Posted on 05/17/2016 6:28:10 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
More bad news for Canada's problem-plagued submarine fleet: two of the boats will be out of commission for most of this year because of shoddy welding.
HMCS Chicoutimi and its sister, HMCS Victoria, are stuck in their Vancouver Island port for months because several hundred welds can't be trusted to hold tight when the boats dive.
"Numerous welds are located outside the boats' pressure hull, which will require docking to complete the review and effect repairs," says a briefing note for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act.
"Both submarines will be alongside or in the dock in Esquimalt [B.C.] for several months."
More bad news for Canada's problem-plagued submarine fleet: two of the boats will be out of commission for most of this year because of shoddy welding.
HMCS Chicoutimi and its sister, HMCS Victoria, are stuck in their Vancouver Island port for months because several hundred welds can't be trusted to hold tight when the boats dive.
"Numerous welds are located outside the boats' pressure hull, which will require docking to complete the review and effect repairs," says a briefing note for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act.
"Both submarines will be alongside or in the dock in Esquimalt [B.C.] for several months."
Weld problems on HMCS Chicoutimi are costing the navy about eight months' downtime, with the submarine returning to sea only in the autumn. Beginning in February this year, technicians had to inspect 344 suspect welds on the boat and found at least 30 needed re-welding, often in tight spaces where work is difficult.
Technicians are scheduled to inspect 325 dubious welds on HMCS Victoria. There's no word yet on how many of those will need re-welding.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
Large hatch to move machinery.
I dunno.
But we watched Willy Wonka last night... and now the Umpa Loompa scratching up sparks with a stick of 6013, conjured by the title, is wearing wooden shoes along with his lederhosen.
Every weld on a sub is x-rayed and they are labeled, indexed and kept on file for future review in the event they are needed. There is a reason these subs passed inspections when they were built as typical porosity/cold laps do no appear later if they were not there in the first place.
Although the welds were bad when laid down the inspector or inspectors knew it and passed it anyway. Lock em up and throw the key away.
I wouldn't know that. But when you refuel a nuclear sub you just replace the fuel rods, don't you? You don't take the whole reactor assembly out. How much space does that require?
Don’t blame the welders. The blame lies with the engineers as usual.
I’m not certain, but on a commercial power plant they remove essentially the whole top of the reactor to pull and replace the rods. Not a trivial task even with full access, I can’t imagine how much of a pain in the neck it would be to feed the rods through a small hatch using remote TV and waldoes.
You don’t take the whole reactor assembly out.
http://holbert.faculty.asu.edu/eee460/jtc/index.html
Would appear the fuel lasts as long as the boat?
http://www.gizmag.com/go/7292/
Maybe it is about inefficient use of inert gases in the welding process
or something wrong with the gases themselves, eh??
from the replies:
Hey a few cans of that spray sealer sold on infomercials and we should be good....”but wait; if you call now we’ll include a second can AND a free set of steak knives, all you pay is the shipping and handling”.
I always liked Tuesday Weld.
Thank God that the son of Pierre Trudeau has been elected Prime Minister.
With the Canadian submarines out of action I guess the USA has to protect Canada...as usual.
They probably didn’t have enough diversity in their welding staff.
I have heard the pile in a nuclear sub is the size of an office desk.
My understanding is that on commercial plants, they don’t remove the “whole top” rather that there is a mechanized process that removes the old fuel and then inserts new ones, usually from the top down, I think.
According to a former nuc sub cow-irker, they install the reactor through an opening that is later welded shut.
He doesn’t recall any boats that have been refueled. The boat wears out before the initial fuel is used up.
Pretty amazing.
Two areas of design innovation for the RN were incorporated into the class. The first was the “Dutch Breach,” an idea that originated in the Netherlands. It is a large bolted hull section, an area approximately four m2 above the engine room, which allows the removal of diesel-generator sets for maintenance and overhaul. When Canada wanted to change the engines of an Oberon-class submarine, the only solution was to cut the sub in half and then weld it back together. - From Canadian Naval Review
Thank you!
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