Robert W. Mackay

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Write What You Know… “Terror on the ALERT”

September 5, 2016 by Robert Mackay Leave a Comment

Terror on the ALERT comes from my time in British and Canadian submarines. A mere dog watch, compared to many of my former shipmates. I 11 B Okan BlockHouse 1968was extremely lucky to find myself, in 1968, as ‘fourth hand’ as the Brits would say; in Canadian parlance, Operations Officer in Her Majesty’s Canadian Submarine OKANAGAN. The OK was the third and last of Canada’s Oberon class submarines, top-flight boats that served Canada well for more than thirty years. Regarding OKANAGAN, I can’t put it better than has Don “Buster” Brown, outside wrecker on commissioning, and later in his career Maritime Command Chief Petty Officer:

“HMCS/m Okanagan was the most glamourous and up-to-date O-boat ever built in her time and was, sadly, the last submarine (and vessel) to be built in Chatham dockyard’s long history of submarine construction.”

OKANAGAN commissioned on June 22nd, 1968, and less than a week later sailed for work-ups in Faslane, Scotland.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Buster Brown, Canadian submarines, Faslane, HM Dockyard Chatham, HMCS OKANAGAN, Maritime Command, Oberon class, RCN, submarines, Terror on the Alert, workups

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Forces With History" is published via email 1-2 times a month. It deals with issues of interest regarding Canadian armed forces, modern and historical. Please give it a try if so inclined--comments and feedback are always welcome!

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Contact Info

From saddles and spurs to periscopes and North-Seekers, Robert W. Mackay is an avid military, naval and wartime historian.

He is currently working on a mystery.

T: 604-541-9098
E: info@robertwmackay.ca

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