maynard  
PORS RB Maraldo   LSEW ML Arope   LSAWA JJ Croxon 
LSAWA J Corker LSAWA JJ Croxon  LSET JA Edwards  
LSMT RC Faulkner   LSEW PG Freestone   LSET MP Foster  
LSMT MR Fox LSMT DA Green  LSMT AJ Hogarth  
LSRO NM Holl LSMT CT Jackson  LSCK P Jones  
LSMT CI Macleod LSMT L Raftery  LSET PJ Reed  
LSMT CJ Rowley LSMT PL Talbot  LSMT T Rubenstein  
ABAWA CJ Butterworth   ABMT MR Bournes   ABAWA GT Finney 
ABRO EF Francis ABET DM Fulton  ABEW TM Heggen  
ABMT BD Heller   ABAWA DR Hunt   ABAWA GJ Langshaw  
ABMT GJ Lucy ABMT DJ Marsh  ABMT MT Morris  
ABCK VG Murner ABCK MG Ollett  ABRO LR Passey  
ABAWA SJ Pfeiffer ABAWA J Prentis  ABMT JA Rendalls  
ABCK DA Robinson   ABMT KR Sutherland    
  † On Eternal Patrol    

COMMANDING OFFICERS - HMAS OXLEY

LCDR RH Woolrych RAN 15 June 1977  
LCDR RLP Jones RAN 21 December 1978  
LCDR RJH Canham RAN 29 Janauary 1980  
LCDR KF Pitt RAN 10 October 1980  
LCDR DN Nichols RAN 15 November 1980  
Decommissioned   
 LCDR GJ Dikkenberg RAN 02 June 1983 
CMDR KF Pitt RAN 01 March 1985  
LCDR MB Maclean CAF 23 April 1985  
CMDR KF Pitt RAN   28 April 1985 
CMDR MG Gee RAN  28 April 1986 
Decommissioned    
LCDR ME Deeks RAN 08 November 1990  
CMDR RA Shalders RAN 28 February 1992  
CMDR MG Deeks RAN 21 December 1993  
LCDR SM O'Hearn RAN 14 June 1995  
Decommissioned  4 October 1996