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The Odin class submarine or O class was a class of nine submarines developed and built for the Royal Navy in the 1920s. The Prototype HMS Oberon was followed by 2 ships originally ordered for the Royal Australian Navy, but transferred to the RN in 1931 because of the poor economic situation in Australia, and six modified boats ordered for the RN. They were built to replace the aging L class submarines which didn't have the endurance to perform adequately in the Pacific. These boats were theoretically able to dive to 500 feet, though none were formally tested beyond 300 feet. Armament consisted of eight 21in torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern) and one 4in gun. The boats were of a saddle tank type with fuel carried in rivited external tanks. These external tanks proved vulnerable to leaking after depth charge damage betraying the position of the submarine. These boats were the first British submarines fitted with Asdic and VLF radio which could be received at periscope depth.

From Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships

• Displacement
  • Surfaced - 1598 ton (Oberon), 1636 tons (Otway group), 1781 tons (Odin group)
  • Submerged - 1831 ton (Oberon), 1872 tons (Otway group), 2038 tons (Odin group)
• Length
  • 82.2 m / 296 ft 8 in (Oberon), 82.83 m / 275 ft (Otway group), 86.41 m / 283 ft 8 in (Odin group)
• Beam
  • 8.53 m / 28 ft (Oberon), 8.42 m / 27 ft 8 in (Otway group), 9.12 m / 19 ft 11 in (Odin group)
• Draught
  • 4.72 m / 15 ft 6 in (Oberon), 4.79 m / 15 ft 8 in (Otway group), 4.9m / 16 ft 1 in (Odin group)
• Machinery - 2 shaft diesel electric
  • Admiralty diesels - 2950 hp (Oberon), 3100 hp (Otway), 4250 hp (Odin)
  • Electric motors - 1350 (Oberon and Otway), 1390 hp (Odin)
• Speed
  • Surfaced - 13.75 (Oberon), 15 knots (Otway), 17.5 knots (Odin)
  • Submerged - 7.5 knots (Oberon), 8 knots (Otway, Odin)
• Armament
  • Eight 21in torpedo tubes (6 bow, 2 stern 14 torpedoes)
  • 1 - 4 in deck gun
• Crew: 53-55

Ship	Builder	Launched	Fate
HMS Oberon ex O1	Chatham Dockyard	24 September 1926	Scrapped 1945

Oxley class submarines :

Ship	Builder	Launched	Fate
HMS Otway (ex AO1)	Vickers , Barrow	7 September 1926	Scrapped 1945
HMS Oxley ( ex AO2)	Vickers , Barrow	29 September 1926	Sunk in a friendly fire incident by HMS Triton (N15) near Norway, 10 September 1939

Odin class submarines:

Ship	Builder	Launched	Fate
HMS Odin	Chatham Dockyard	May 5, 1928	Lost on June 14, 1940. Sunk by Italian destroyer Strale in the Gulf of Taranto.
HMS Olympus	William Beardmore and Company	December 11, 1928	Lost on May 8, 1942. Mined off of Malta.
HMS Orpheus	William Beardmore and Company	February 26, 1929	Lost on June 19, 1940. Sunk by Italian destroyer Turbine in the Mediterranean.
HMS Osiris	Vickers, Barrow	May 19, 1928	Scrapped in September 1946 in Durban.
HMS Oswald	Vickers, Barrow	June 19, 1928	Lost on August 1, 1940. Sunk by Italian destroyer Ugolino Vivaldi off of Calbria.
HMS Otus	Vickers, Barrow	August 31, 1928	Scuttled in September 1946 off of Durban.

Three modified ships were built for the Chilean Navy as the Capitan O'Brien class submarines in 1929

• Submariners Association: O Class
• Battleships-cruisers.co.uk: Odin Class
• Uboat.net
• D.K. Brown - Nelson to Vanguard , Chatham Maritime Press ISBN 1 86176 136 8