HMS Onyx (S21)

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	August 1966
Commissioned:	September 1967
Decommissioned:	1991
Fate:	On display to the public
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1610 tons surfaced and 2410 tons submerged.
Length:	88.5m
Beam:
Draught:
Propulsion:	Diesel / Electric, 2 shafts.
Speed:	17 knots submerged.
Range:
Complement:	62
Armament:	6 forward 21 inch torpeado tubes, 2 aft 21 inch torpedo tubes (later removed).
Motto:

The HMS Onyx was an Oberon class submarine of the Royal Navy. Originally ordered for the Royal Canadian Navy, Onyx was transferred to the Royal Navy whilst under construction at Cammel Laird shipbuilders in Birkenhead, England. She was launched on August 1966 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in September 1967.

The first commission of the Onyx saw her visit Swansea in South Wales for the investiture of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. She also attended the bicentennial celebrations of the United States of America in 1976.

HMS Onyx was the only non-nuclear submarine of the Royal Navy to take part in the Falklands War. The smaller displacement of Onyx compared to the nuclear submarines made her ideal for landing SAS and SBS troops close to the islands in shallow waters.

Defence cuts in the UK saw the Royal Navy dispense with its diesel-powered submarines to concentrate on nuclear attack submarines. In 1991, the Onyx was decommissioned from the navy. She was then cared for by the Warship Preservation Trust and was on public display alongside several other ships in Birkenhead, UK.

In May 2006 HMS Onyx was sold to the Barrow-in-Furness businessman Joe Mullen, for a reported £100,000 as a 'gift to the people of Barrow'. It is set to form the centrepiece of a new heritage museum in Cumbria, and will leave Birkenhead to arrive in its new home in mid June.