Description
Description: RAN Tally Band – HMAS Ovens – circa 1970s
Maker’s Name: N/A
Condition: Very Good
Comments: Royal Australian Navy – Tally Band – HMAS Ovens – circa 1970s.
HMAS Ovens (S 70) is an Oberon class submarine formerly of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) which is now preserved as a museum ship.
The Oberon class was based heavily on the preceding Porpoise class of submarines, with changes made to improve the vessels’ hull integrity, sensor systems, and stealth capabilities. Eight submarines were ordered for the RAN, in two batches of four. The first batch was approved in 1963, and two of the second batch were cancelled before construction started in 1969, with the funding redirected to the Fleet Air Arm. This was the fourth time the RAN had attempted to establish a submarine branch.
Ovens became the first RAN submarine to fire an armed Mark 48 torpedo, when she sank the decommissioned Bathurst-class corvette HMAS Colac on 4 March 1987. On her return to port, Ovens flew a ‘Jolly Roger’ to indicate a successful mission: the first time a RAN submarine had done so.
Ovens paid off on 1 December 1995. She is preserved as a museum ship at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, Western Australia.
