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Saving Canada's submarine program

The Canadian Defence Force faces a battle to win back public confidence in its submarine program in the wake of the HMCS Chicoutimi incident. Private John Wellfare reports.

Limping into port: HMCS Chicoutimi is helped to the jetty by two British Royal Navy tug boats in Faslane, Scotland. Photo by Corporal Paul MacGregor, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

Burnt out: The Commanding Officer's cabin onboard HMCS Chicoutimi suffered significant fire damage, as did a large portion of the ship's generator and engine spaces. Photo by Corporal Paul MacGregor, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

Negative publicity seems to linger in the background during the final stages of any major military equipment procurement, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The fatal fire onboard the Canadian Navy's newly acquired HMCS Chicoutimi in the early stages of its maiden voyage in October last year far outweighs - both by its tragic nature and in terms of the damage caused to the organisation's public image - the negative press generated by a few disapproving comments regarding Australia's Collins Class Submarines in 1997.

The Canadian Department of National Defence has taken a sensible approach to handling the incident, with seemingly no attempt at "sweeping under the rug". The department's website features a section dedicated to the incident, with regular updates on the progress of the recovery operation and the board of inquiry, which began its investigation into the causes of the fire just seven days after the incident occurred.

The board submitted its report, not publicly released at the time of this writing, on December 17. Based on information gained from 78 witnesses and 142 exhibits, the board's report makes 38 findings and 23 recommendations. It's expected that the report will be released to the public soon.

The incident did receive significant attention in the media, as one would expect, but by releasing to the public as much information as possible on the matter, the Canadian Department of National Defence was able to keep damaging rumours and speculation to a minimum. The most significant clash with the media came when a major Canadian broadcaster sought, unsuccessfully, to have the inquiry postponed pending the outcome of an application to Canada's Federal Court to open the investigation to the public. The next major hurdle for the Canadian Defence Force will come when the inquiry's findings are released.

Eight sailors suffered injuries when a fire broke out on board HMCS Chicoutimi one day after it left Faslane in Scotland for Canada's submarine port of Halifax. One crewmember, Lieutenant Chris Saunders, died shortly after being evacuated to hospital.

The submarine was towed back to Faslane, and remained in port while investigators gathered evidence and arrangements were made to move the damaged vessel to Canada.

At the time of this writing, HMCS Chicoutimi was en-route to Halifax onboard a sealift vessel from Norwegian company EIDE Marine.

For more information:
Canadian Forces official site
www.forces.gc.ca

The sealift operation

HMCS Chicoutimi begins its journey to Canada onboard the EIDE Transporter. Photo by Corporal Robert Bottrill, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

The Canadian $2.7 million (AUD$2.9 million) contract to transport the fire-damaged HMCS Chicoutimi from Faslane, Scotland, to Halifax in Canada was awarded to EIDE Marine of Norway.

EIDE Marine's specialist sealift vessel departed with the Victoria-class submarine onboard on January 13, and was due to arrive between January 25 and 27.

Loading a large vessel onto a ship is no easy task. The EIDE Transporter is semi-submersible - its 153m x 20m deck sinks below the waterline, allowing the ship to manoeuvre into position beneath the vessel it's lifting and emerge again with its cargo in dry dock onboard.

The vessel can also remain semi-submerged with floating cargo on its deck.

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