With Street View, Google has been offering virtual tours for several years to places that are sometimes impossible to explore otherwise. Among these extraordinary visits is the HMS Ocelot, the last conventional submarine built for the Royal Navy during the Cold War and now a centerpiece of the Chatham Dockyard Museum in Kent.
A brief historical overview of HMS Ocelot
Launched on May 5, 1962, HMS Ocelot belonged to the Oberon class, a family of diesel-electric submarines renowned for their acoustic stealth. It was also the last warship built at Chatham for the Royal Navy.
During the Cold War, the vessel operated in the Atlantic, the Arctic, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic Sea. Much of its mission remains shrouded in secrecy, as these submarines were primarily used for surveillance and intelligence operations.
Decommissioned in August 1991, HMS Ocelot ultimately escaped dismantling. The following year, it was moved to the former Chatham shipyard, where it was restored and opened to the public. Today, it stands as one of the most important surviving examples of life aboard a British submarine during the Cold War.
With its immersive mapping service Google Street View, Google regularly surprises us by allowing us to remotely visit monuments, museums, and some particularly unusual buildings. This time, the American giant invites us to come aboard the HMS Ocelot.
What you will discover
- The command post : pressure gauges, periscopes, torpedo firing wires and the diving dial which allowed the depth to be displayed at a glance.
- The crew quarters : stacked metal baskets, tiny storage spaces and hooks for hanging personal belongings and food.
- The engine room : two imposing 16-cylinder diesel engines, coupled to the generators which recharged the batteries for underwater navigation.
- The torpedo compartment : launch tubes at the front, handling rails and diamond-shaped torpedo holders, all in a volume barely larger than a living room.
Each section allows one to realize the extreme cramped conditions: less than seventy meters long for fifty-eight submariners, all without the slightest opening to the outside once the dive has begun.
A visit worth the detour
Street View faithfully recreates the cramped quarters, the profusion of valves and pipes, and the dim red lighting in sensitive areas. If you suffer from claustrophobia, the virtual tour offers the safety of your sofa while providing a striking glimpse into the living conditions on board. It also offers a way to contextualize British naval history: the Ocelot played a discreet role in the tensions of the Cold War, monitoring the North Sea and the Atlantic without ever revealing its presence.
Settle in comfortably, take virtual control of the periscope and let yourself be guided into the bowels of a Royal Navy flagship… without the risk of seasickness.
