page_title: Submarine Products
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Submarine Products / History / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: English: CGI image of three frogmen riding a Subskimmer underwater. Their breathing sets are the Siebe Gorman CDBA rebreather.
context_page_description: Submarine Products Ltd was a diving gear manufacturer, with a factory in Hexham in Northumberland, England. It was founded in 1959 by Lieutenant-Commander Hugh Oswell.
  Until the late 1950s, the British Siebe Gorman company patents kept aqualungs expensive in Britain, and many British sport divers had to use home-made breathing sets and ex-armed forces or ex-industry rebreathers. Some became expert at home-making scuba diving demand regulators from industrial parts such as Calor Gas regulators.
  In 1959 Hugh Oswell designed around the Cousteau-Gagnan patent and made sport diving breathing sets accessibly inexpensive. Submarine Products Ltd were the first company to make scuba sets readily available to the public in the United Kingdom. They developed a unique diver delivery vehicle, and were important for introducing high quality plastics into the manufacture of underwater breathing apparatus. For many years they supplied their Black Prince regulators and other open circuit equipment to the Royal Navy. When the British Navy decided to purchase foreign competitors' closed circuit equipment, imports became increasingly difficult.
context_section_description: 1980. The company publishes a brochure with the mission statement “Our aim is to produce gear of a professional standard which nevertheless is neither too costly nor too complex for the sports diver to use”, adding, “We have recently re-equipped the Royal Navy and the Royal Engineers with diving apparatus. Similar diving sets can be bought in shops as far apart as the Solomon Islands and Singapore, Osaka and Geneva. Submarine Products now manufactures a wider range of underwater equipment than any other British manufacturer.” The accompanying price list comes with the then new Aquarius 3000 single-hose regulator and with the Black Prince double-hose regulator launched in 1969. The Aquarius range now includes a full-face mask, while Beuchat sub continues to supply other masks, snorkels, Jetfins and knives to complete the collection.
  1982. March: New Scientist publishes an illustrated article entitled "Powerboat that gets a sinking feeling." The piece begins: "The crew of this boat seems to be taking emergency action after a nasty puncture. In fact, this fast inflatable is in the process of being converted into a submarine. Hugh Oswell of Submarine Products at Hexham, Northumbria (sic) designed the Subskimmer for commandos attacking ships or harbours from the sea". According to the CG-45.com website, "the cost of developing this project was phenomenal, and the company grew financially. Commander Oswell was confident that these costs would be covered by a contract with the Royal Navy, but that did not happen". H. I. Sutton’s website provides further information about the Submarine Products military range of underwater craft and rebreathers.
  Mid-1980s. Submarine Products bids to continue supplying the Royal Navy but loses the contract to rival company Sabre Air Products.
  1988. In the New Year Honours List, Managing Director of Submarine Products Ltd. Hugh Henry Bayley Oswell is appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
  1989. June: Submarine Products goes into receivership, ceasing to trade altogether in 1990.
caption: CGI image of three frogmen riding a Subskimmer underwater.
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