Submarine Construction 1946-1966: Postwar Programmes and Developments

Only seven submarines were built and launched at Chatham Dockyard after the Second World War. Four for the Royal Navy: Acheron (1947); Oberon (1959); Onslaught (1960) and Ocelot (1962) and three for the Royal Canadian Navy: Ojibwa (1964); Onondaga (1965) and Okanagan (1966).

HMS Ocelot's launch in May 1962 marked the end of an era for Chatham Dockyard. Ocelot was both the last submarine and the last warship to be built at Chatham for the Royal Navy.

By the early 1970s, the Government had announced the end of all warship construction in the Royal Dockyards. Thereafter the Navy's warships would all be built in commercial shipyards. At Chatham plans for redeveloping the yard in preparation for the construction of HMS Dreadnought, the Royal Navy's first nuclear submarine, were shelved and attention was turned solely to refitting and repair work.

The image above shows the dockyard team that built HMCS Onondaga just prior to the submarine's launch in September 1965. Onondaga, like many other submarines built at Chatham, had been built on time and within its estimated cost.

Image: © Chatham Dockyard Historical Society