HMCS Okanagan (S74)

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Career (Canada)

Name:	HMCS Okanagan
Namesake:	Okanagan people
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard, England
Laid down:	25 March 1965
Launched:	17 September 1966
Commissioned:	June 1968
Decommissioned:	1998
Motto:	Ex imo maxi ad victoriam ("From the depths of the sea to victory")
Fate:	Awaiting scrapping 2005
Badge:	Blazon Or, issuing out of a base barry wavy of four azure and argent, a marine monster "Ogopogo" gules, langued of the second. the first Parliament of Upper Canada in 1792, both proper.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Oberon-class submarine

HMCS Okanagan (S74) was an Oberon-class submarine in the Royal Canadian Navy, later Canadian Forces. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and was the last warship to be built there. She was commissioned in June 1968, and wears pennant 74.

Upon completion, Okanagan worked to Halifax before commissioning.

Several years' normal service followed, but in July 1973 Okanagan collided with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Grey Rover while exercising in British waters. Fortunately there were no injuries to the submarine's crew.

Okanagan participated in the filming of the Japanese disaster film Fukkatsu no hi, released in 1980, with one of her officers given a small speaking part. Three years later she began at mid-life refit at Halifax.

In May 2005, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald announced that the Royal Canadian Navy was looking to sell Okanagan for scrap metal, along with three other Canadian Oberons. The RCN's disposal co-ordinator stated that the submarines were not in suitable condition to be used as museum ships, and predicted that each submarine would sell for between C$50,000 and C$60,000. ^[1]