HMS ''Ocelot'' (S17) is an diesel-electric submarine which was operated by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Design and construction

The ''Oberon'' class was a direct follow-on of the ''Porpoise''-class, with the same dimensions and external design, but updates to equipment and internal fittings, and a higher grade of steel used for fabrication of the

pressure hull A submarine hull has two major components, the ''light hull'' and the ''pressure hull''. The light hull (''casing'' in British usage) of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure ...

. As designed for British service, the ''Oberon''-class submarines were in length

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

and in length overall, with a beam of , and a draught of . Displacement was 1,610 tons standard, 2,030 tons full load when surfaced, and 2,410 tons full load when submerged. Propulsion machinery consisted of two Admiralty Standard Range 16 VMS diesel generators, and two electric motors, each driving a three-bladed propeller at up to 400 rpm. Top speed was when submerged, and on the surface. Eight torpedo tubes were fitted (six facing forward, two aft), with a total payload of 24 torpedoes. The boats were fitted with Type 186 and Type 187 sonars, and an I-band surface search radar. The standard complement was 68: 6 officers and 62 sailors. ''Ocelot'' was laid down by

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...

on 17 November 1960, and launched on 5 May 1962. The boat was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 31 January 1964. ''Ocelot'' was the last submarine built for the Royal Navy at Chatham Dockyard, although three more ''Oberon''s; '' Ojibwa'', ''Onondaga'' and ''Okanagan''—were built for the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

Operational history

After commissioning, ''Ocelot'' was assigned to the

3rd Submarine Squadron Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

, based at

HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

, in Faslane, serving there for three years. During the 1960s, ''Ocelot'' took part in clandestine missions. ''Ocelot'' attended the 1977 Silver Jubilee

Fleet Review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

off

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

when she was part of the Submarine Flotilla.

Decommissioning and fate

HMS ''Ocelot'' was paid off in August 1991 as the conventional submarine fleet of the RN began to decline, making way for the nuclear fleet. She was sold in 1992 and preserved as a fully tourable museum in

Chatham Historic Dockyard The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England. Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 km²) and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilit ...

. In November 2013 the interior of HMS ''Ocelot'' was added to

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...

by Google Business Photos Agency, CInsideMedia Ltd.

References

Publications

Gallery

Image:Ocelot-TorpedoTubes.JPG, Torpedo tubes and escape hatch. Image:Ocelot-Periscopes.JPG, The search periscope and the attack periscope. Image:Ocelot-DieselMotors.JPG, The Diesel Motors charge the batteries so she may travel silently using electric motors.

External links

*
Google Streetview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocelot (S17) Oberon-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Chatham 1962 ships Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom Museum ships in the United Kingdom Ships and vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels