CANADIAN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
Two of Canada’s four Victoria-class submarines sail together into homeport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2006. At front is
HMCS Corner Brook, behind it HMCS Windsor. Corner Brook will be operational in the spring. Windsor will return to operations in 2012 after an extended dock work period.
the Victoria class can use the Mk48 torpedo. A Canadian
communications suite also was installed and modifications done so the submarines could use a Canadian
towed-array sonar system.
From October 2004 to May 2005, the fleet was
ordered dockside as a safety measure after a major electrical fire onboard Chicoutimi off the coast of Ireland
killed a Canadian Sailor and injured eight others. At
the time, Chicoutimi was transiting the Atlantic, coming to Canada for the first time as the last of the submarines to be delivered.
Since then, Canada has had limited use of two of the
boats: Windsor and Corner Brook. After a series of tests,
Victoria went into drydock for a refit. The amount of
work done on the fire-damaged Chicoutimi has been
limited because of funding issues.
Although Windsor and Corner Brook did not have
full operational weapons capability, they have been
used on exercises and some operations. In 2005,
Windsor took part in exercises on the east coast and in
spring 2006 was involving in training with the USS
Enterprise carrier strike group. It also took part in surveillance missions on Canada’s east coast.
In 2008, Corner Brook was sent to the Caribbean Sea
in support of the U.S.-led Joint Interagency Task Force
South’s counterdrug operations. It also took part in
Operation Nanook in the eastern Arctic Ocean last
August.
