Monday, November 19, 2012

HMCS Ojibwa's Last Landfall Only Hours Away



HMCS Ojibwa, the first of Canada’s Oberon-class submarines, is nearing her final resting place.
An ultra-modern diesel-electric submarine in her day, she was launched in February 1964. Originally the hull was destined to be HMS Onyx, but was transferred to the RCN, completed in HM Dockyard Chatham, England, and commissioned Her Majesty's Canadian Submarine Ojibwa on September 23rd, 1965. Following workups, she spent her career with Maritime Command Atlantic out of Halifax, but for a brief sojourn in Esquimalt.
Ojibwa was paid off in May, 1998, after nearly thirty-three years of service.
In the next few days the boat will claim her last berth in Port Burwell, Ontario. She was scheduled to arrive on November 14th via a special barge and tug, to be lifted into place as part of the Museum of Naval History. For more details, see
https://www.facebook.com/MuseumNH. According to the latest reports, Ojibwa should be making her last landfall at dawn, Tuesday, November 20th. The site shows her updated position.
I never served in Ojibwa, but I feel a connection to her, the last of the O’s to respond to the motion of the seas passing under her keel.

2 comments:

Lamont said...

The Ojibway arrival in Port Burwell was smooth and silent, just as she must have been in her days on the water. I am looking forward to your book because how can anyone but a submariner describe the special relationship between submarines and the men who served in them or "respond to the motion of the seas passing under her keel."

Robert Mackay said...

Here's hoping it is up to the challenge!

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