(DND/MARPAC Imaging Services)
By Scott Taylor
A recent headline in the Ottawa Citizen caught my attention as it had an update on our submarine fleet.
"Canadian submarine sidelined for at least a decade will be operational this summer, DND says."
The news article appeared to be a positive one, leading with a quote from the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) proclaiming that HMCS Corner Brook is now Canada's 'most advanced submarine'.
But following that patriotic sounding claim, the article revealed HMCS Corner Brook only achieved this elevated status after DND spent $715 million in repairs and upgrades into this 34-year old boat.
For casual observers of the Canadian military it is worth recapping the RCN's history of operating submarines, as it was announced last September that Canada intends to buy a new fleet of up to 12 diesel-electric powered submarines at the staggering cost of over $100 billion. The first of those new submarines is not expected to enter service until 2037, but international bidders are already lining up at Canada's doorstep.
According to many a Canadian naval analyst, it is imperative that the RCN does not lose their underwater capability. Their fear is that once lost, it will be forever lost.
The historical record says otherwise. In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, the government of British Columbia bought two submarines from a US shipyard that had originally been built for Chile. These two primitive subs patrolled the Pacific until 1917 when they transmitted the Panama Canal and came to be based in Halifax. They were used to train surface ships, and decommissioned at the end of the war.
During Second World War, the RCN did not operate submarines although Canadian volunteer-submariners served aboard British submarines.
In the 1960's Canada purchased three Oberon Class submarines from Britain for the express purpose of using these boats as training aids for the RCN's anti-submarine warfare vessels. The RCN wanted the more capable US Navy Barbel class submarine but the Canadian government preferred the more economic Oberons.
In the late 1970's, due to the sorry state of the RCN's surface capability, Canada made the decision to upgrade the three Oberons into 'hunter-Killer attack submarines. This Submarine Operational Upgrade Program (SOUP) was complete in 1986 just in time for the end of the Cold War. A fun trivia tidbit is the fact that no Canadian submarine has ever fired a torpedo in anger in the history of the RCN.
In the 1987 White Paper on Defence the Mulroney Conservatives announced an ambitious plan to build between 10 -12 nuclear powered hunter killer attack submarines. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 the idea of Canada operating a large fleet of nuclear-powered submarines was thrown on the scrap heap of history.
The old Oberon's were getting older, and at the risk of losing the RCN's underwater capability for good, the Navy brain trust of the day agreed to take on four used British Upholder Class submarines. It was a case of newly elected Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien telling the RCN leadership it was these four used boats or nothing. The RCN should have opted for nothing. There was a good reason why the British Royal Navy would have commissioned these four Upholder Class submarines between 1990 and 1993 only to mothball all four submarines in 1994.
The Canadian acquisition team kicked the tires and pronounced the subs a good deal. A short time later the tires simply fell off. To wit; high-pressure welds had to be replaced and cracks were found in some of the valves on the four submarines. Torpedo tubes had been welded shut, steel piping needed to be replaced as the subs had been put into storage in the United Kingdom with water in their fuel tanks and HMCS Victoria had to undergo repairs after a dent was discovered in her hull.
The most serious, and tragic, incident occurred when HMCS Chicoutimi was damaged by a fire during her transit to Halifax in 2004 that killed one officer.
A May 2009 RCN report that was seemingly written by “Captain Obvious” concluded” “The introduction of the Victoria class has been fraught with many issues and faced a number of setbacks.”
Canada agreed to the Upholder deal in 1994 but the actual transfer of ownership took place between 2000 and 2004. The last Oberon to be decommissioned was HMCS Onondaga and that occurred in July 2000.
HMCS Windsor was the first of the renamed Victoria Class submarines to enter RCN service on June 2005. So for roughly half a decade Canada was without any underwater capability.
Critics have questioned the value of Canada's submarine fleet, pointing out that they have cost billions of dollars and have not spent that much time at sea.
For the record, HMCS Windsor is the only one of Canada's four Victoria-class submarines that has been to sea since 2021, logging 43 days in 2022 and 14 in 2023.
Which begs the question, can the RCN really lose a capability that they don't actually possess?
