However, ASDIC, the forerunner of SONAR, was put to good use by submariners against surface targets and took over from the hydrophone which was unable to measure, with any accuracy, the speed, course or distance of an enemy vessel.
On their delivery voyage to Australia in 1928, Oxley and Otway encountered very severe weather in the Bay of Biscay which badly strained their engine columns, forcing them to remain in Malta for several months whilst British experts repaired the damage. After useful service in the Royal Australian Navy, the two vessels were transferred to the Royal Navy in 1931.
In 1925, the need for a new programme of Overseas Patrol Submarine construction resulted in the Odin Class. This class was 13 feet longer than the Oberons, owing, primarily, to a 7ft
