The Canadian submarine HMCS Corner Brook prepares to get underway after taking Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper onboard for a visit in Frobisher Bay on Aug. 19, 2009.
Photograph by: Andy Clark, REUTERS
Posted on 09/04/2011 6:21:09 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
All Canadian submarines now out of commission
By David Pugliese, Postmedia News
September 4, 2011
The navy’s last operational submarine is now sidelined until 2016, leaving the service without an underwater capability and potentially throwing into question the future of the submarine fleet.
The submarine program, which has already cost around $900 million, has been plagued with various maintenance issues that have prevented the boats from being available for operations on a regular basis.
A media report in July noted that one of the subs, HMCS Windsor, arrived in Canada in the fall of 2001 but since then it has operated at sea for just 332 days.
HMCS Corner Brook, damaged when it hit the ocean floor during a training accident in June on the West Coast, is now dockside. It will be repaired and overhauled during a planned maintenance period now underway.
But it is not scheduled to return to sea until 2016, the navy confirmed in an email to the Ottawa Citizen.
HMCS Chicoutimi, damaged by a fire in 2004 that killed one officer, still remains sidelined. That leaves HMCS Windsor and HMCS Victoria, which are also not available for duty at sea.
“The navy is focused on HMCS Victoria and HMCS Windsor and returning both to sea in early 2012,” stated navy spokesman Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens in an email. “Trials are already underway with Victoria in anticipation to her returning to sea.”
He noted that plans call for Victoria to do a test dive in the Esquimalt harbour on Vancouver
(Excerpt) Read more at vancouversun.com ...
The Canadian submarine HMCS Corner Brook prepares to get underway after taking Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper onboard for a visit in Frobisher Bay on Aug. 19, 2009.
Photograph by: Andy Clark, REUTERS
it looks a little rough
The Brits really put one over on the Canadians with that submarine deal. There are several folks out there making decent DE boats, but our neighbors to the north really got snookered on some used lemons.
I feel for the Canadians, but you can be damn sure if the USA weren’t their neighbors, then they would have a submarine fleet.
ping
Doesn’t sound like Canada is going to be a naval superpower any time soon.
Yes, it’s ironic that by the end of WWII they had the third largest navy in the world after the US and UK.
The sound dampening hull covering is a pain in the arse to maintain. They all look rough after a deployment.
Why are we even worried? Supposedly canada is the only country not hit by the recession, so they can basically afford it...unless we get stuck with the bill again defending America’s hat.
Sad thing is they used to be. At the end of WWII they were the third largest Navy on Earth, complete with carriers.
Another strange thing is Japan, their Constitution doesn’t let them have a military and look at them. They aren’t allowed to have “carriers” but they have 2 helicopter “destroyers” (like the USS WASP).
The population of Canada is less than that of California.
Canada, USA, europe, all confiscate taxpayers’ money to waste on bloated welfare and overspending, and can’t find money to maintain the very forces and equipment they’d need to keep them free. Hasn’t helped that Europe basically depended on USA for free military cover the last 50 years.
It’s entitlements that have sunk the west, not military expenses. The takers and the cheaters (govt/pols) now say they are ‘human rights’.
Far as I know they lose pieces or sections after awhile that need to be repatched.
Another sign of the dark ages redux.
Hopefully the next renaissance won’t take 700 years.
The Japanese carriers are less than half the displacement of the Wasp class so they would need at least a ski-jump to launch a Harrier/F-35 off.
Maybe the Mexican drug cartels can give them a working sub in exchange for some Canadian weed.
They just use helicopters I think. They won’t call them “carriers” because the legal consensus is that they aren’t allowed. heh.
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