HMAS Otama

The last Oberon-class submarine to serve the Royal Australian Navy.

The fate of HMAS Otama

The historic Cold War-era submarine HMAS Otama was completely dismantled and sold for scrap metal in Western Australia. Despite a passionate, two-decade campaign by local volunteers to preserve the vessel as a tourist attraction, worsening structural decay and severe environmental hazards forced authorities to permanently scrap the vessel.

Background and decommissioning

The "Gucci Boat". HMAS Otama was the sixth and last Oberon class submarine to be commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy, in 1978. She was an Oberon-class diesel-electric submarine equipped with advanced surveillance gear for highly classified Cold War intelligence-gathering missions.

Tragic legacy. On 3 August 1987, the vessel was the site of a tragic accident when two submariners drowned after the submarine submerged while they were still working inside the fin.

End of service. Otama was the final Oberon class submarine to be decommissioned by the Royal Australian Navy, officially ending her service on 15 December 2000.

The abandonment in Western Port Bay

Museum dreams. In 2001, the vessel was sold to the community-led Western Port Oberon Association, with plans to make it the centrepiece of a new Victorian Maritime Centre at Hastings, Victoria.

Bureaucratic roadblocks. Over the next 20 years, governments (state, federal and local) repeatedly ignored requests for support, even though a financial feasibility study concluded the project would generate $4.9 million annually for the community. With a change in government, initial support vanished, which left the project stranded.

Deterioration. Stranded 800 metres offshore near Crib Point, the submarine became a local landmark but suffered severe degradation from continuous exposure to the elements. In a race against time the group pursued every avenue seeking support; unfortunately the bureaucratic doors remained permanently closed.

Structural failure and final demolition

The 2021 crisis. In mid-2021, severe winter storms caused a catastrophic ballast tank failure, causing the submarine to take on water and list heavily to starboard, prompting Maritime Safety Victoria to declare it an imminent capsizing risk.

Government intervention. Citing mounting maintenance costs, navigation hazards, and potential environmental disasters from its lead-acid batteries, Parks Victoria officially seized control of the vessel.

The destruction. In September 2022, despite fierce protests from local veterans and community groups, the heavy submersible transport ship Rolldock Sun loaded the submarine, removing it from Western Port Bay. It was shipped to a facility in Western Australia, where it was completely cut up for scrap.

Overview

This report does not highlight the extensive efforts made by members of the Western Port Oberon Association to secure a viable major tourist destination for the Western Port community. The state government spent $5 million of taxpayers' money to remove Otama. It would have cost around 10% of that figure to have brought Otama ashore, and the community would have had their tourist attraction.