HMCS Okanagan

Named after the First Nation tribe, there has been only one vessel named HMCS Okanagan in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Okanagan (74)

The three “O” Class submarines, which included two of the first submarines to be built to order for the Royal Canadian Navy, were duplicates of the Oberon Class, at the time the Royal Navy’s latest conventionally powered submarines. All were built at Her Majesty’s Dockyard, Chatham, United Kingdom. In 1979, approval was given for the three to undergo a Submarine Operational Update Program (SOUP). In the course of this, they were fitted with new fire control, sonar, communications and optical equipment, as well as new batteries, which improved their endurance. Carried out at Halifax, NS, the procedure upgraded their status from that of passive “tame” anti-submarine targets to an aggressive capability. Though respectable enough craft in their prime, the “O” boats had long since reached the end of their useful lives and by July 1999, the three had been paid off.

HMCS Okanagan was commissioned at Chatham, United Kingdom, on 22 June 1968. She served from Halifax and her Submarine Operational Update Program refit was carried out between 12 June 1985 and 7 April 1986. In October and November 1990, she undertook a cruise on the Great Lakes, the first Canadian submarine to do so. She was paid off in Halifax on 14 September 1998.

• Builder: Her Majesty’s Dockyard, Chatham, United Kingdom
• Date laid down: 25 March 1965 
• Date launched: 17 September 1966
• Date commissioned: 22 June 1968
• Date paid off: 14 September 1998
• Displacement: 1,635,8 tonnes (surface) / 2448.7 tonnes (submerged)
• Dimensions: 90 m x 8 m x 5.5 m
• Speed: 12 knots (surface) / 17 knots (submerged)
• Crew: 68
• Armament: eight 21-inch (533-mm) torpedo tubes.

Motto: Ex imo mari ad victoriam (From the depths of the sea to victory)