Staff, 9 News
28 February 2018
The submarine HMAS Onslow led an exciting and mysterious life, which included stalking the Russian navy.
But retirement has meant a more relaxed existence at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.
Yet, in the past few weeks she has been getting some tender loving care.
“She looks fantastic - we've had quite a few people saying is the vessel going back into service,” Thales project manager Stephen Farrow told 9NEWS.
HMAS Onslow was decommissioned in 1999 after 31 years of service.
“The crews of the Oberon class boats remember them with a huge amount of affection,” Navy Heritage Collections director Damien Allan said.
“They were quite deadly and stealthy in their day.”
This year marks her 50th birthday with the aging, rusty submarine getting some much-needed attention with a $1 million make-over.
“This was part of the corrosion issue,” Mr Farrow said.
“This is part of the exhaust system which was causing a lot of the corrosion so this has been taken away and you can see how bad the descaling is.”
She has spent the last month being cleaned and repaired at Garden Island’s dry dock, including a fresh lick of paint.
“With these new paints, instead of having a docking every three years, we'll be able to put it out to about six years which is a huge saving of money for the museum,” Mr Allen said.
Returning home to the Australian National Maritime Museum, the public can climb aboard the rejuvenated HMAS Onslow from Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment