On 27 September 1980 the Officers and Crew of Orion were granted the Freedom of the City of Wollongong in perpetuity. In 1987, "Orion" was awarded the Gloucester Cup, for being the RAN vessel demonstrating the greatest overall efficiency over the previous twelve months. "Orion" was the last submarine to receive the Cup until 2005, when it was presented to the "Collins" class submarine . Like a number of other "Oberon" class submarines, "Orion" carried out many special operation deployments during her service which qualified those crew members for the Australian Service Medal, with Special Operations clasp. Conducted between 1978 and 1992, these operations involved intelligence-gathering missions off the coasts of Vietnam, Indonesia, China and India, primarily targeting the Soviet Navy during the Cold War.