 |
||
|
HOME
|
US Navy -
ships
|
US Navy - air
units
|
USMC - air
units
|
International
Navies
|
Weapon Systems
|
Special Reports |
||
|
Royal Canadian Navy - Marine Royale
Canadienne - Submarine SSK 879 HMCS Chicoutimi |
||
|
||
| 01/22 | ||
|
Type,
class: Victoria (ex UK Upholder) class Hunter-Killer
Submarine / SSK Builder: Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL), Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK STATUS: Royal Navy service: S 40 HMS Upholder Laid down: November 2, 1983 Launched: December 2, 1986 Commissioned: June 9, 1990 Decommissioned: April 29, 1994 Royal Canadian Navy service: Acquired: 1998 Commissioned: September 3, 2015 IN SERVICE Homeport: CFB Esquimalt, British Columbia Namesake: City of Chicoutimi (now a borough of the city of Saguenay), Quebec Ship's Motto: MAITRE DU DOMAINE (master of the domain) Technical Data: see INFO > Victoria class Submarine |
||
| images | ||
                                |
||
|
HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879): The submarine was built for the Royal Navy as HMS Upholder (S40), the lead ship of the Upholder (2400) class of submarines, the second vessel to bear the name in the Royal Navy. The submarine was laid down by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL) in February 1983 and launched on 2 December 1986. During construction, work on the submarine was delayed due to a labour strike. Upholder commissioned into the Royal Navy on 7 December 1990. Her commissioning was delayed due to a problem with the operation of the torpedo tubes, which had to be welded closed to prevent sea water entering the submarine. Upholder was decommissioned on 29 April 1994 as a financial measure, following the end of the Cold-War and subsequent cancellation of the programme and amidst some controversy. The entire class was declared surplus to requirements in 1994. Royal Canadian Navy: The British government was looking to discontinue the operation of diesel-electric boats and offered to sell Upholder and her sister submarines to Canada in 1993. The offer was accepted in 1998. The four boats were leased to the Canadians for US$427 million (plus US$98 million for upgrades and alteration to Canadian standards), with the lease to run for eight years; after this, the submarines would be sold for £1. Problems were discovered with the piping welds on all four submarines, which delayed the reactivation of Upholder and her three sisters. Upholder was the last to be restored. When work commenced on the submarine, internal steelwork was found to be corroded, hull valves were cracked, air turbine pumps were defective, and equipment was missing that had been used to refit sister boat HMCS Corner Brook (ex-Ursula). Upholder was renamed HMCS Chicoutimi, in honour of the city of Chicoutimi, Quebec (now a borough of the city of Saguenay). October 2004 fire: Chicoutimi was the last of the newly renamed Victoria-class vessels to complete the refit and was handed over to Maritime Command on 2 October 2004 at Faslane Naval Base. Two days later, Chicoutimi set sail for her new home port at CFB Halifax in Nova Scotia. On 5 October, Chicoutimi was running on the surface, through heavy seas 100 miles (160 km) north-west of County Mayo, Ireland. Both hatches in the bridge fin lock-out chamber were left open and an estimated 2,000 litres (440 imp gal; 528 US gal) of seawater entered the vessel. The seawater caused an electrical panel to short out, which in turn started a major fire and caused all power to cut out, leaving the submarine adrift. Nine crewmembers were affected by smoke inhalation and the submarine was left drifting without power in heavy seas. The RNLI lifeboat Sam and Ada Moody, stationed on Achill Island, County Mayo was put on standby to assist, but was later stood down. An Irish Navy ship, LÉ Róisín, responded to the submarine's mayday signal and set out to assist it, but was seriously damaged by the rough seas and forced to return to harbour. The only other Irish Navy ships available to help, LÉ Aoife and LÉ Niamh were patrolling off Ireland's southern coast. At 2 p.m. local time, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose and the auxiliary vessel RFA Wave Knight reached the crippled Chicoutimi, with an additional three British ships en route. LÉ Aoife later reached the area and took over coordination of the rescue and salvage efforts. Other British ships dispatched to assist the submarine were HMS Marlborough and RFA Argus, as well as a number of specialist vessels to handle the situation. The rough conditions in the North Atlantic were impeding efforts to rescue the surfaced Chicoutimi, and a former Canadian naval officer said of Chicoutimi that "[it's] not [a] good surface rider at all. It’s by no means unsafe; it’s just very uncomfortable." Three of the crew were airlifted by a Royal Navy helicopter for medical treatment after their condition deteriorated. Its original destination was Derry, Northern Ireland, but the helicopter diverted to Sligo, Ireland after one crewman, Lieutenant (Navy) Chris Saunders, 32, became severely ill. The three crewmen were taken to Sligo General Hospital, where Saunders was pronounced dead. The other two were admitted to the hospital, where one was listed in "critical" condition and placed in the intensive care unit, while another was reported as being in a "stable" condition. By the evening of 7 October, the weather had abated, and Chicoutimi was taken in tow by the HM Coastguard tugboat Anglian Prince to return to Faslane Naval Base in Scotland. The tow was later taken over by the United States Submarine Support Vessel MV Carolyn Chouest, which was able to increase the towing speed from 3 knots (5.6 km/h) to 8 or 9 knots (15 or 17 km/h), and reached Faslane on the evening of 10 October. Chicoutimi was escorted into the Royal Navy base by HMCS St. John's, a Canadian frigate which rushed across the Atlantic after the navy learned of the fire. Following claims made in the Canadian media about the cause of the fire, blaming the United Kingdom for supplying an unsafe vessel, the situation was further exacerbated by controversial comments made by the UK's Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon. Hoon accompanied his condolences for Saunders with a proposal that the Royal Navy would charge Canada for the cost of the rescue while also stating that Canada as the buyer had to beware. In Canada, many Second World War veterans were outraged by his comments. As well as promoting speculation regarding problems with the Victoria class, the incident also sparked debate in Ireland over the country's lack of a rescue tug at that time. After some repairs were made at Faslane, the Department of National Defence contracted Eide Marine Services to transport Chicoutimi aboard the submersible heavy lift ship Eide Transporter to Halifax. She departed Faslane on 13 January 2005 and arrived in Halifax on 1 February, where she was dry docked at HMC Dockyard for further work. Those sailors who fought the fire aboard the submarine suffered higher levels of post-traumatic stress syndrome and asthma in the years following the incident. 2009 transfer to Victoria: In April 2006 the Department of National Defence announced that repairs to Chicoutimi would be deferred until 2010 when the submarine was to undergo a previously scheduled two-year Extended Docking Work Period (refit). From 2006 to 2008 the Department of Public Works and Government Services worked with the Department of National Defence (DND) to issue a Request for Proposal for the Victoria Class In-Service Support Contract Project (VISSC). The result of this RFP saw the VISSC awarded in June 2008 to the Canadian Submarine Maintenance Group (CSMG), a private-sector consortium led by Babcock Marine and Weir Canada Inc. The initial five-year contract for the VISSC will see CSMG establish a submarine maintenance and repair facility at DND's graving dock at CFB Esquimalt near Victoria, British Columbia. The DND graving dock is operated by Washington Marine Group as Victoria Shipyards Inc. Under the terms of the VISSC, CSMG contracted Dockwise USA Inc to transport Chicoutimi from Halifax to Esquimalt. On 1 April 2009 Chicoutimi was loaded aboard the submersible heavy lift ship Tern in Bedford Basin. Tern departed Halifax on 5 April 2009 and arrived in Esquimalt on 29 April 2009 where Chicoutimi was transferred to the CSMG facility. In January 2014 it was announced that Chicoutimi was repaired and was being prepared to be handed back over to the navy. However, the boat would be limited to shallow-water diving for the foreseeable future. It was announced on 28 September 2014 that the submarine began sea trials that would take seven-to-eight weeks to complete. On 7 December 2014 the Ottawa Citizen reported that HMCS Chicoutimi had completed her sea trials and was handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy on 3 December 2014. The boat was officially commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy on 3 September 2015. Operational service: In October 2015, Chicoutimi, along with Calgary and Vancouver, participated in the United States Navy's Task Group Exercise, a naval exercise held off southern California. In 2015, problems with welds were discovered aboard Chicoutimi and sister boat Victoria. Both submarines were docked to undergo repairs and Chicoutimi began training exercises in December 2016. In May 2017, Chicoutimi returned to port after problems arose with the main battery while conducting operations at sea. On 15 June 2017, while Chicoutimi was docked at CFB Esquimalt, the Orca-class patrol vessel Cougar struck the submarine as it was exiting the dockyard. The initial inspection following the collision showed only superficial damage to the protective gear around the submarine. To deal with the ongoing battery issues aboard Chicoutimi, the main battery was transferred from sister boat Victoria. On 7 October 2017, CBC News reported that Chicoutimi had been sent on a first-ever operational patrol to Asia. Chicoutimi made a port visit to Yokosuka, Japan while deployed to Asia, marking the first time in 50 years a Canadian submarine has visited the country. The submarine was deployed off the coast of North Korea recording airport departures and arrivals and monitoring sea traffic. The submarine returned to CFB Esquimalt on 21 March 2018. source: wikipedia - - - - - another history: The former HMS Upholder submarine had been laid up by the Royal Navy in 1994. It began its reactivation in 2002 and underwent extensive work, which lasted almost 3 years. On October 2, 2004, she was officially baptized HMCS HMCS Chicoutimi in Faslane, UK, and sailed for Canada on October 4. October 5, 2004, marked the darkest hours in the history of Canadian submarine service when the boat suffered a major electrical fire on her way to Halifax. She was saved by the heroic efforts of the crew, but the fire left the vessel without power or propulsion. Help was dispatched immediately but, unfortunately, 1 officer succumbed to his injuries. In all, 9 crewmembers were injured. An international rescue effort of British, Irish and American naval and civilian vessels rescued the crew and towed the submarine back to Faslane on October 10. HMCS Chicoutimi was repatriated to Halifax on the submersible heavy lift ship Eide Transporter, arriving in Halifax on February 1, 2005. HMCS Chicoutimi was not commissioned, pending an assessment into the feasibility of repair. The ship was placed in an Extended Limited Maintenance Period (ELMP). In April 2006, the RCN announced that repairs would be deferred until her Extended Docking Work Period (EDWP), anticipated to start in 2010. It would be the first EDWP to be conducted by industry under the Victoria In-Service Support Contract (VISSC). HMCS Chicoutimi was transported to the Canadian Submarine Maintenance Group (CSMG) facility in Esquimalt under the terms of the VISSC, on the submersible heavy lift ship Tern, arriving on April 29, 2009. She entered her EDWP as predicted, in September 2010, and was undocked in November 2013. HMCS Chicoutimi began a tiered readiness program to be available for participation in a multi-national exercise in the fall of 2014. HMCS Chicoutimi was officially commissioned into the RCN fleet at a formal ceremony in Esquimalt on September 3, 2015. TIMELINE: 1986 - Commissioned into the Royal Navy (RN) as HMS Upholder (S 40) 2004 - Entered into Canadian service; en route to Canada, a tragic fire occurred onboard, which delayed it’s return to service 2004 - Chicoutimi headed into an EDWP, the first conducted by industry under the Victoria In-service Support Contract 2014 - Completed its Extended Docking Work Period (EDWP) 2015 - Commissioned into the RCN, and began training with the RCN and USN shortly thereafter 2015 - Accompanied HMCS Calgary and HMCS Vancouver during a USN-led training activity off California 2017-2018 - Deployed on Op PROJECTION Asia-Pacific, sailing from Esquimalt, B.C. for a seven-month deployment in the Asia-Pacific; the deployment marked the first time a Victoria-class submarine had visited the region. It was also the first time a Canadian submarine has visited Japan since HMCS Grisle in May 1968. Chicoutimi spent 197 days at sea during Op PROJECTION, the record for the longest deployment of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Victoria-class. While on deployment, Chicoutimi visited Guam and Hawaii, and took part in training events with the United States Navy (USN), French Navy, and Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force. 2020 - Chicoutimi is alongside at HMC Dockyard Esquimalt undergoing surveys in preparation for a Transitional Docking Work Period. source: DND-MDN Canada |
||
|
Chicoutimi ... is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and commercial centre of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. In 2002 it merged into the new city of Saguenay and forms the heart of the 5th-largest urban area of the province of Quebec. At the 2021 census, its population was 69,004. |
||
| patches + more | ||
 |
||
|
|
seaforces.org
|
Royal
Canadian Navy start page
| |
