Canada’s submarines are effective at deep-sixing taxpayer dollars.
Bought second-hand from the British in 1998, the four Victoria-class vessels have suffered serious accidents and expensive mechanical problems. Over the past decade, on a per-submarine basis, they have managed a yearly average of just 30 days at sea. But this sorry record has not stopped the Harper government from announcing another $531 million for refits and repairs.
It’s the second phase of a 15-year support arrangement with Babcock International, a British-based defence contractor, that the Harper government established in 2008.
It was apparent from the start that the submarines were flawed. Initially, the British experienced problems with the diesel engines, which were designed for railroad locomotives and not the rapid stops and starts required of submarines. They also struggled with defects in the torpedo-tube slide valves that are supposed to prevent the inner torpedo doors from opening while the outer doors are ajar.
The British decommissioned the submarines in 1994 and just tied them up to a wharf. There, they languished in salt water for four years awaiting a buyer, and another two to six years before Canada took possession of them. During this time, the submarines suffered serious corrosion, to the point where the diving depth of HMCS Windsor remains restricted to this day.
Shortly after Canada took possession, 1,500 litres of salt water spilled into HMCS Corner Brook because of a malfunctioning submerged signal ejector, 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. Nine years later, Chicoutimi is still in deep maintenance.
In 2004, the electrical system on HMCS Victoria was destroyed when the submarine was hooked up to an on-shore electric supply. According to the Halifax Chronicle Herald, 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.” The Victoria emerged from dry dock six years later, in 2011, and is scheduled to return there for another three years in 2016.
In 2007, HMCS Windsor entered a refit that was supposed to take two years but ended up taking five. Documents obtained by the CBC later explained the delay: “[E]very system … has major problems … including bad welds in the hull, broken torpedo tubes, a faulty rudder and tiles on the side of the sub that continually fall off.”
In June 2011, HMCS Corner Brook struck bottom during an exercise as a result of human error. The damage to the submarine was extensive and it did not return to sea for a year and a half. It is scheduled to return to dry dock for another three years in 2014.
In December 2012, a defect was found in one of HMCS Windsor’s two engines that resulted in the submarine having to operate with a single engine. The CBC reported that as a result of the defect, the vessel’s diving depth has been “severely restricted and the navy has been forced to withdraw the sub from planned exercises off the southern U.S. coast.” Windsor will be taken out of service later this year so that the engine can be replaced.
All these problems raise the question: Why is the Harper government throwing money at these badly flawed vessels, when new, yet proven, German- or French-designed diesel-electric submarines could be built in Canada for a lower cost — and create just as many Canadian jobs?
Spending another $531 million on refits and repairs makes even less sense when you consider the age of the Victoria-class submarines. Launched between 1990 and 1993, they are now 20 to 23 years old, which puts them within 10 to 15 years of the end of their lifecycle.
Worse yet, Canada has no apparent need for the Victoria-class submarines. They cannot operate under the Arctic sea ice because they lack an “air independent propulsion system” similar to that found on the new German- and French-designed submarines.
The use of the submarines for surveillance purposes has been superseded by technological developments in satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, leaving the Victoria-class vessels with just one real utility: providing the U.S. navy with opportunities to practise detecting relatively quiet diesel-electric submarines.
The Harper government did not dig this bottomless pit, but it has been throwing good money into it since 2006. Canada’s Victoria-class submarines cannot be saved. It’s time for a better plan.
Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of B.C. Stewart Webb is a visiting fellow at the Rideau Institute and a research associate at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
