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OTTAWA - Costly repairs to fire-ravaged HMCS Chicoutimi and Canada's other three submarines are draining money away from vital maintenance for the rest of the navy's vessels, says a report obtained by The Canadian Press. "I cannot overstate that the Chicoutimi incident, coupled with other necessary recovery-repair strategies, has impacted the navy to its very core,'' Vice-Admiral Bruce MacLean says in an internal report on the state of the navy. The estimated $150-million bill to salvage the newly acquired submarine fleet will mean delayed work on the navy's aging fleet of frigates, destroyers and support vessels, says the report, released...

Halifax — The renewed investigation into the fatal fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi has been put off until next month while the submarine's captain and two officers seek legal advice, The Canadian Press has learned.

Chicoutimi hearing postponed By MURRAY BREWSTER HALIFAX (CP) - The renewed investigation into the fatal fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi has been put off until next month while the submarine's captain and two officers seek legal advice, The Canadian Press has learned. Closed-door hearings that were supposed to take place next week in Ottawa have been postponed until March 1 as Cmdr. Luc Pelletier, Lieut. Sebastian LaTullipe and Lieut. Brendan Ryan talk to lawyers, military sources say. All three were slated to testify about a decision to leave a hatch open as the British-built warship plowed through rough seas on Oct....

OTTAWA (CP) - A board of inquiry into the fatal submarine fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi has submitted a report with 23 recommendations to the head of the navy. But don't expect to hear any details soon - the findings are not likely to be made public until February. The five-member panel concluded hearings last Monday and delivered the report Friday to Vice-Admiral Bruce Maclean, chief of maritime staff. The board heard from 78 witnesses in 27 days of testimony over 10 weeks, after an Oct. 5 fire ravaged the boat on her first transatlantic voyage with a Canadian crew. Lieut....

News Release Extension Granted for HMCS Chicoutimi Board of InquiryMSPA NR 08.04 - November 26, 2004 OTTAWA -- The Board of Inquiry (BOI) that is investigating the October 5 fire in HMCS Chicoutimi has been granted an extension to Wednesday, December 22, by the convening authority, Vice-Admiral Bruce MacLean, the commander of Canada's Navy. The Board of Inquiry had an original mandate to complete its investigation by November 30. The extension comes in response to a request from the BOI President, Commodore Dan Murphy, for additional time to gather technical data, interview witnesses, research and prepare the final report. "Given...

HALIFAX--When HMCS Chicoutimi was handed over to the Canadian navy in October, the submarine had trouble drawing in fresh air, could not dive to certain depths and suffered from computer bugs, according to newly released documents. Telex messages between the ill-fated warship and navy headquarters in Ottawa, obtained by the Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, reveal a litany of problems, including: - The used vessel could not "snort" - the navy's term for drawing in fresh air while traveling at full power just below the ocean surface during an emergency. - The warship could not dive to...

OTTAWA (CP) - Top military officers defended the need for submarines before a Commons committee Wednesday, saying they are critical to Canadian defence and sovereignty - even if they can't sail under the Arctic ice. "Submarines remain an indispensable part of this force because they offer a wide range of capabilities," said the chief of defence staff, Gen. Ray Henault. "More than 40 other countries have this underwater capability. "Submarines by their nature are difficult to detect and provide information that cannot be detected by other means." Henault and the chief of maritime staff, Vice.-Adm. Bruce MacLean, were not asked...

OTTAWA (CP) - The Commons defence committee has unanimously approved a motion to investigate the deal to buy four used submarines from Britain. Committee members said Monday political events preceding a fire at sea this month aboard HMCS Chicoutimi need to be examined beyond a technical military inquiry. "The (military) board of inquiry's terms of reference do not include some of the things that I believe Canadians want some answers on," said Bill Blaikie, the New Democrat who proposed the all-party investigation. The Commons inquiry will study the procurement process and "what the government may have known or should have...

Canada is facing a huge bill for the operation to save their ill-fated submarine Chicoutimi, which was stricken by a fatal fire on board days after it was purchased from the Ministry of Defence. British ministers have revealed that they are considering charging the Canadians a six-figure sum for the concerted effort to recover the vessel following the fire, off the coast of Ireland, which claimed a sailor’s life. The remarkable revelation, which comes as it emerged that the Canadian Prime Minister had warned Tony Blair that the UK could be facing legal action over the wrangle, effectively shatters the...

Complaint reports catalogue a litany of major problems. Vessels plagued by faulty equipment, lack of spare parts. Hatches that wouldn't close. Rusting battery cables. Wiring schematics that couldn't be found. No spare parts. Torpedo tubes that clamped shut in warm water. Faulty computers. Exhaust valves cracking. A mystery dent. Trouble with the escape tower. Even floors coming apart at the seams. These are just some of the problems Canada's four used submarines encountered before the electrical fire Oct. 5 that killed Lieut. Chris Saunders, crippled HMCS Chicoutimi and caused the sub program to be docked indefinitely. Submarine complaint reports —...

It will be some time before we hear what caused the submarine fire on HMCS Chicoutimi that killed Lieut. Chris Saunders, 32, father of two young kids. All this week, Canadians have voiced sympathy for his widow and outrage at the federal government. We can say that Chris Saunders died for his country, but we don't actually believe it. Given Ottawa's perennial defence bumbling, we have to presume he died from the cheapskate incompetence of our own government. Ottawa equips our soldiers, sailors and airmen with junk, and they die trying to make it work -- under-protected armoured vehicles, wrong-coloured...

Future of Four-Vessel Underwater Fleet, Bought From Britain, Now in Question TORONTO, Oct. 13 -- With a Canadian flag and white officer's cap on his coffin, navy Lt. Chris Saunders was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday, the casualty of a frightening submarine fire at sea that threatened both the crew of the sub and the future of Canada's submarine fleet. Saunders, the first Canadian sailor to die in service in 49 years, was found lying on the floor in the blackened hold of the HMCS Chicoutimi, minutes after an electrical fire filled the vessel with acrid smoke and...

Pall bearers carry the coffin of Lieut. Chris Saunders from St. Andrew's Church in Halifax. (CP PHOTO/Andrew Vaughan) HALIFAX (CP) - A submariner who died following a fire on-board HMCS Chicoutimi last week was described Wednesday as a man who had a passion for life, was unswervingly loyal to his friends and shared the playful spirit of his children. Those qualities were remembered during a full military funeral in Halifax - and at a memorial in Scotland - for Lieut. Chris Saunders, a 32-year-old father of two from Quispamsis, N.B. Some 800 friends, fellow sailors and family members packed St....

OTTAWA(CP)--The fatal fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi is another example of government incompetence, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said Wednesday. On his way into his party's weekly caucus meeting, he said the government is on a long-term path to the "destruction of our military." During the election campaign, he said, the Liberals scoffed at his calls for more defense spending. "The government said I was being a warmonger, they said that our priority was exaggerated. Our priority is not exaggerated." Harper said the government needs to make major investments in the military. "It is essential that they take defense seriously," he said....

Canada confines 'UK subs' to port The crippled Chicoutimi was towed in to the Faslane naval base Canada has temporarily withdrawn from service three of its second-hand UK-built submarines following last week's fatal blaze on a fourth vessel. Canada's defence ministry said it was confining the three to port while the cause of the fire was investigated. The Chicoutimi drifted for three days off Ireland after the fire, in which a crewman died and two were badly hurt. The vessel, which was decommissioned by the Royal Navy in the 1990s, had been handed over to Canada two days earlier. The...

OTTAWA (CP) - The navy is docking its submarine fleet in the wake of the fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi. The move, which affects the three sister ships of the Chicoutimi, is a precautionary move as a board of inquiry looks into the cause of the fire which claimed the life of a sailor last week. "Earlier today, the president of the military board of inquiry into HMCS Chicoutimi incident, advised me of preliminary information which caused me to decide that it would be prudent to keep all submarines alongside until more analysis can be done on the possible causes of...

GLASGOW, Scotland (CP) - The weary captain and crew of the stricken HMCS Chicoutimi told tales of heroism, fear and survival Monday in their first public recounting of the fire aboard their sub, with some expressing wonderment that they lived to tell of their ordeal. Last Tuesday's blaze aboard the sub, and the ensuing heart-pounding efforts of the crew to douse it through a shroud of dense smoke, were "probably one of the worst nightmares you can have as a submariner," Cmdr. Luc Pelletier told a news conference in this Scottish city. "If you can imagine inside the submarine, being...

The commander of Canada's navy aggressively defended the country's problem-plagued submarines on Saturday as he pledged to find out exactly what happened on HMCS Chicoutimi last week. Vice-Admiral Bruce MacLean told a news conference in Halifax that every precaution was taken before the fire-stricken submarine's departure on its ill-fated maiden voyage to Nova Scotia from Faslane, Scotland, last week. "We reduce risk at sea to the greatest extent possible in an operational environment that is inherently risky," he said. "We would never send submarines and their crew to sea if they're not prepared, checked and trusted." But Vice-Admiral MacLean said...

HALIFAX (CP) - The Canadian navy has gone on the counterattack, staunchly defending the safety of its second-hand submarines despite the tragedy on HMCS Chicoutimi. The stricken submarine, ravaged by fire, and its crew mourning the loss of one of their officers, was nearing British waters on Saturday under tow by a powerful U.S. navy tug that has speeded up the recovery process. Officials say they now expect the Chicoutimi to arrive at the port of Faslane in Scotland by Sunday evening, five days after a fire forced the sub to surface and bob helplessly in rough seas off the...

HALIFAX (CP) - A more powerful American navy tug took over the towing of a disabled Canadian submarine Saturday, moving up its expected arrival in Scotland to late Sunday. The tug Carolyn Chouest tied its tow lines to the HMCS Chicoutimi on Saturday, replacing the smaller British tug, the Anglian Prince, that made slow progress around the stormy northern tip of Ireland on Friday. "It's larger, faster and safer," Commodore Tyrone Pile, head of the Atlantic fleet, said of the American vessel during a news conference Saturday. Previously, navy officials predicted the salvage operation would not get the sub to...