Posted on 03/10/2002 2:51:10 AM PST by petuniasevan
Slight Problem with New Submarine - It Leaks
Fri Mar 8, 7:21 AM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's decision to buy four cut-price submarines from Britain looked a little soggy after one of the vessels sprang two leaks on its very first training exercise.
But the problem was a further embarrassment for a purchase that is becoming a public relations nightmare.
The Windsor is one of four mothballed diesel-powered submarines that Canada bought from Britain in 1998 for C$750 million ($475 million) and then started to refit.
Shortly after the Windsor's exercise began, water leaked into a hydraulic system used to operate a snorkel mast that lets fresh air into the boat. The commander decided to return to port to fix the problem.
"The submarine was not in any danger," Woodburn told a news conference in the eastern port of Halifax. To round off a bad day, someone then flipped the wrong switch and let 530 gallons of seawater into a sealed battery compartment. Media reports said sailors had to use yogurt containers and sleeping bags to clear up the mess.
Defense Minister Art Eggleton -- under fire for not securing more money for the cash-strapped armed forces -- last month called the submarines a bargain, even though the first craft to arrive has been in dry dock for the past 18 months.
When the Windsor made its way to Canada last year, the defense ministry allowed a team from public broadcaster CBC television along for what turned out to be an eventful ride.
For a start, the submarine leaked hydraulic fluid throughout the journey. The radar mast leaked and had to be fixed with masking tape and a garbage bag, the sonar broke and another faulty piece of equipment had to be unjammed with a hockey stick.
Which only the Canadians would be sure to have on a submarine :-)
With everything in war, technology matters, but especially for submarines--what good is a diesel when any enemy Canada would need to use subs against would have nuclear subs? Are these just to catch drug smugglers and illegal fishermen?
Same quality as their much-vaunted "health-care sytem." [Totalitarian for mob-rule-cotrolled standover, shakedown and theft of your means to meet my gang's needs]
Works just fine if you stay healthy; risk nothing; never put yourself in harm's way -- and/or [Even if you envy and hate it -- and demonstrate so at every UN-vote opportunity!] live next door to the Greatest Nation in the History of the Human Species whose warmth and generosity will overlook your faults, take care of you when you are [Systemically] down and out -- and keep you well and safe!
ROTFLMAO!
Just tell the Canadians to open a hatch and bail it out... :)
They didn't use duct tape? They should be slapped.
Deisel can be made rather quieter, don't require the infrastructure to support, and don't use radiocactive fuel. Nuclear subs put out more electrical power for the space, can stay underwater far longer at a stretch, and don't require as much in the way of fuel storage. As to which is supperior, it depends on what they're to be used for. If we only protected our coasts, we might well use deisel, but as we set our subs off of the Asian and African coasts, we forgo some of the stealth advantages for range and station-keeping abilities.
And besides.think of it, whats the most probable sub attack on North America going to be now? Probably a deisel from Iran or China.
It's too funny a story to miss, anyway.
Actually, you are probably wrong. Battery power is much quieter than nukes. If you want the silence of a "diesel" with the range of a nuke, you need only add batteries--and operate quietly on them, long as they last.
You'd have to run the noisy nuke to recharge--but you don't have to surface to do it. Nor, I warrant, does the nuke make as much noise as the recharging diesel does.
What a relief to find out it's the only the Canadians.
Haven't they heared about chewing gum over there? I served on subs over a decade, and it works everytime.
Sheesh, danged Canadians 'll bitch about every lil thang :o)
Even if the ain't got some chew, a spit ball works in a pinch, jess no injun-uity I guess.
They were told that not only does the sub leak every now and then - but that the heaters aren't reliable either. So, when the sub's leaking AND freezing at the same time - it means hockey. See, having a hockey stick on board makes sense... kinda.
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