Submariners recall close encounters of Soviet kind

as posted here

HMAS Ovens powered slowly through the frigid depths of the Tasman Sea, the crew of the 90mlong Oberon-class submarine manning their posts in silence.

Their enemy, a Soviet submarine sent to spy on the Australian coastline, lurked somewhere nearby.

It was 1971, the height of the Cold War, and the Ovens was busy playing its part in the cloak-and-dagger battle for intelligence supremacy raging between the US and the Soviet Union.

Gosnells resident Fred Lawrence, 64, who was the petty officer in charge of sonar on the Ovens at the time, said their mission had been to stay undetected and keep track of the enemy sub’s movements.

“We caught up with her somewhere down near Tasmania,” he said. “It was an old Russian submarine. She’d come down out of the Pacific, right down our east coast and came as far west as Albany before she turned around and went back.”

Yesterday, Mr Lawrence and nine other original members of the Ovens’ 60-strong crew gathered at the WA Maritime Museum, where the submarine now rests on display, to commemorate 40 years since the vessel was launched.

But despite the passage of time, the old sailors remained reluctant to give away too much detail about the missions they ran during the Cold War, much of which has never been officially acknowledged by the Australian Government.

Mt Hawthorn resident Lloyd Blake, who was a petty officer on the Ovens, said most Australians were oblivious to the secret contribution Australian Cold War submariners had made beneath the waves.

Mr Blake said that during the 60s, Australian sailors training on British submarines had been involved in secret sea battles with Russian vessels on “mystery tours” in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

By 1969, Australian Oberon-class subs, such as the Ovens, were leading the espionage war against the Soviets in the southern hemisphere.

Crews would leave port in Australia with no knowledge of their mission and remain submerged for up to six weeks.

“Spooks and language specialists” were passengers, Mr Blake said. “We were able to get within 5m of a big (enemy) ship, photograph her and record her sound signature and slip away totally undetected,” he said.
JOSEPH CATANZARO

as posted here