Defence Minister Peter MacKay blames the Liberals for Canada’s
troubled fleet of second-hand Victoria-class submarines. It was the
Liberals who purchased the four British-made vessels for the
suspiciously low price of $750-million in 1998. Yet it was none other
than MacKay himself who, 10 years later, persuaded his Conservative
colleagues not to scrap them. It was MacKay who signed taxpayers up for
another $1.5-billion worth of refits and repairs, thereby throwing good
money after bad.
It was apparent long before 2008 that the submarines were deeply
flawed. The diesel engines were designed for railroad locomotives and
not the rapid stops and starts required of submarines. There were
defects in the torpedo tubes, making it possible for both the inner and
outer doors to be open at the same time, even while the subs were
submerged. The subs were mothballed in saltwater for four years before
Canada bought them, and years more before we took possession. They
suffered serious corrosion — the diving depth of HMCS Windsor is now restricted due to rust damage on the hull.
Shortly after Canada took possession, 1,500 litres of saltwater spilled into HMCS Corner Brook because of a malfunctioning Submerged Signal Ejector — a device that is used to deploy decoys while submerged. HMCS Victoria experienced serious problems with its cooling system. And a deadly fire broke out on HMCS Chicoutimi
when seawater entering through an open hatch caused an electrical short
in wiring that had just one layer of waterproof sealant, instead of the
three layers the construction specifications had required. In 2004, the
electrical system on Victoria was destroyed when the submarine was hooked up to an on-shore electric supply. The Halifax Chronicle Herald
reported that the Navy spent about $200,000 after the accident “to buy
old technology that mirrors what the sub’s British builders used” –
equipment that one of the Navy’s own “electrical technologists” said
“probably goes back to the ‘60s.”
In 2007, Windsor entered a refit that was supposed to take
three years but ended up taking six. Documents obtained by the CBC later
explained that every system had major problems. Spare parts are also
difficult to obtain.
It was in this context that MacKay pushed for the $1.5-billion refit
and repair contract, a move rendered all the more perplexing by the fact
that, by 2008, the submarines were already between 15-19 years old.
This meant that the most one could hope for from the vessels, after
their refits, was a single decade of service.
Which is not very long when you consider that, for the same amount of
money, Canada could have procured between 3-4 brand new diesel-electric
submarines based on proven designs from France or Germany.
Chicoutimi has been out of the water since the fire in 2004, and will remain in dry dock until at least the end of this year
Today, five years after the $1.5-billion contract, MacKay insists the
situation is improving. Which is true, if going from horrendous to bad
counts as an improvement. Corner Brook was damaged in an accident
in 2011 and put out of action until 2012. It is scheduled to return to
dry dock for three years in 2014. In December 2012, a defect was
discovered in one of Windsor’s two diesel engines, which resulted
in the submarine having to operate on just one engine. This put the sub
on limited duty. She will be taken out of service later this year so
that the engine can be replaced. Chicoutimi has been out of the water since the fire in 2004, and will remain in dry dock until at least the end of this year. Victoria, which emerged from six years in dry dock in 2011, is scheduled to return there for three years in 2016.
According to the Department of National Defence, Canada’s four
Victoria-class submarines have accumulated a total of just 1,131 days at
sea in the decade since 2003 — about 30 days per submarine per year.
It’s time to stop throwing good money after bad. If Canada wants to
maintain this capability, we need to start from scratch.
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