I wasn’t sure if it was a hoax… but sure enough, with two hours to go on Ebay…
It is the ultimate Christmas gift for the discerning sailor. Just log on to eBay, lodge any bid more than $4.9 million, and the 2000-tonne former Royal Australian Navy submarine, the HMAS Otama, could be yours.
The story behind the bizarre firesale of this Cold War warrior, a prized piece of the nation’s military heritage, is far from festive. The forced sale of the Otama — the first RAN submarine offered on eBay — has broken the heart of the man who dreamed the vessel would one day restore the flagging fortunes of his home town of Hastings on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
Errm, there’s something the Australian article doesn’t mention, which is featured on the Ebay page:
She is armed with a McDonnell Douglas Sub Harpoon ship-to-ship missile system, six 21 inch bow torpedo tubes taking the Gould Mk 48 Mod 4 dual purpose wire-guided torpedo, and carries a total of 20 ship-to-ship missiles and torpedoes. She carried a crew of eight officers and 56 other ranks.
I hope that doesn’t mean ‘ready to actually fire’ as well. Sadly, it appears that it isn’t ‘sailworthy’ anymore. Imagine, you could probably hire it out for some underwater parties or research or something? Perhaps launch it against a particular ‘landmark’ to show your distaste for modern architecture? What are your suggestions?
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