Back in the 60's the Royal Canadian Navy fielded a small number of reasonably capable submarines, the Oberon-class boats we bought from the UK. We had five of these subs. Introduced in 1965 they were decommissioned in the late 90's, a commendable service life.
As the Oberon boats were being phased out Canada went shopping for replacements and, voila, the Royal Navy happened to have four "nearly new" Upholder-class subs it was looking to unload. These subs had been mothballed after just four years of somewhat chequered service.
During construction of the first boats it was recognized that the weapon-discharge system design did contain flaws. The torpedo tube slide valve controlling operation of the torpedo tube doors could have, under certain system failure conditions, allowed the opening of the inner door while the outer door was open. The flaw was quickly fixed in the first three boats and the modifications included in the fourth boat while still under construction.
Miscalculations were made in the design of the main-motor control circuitry. During the sea trials of Upholder, when performing the specified trial for an emergency reversal ("crash back"), a flash-over incident occurred, which resulted in the complete loss of all power and propulsion. On investigation, this was traced to a fault in the design of the control circuitry insulation, resulting in a battery short circuit current of more than 60,000 amperes.
The diesels were originally designed for use in railway locomotives, and were not intended to be rapidly stopped and started. Shutting them down after snorkelling led to many failures. Similarly, the motor-generators were operated at full power for longer than expected, and consumed brushes and filters rapidly (the brush problems were not specific to the Upholders, and were a widespread issue on all UK RN vessels at that time).
Canada bought these boats in 1998 only to find them chock full of gremlins. Fourteen years later the Canadian navy hopes to have one of them operational this year. It's now thirty years or more since those submarines became operational with the Royal Navy. Thirty years in submarine years is just about a full lifetime.
So not only are Canada's subs about to enter service as geriatrics, they're no longer state of the art in the engine room where it really counts. The propulsion units of these diesel/electric subs are a somewhat advanced version of what submarines have used since WWI. That is so yesterday.
A big disadvantage to conventional, or non-nuclear, subs has been that they could use their diesel power only while surfaced or while running just below the surface using a snorkel. One way or another they needed a source of air to run at full power. Nuclear boats were air independent and could chug along in the ocean depths for months at a time.
Conventional subs bridged the gap recently with the introduction of air-independent propulsion engines. The latest German submarines of the 212 class use fuel cell technology that allows them to cruise fully submerged for weeks. This gives them an endurance capability vastly greater than our vintage subs and somewhat similar to nuclear submarines without the noise penalty of nuclear power units.
Why does this matter, especially to Canada? For the first time in our nation's history we're probably going to have a genuine need for a submarine capability, that's why. The Arctic Ocean is going to become ice free. That means Canada's northern waters are destined to become a major shipping route. It also means the Arctic Ocean will see something akin to a gold rush in the pursuit of seabed resources from oil and gas to mineral wealth. That in turn will fuel tensions over unresolved territorial disputes. That will also lead to new and expanded military presences in the far north.
There will be no shortage of legal, diplomatic, commercial and military muscle-flexing in the decades ahead. Right or wrong, like it or not, Canada will need to establish and maintain a credible presence to uphold our sovereignty and protect against encroachment. You snooze, you lose. It's that simple.
Submarines, especially of a type our potential rivals cannot readily detect, are essential for defending Canada's north. That means we need modern boats that are capable of silent, extended patrolling underwater.
Let's face it, if Harper gets his way and Canada does wind up saddled with a few dozen single-engine, limited range, minimal payload F-35s, we can pretty much kiss goodbye any meaningful ability to defend the vast north from the air. We will need something to pick up the slack.
Which brings us back to Canada's not-ready-for-primetime Victoria class subs. It is possible to retrofit those boats with air-independent propulsion systems but is it feasible given their age, remaining usable life, ongoing reliability questions and the substantial cost? Anyone who has owned an old car knows that sometimes you have to cut your losses and get a new car.
It's time for the Canadian government to admit that the Victoria boats were yet another disastrous mistake brought to us by the dimwits that populate our National Defence headquarters. It's probably time to stop throwing good money after bad. It's probably time to go shopping for new boats. This time we might even be able to get new for cheap. Greece has several new boats on order from the Germans and it's looking like Greece is a bit short on Euros to pay for them. Could be a deal there.