The Royal Navy went down this route with The Upholder/Victoria-class submarines in the 1990's, also known as the Type 2400 (due to their displacement of 2,400 tonnes), they were diesel-electric fleet submarines.
The Royal Navy was going to follow the Oberons with nuclear-powered boats but there was still a role for diesel powered boats, as demonstrated by activities during the Falklands War, and they could be built faster than nuclear submarines.
The first of the class (Upholder) was ordered in November 1983 and completed in 1990, and there followed three more boats (Unseen, Ursula and Unicorn) ordered in 1986 and completed in 1991-1993. The Royal Navy had planned to order 12 of the class, but this was trimmed first to 10 and then to nine before being curtailed at four as part of the "peace dividend" at the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
In 1998, Canada accepted the four Upholders as replacements for their old Oberons; initially with one to operate in the Pacific fleet and three in the Atlantic, but later two boats were assigned to the Pacific.
Source of info:- Seaforces.org
I personally never served on Diesels I was an SSN rating but the guys I knew that had served on DB's said they were great boats.
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