HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879)

History
UK
Name	HMS Upholder
Builder	VSEL, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down	November 1983
Launched	2 December 1986
Commissioned	2 June 1990
Decommissioned	1994
Fate	Transferred to Canada
History
Canada
Name	HMCS Chicoutimi
Acquired	1998
Commissioned	October 2004
Honors and awards	Atlantic, 1941-44.
Fate	Template:Ship fate box active in service - awaiting repair (Dry-docked)
General characteristics
Class and type	Upholder/Victoria-class submarine
Displacement	list error: <br /> list (help) 2,260 long tons (2,296 t) surfaced 2,500 long tons (2,540 t) submerged
Length	230 ft 7 in (70.28 m)
Beam	23 ft 7 in (7.19 m)
Draught	24 ft 11 in (7.59 m)
Speed	list error: <br /> list (help) 12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h) surfaced 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) submerged
Complement	48 officers and crew, plus 7 trainees
Armament	list error: <br /> list (help) • 6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes • 18 × Mark 48 torpedoes

HMCS Chicoutimi is a Victoria-class long-range hunter-killer (SSK) submarine of the Canadian Navy, originally operated by the Royal Navy as HMS Upholder. Shortly after being handed over from the UK to Canada she was involved in a partial flooding incident which resulted in a fire at sea. The incident sparked a fierce debate over the value of the purchase of this group of second-hand vessels, as well as the handover inspection process. Despite all the media speculation, this was later proven to be as a result of an error in operational procedure.^[1]

This submarine was built for the Royal Navy as HMS Upholder (S40), the lead ship of the Upholder (2400) class of submarines, named after the original Upholder. She was built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL), launched on 2 December 1986 and commissioned on 2 June 1990. Her commissioning was delayed because of a potential problem with the operation of the torpedo tubes.

Following the end of the Cold-War and subsequent cancellation of the programme, along with the other three vessels in the class, she was decommissioned in April 1994, amidst some controversy, as a financial measure. She and her sisters were sold in 1998 to the Canadian Navy and she was recommissioned as HMCS Chicoutimi. She was named for the city of Chicoutimi, Quebec, now a borough of the city of Saguenay.

The actual agreement to buy the Chicoutimi, and the other three vessels of the Upholder-class, was, at the time, considered to be a relative bargain. Canada would allow the use of Canadian bases for training British soldiers, and pay a total of $750 million CAD on a 'lease-to-own' plan for the four submarines that would extend until 2006, and which included a six-year maintenance contract. After the lease period ended, Canada would have the option to purchase the four submarines for only one British pound.

The Upholder had been mothballed in April 1994, and by the time the Canadians agreed to purchase her, she had already been laid up for four years. The problems with returning the vessel to service were therefore, perhaps, predictable. When workers set to work restoring the Chicoutimi, some areas of steelwork, but not the hull itself, were discovered to be corroded well beyond a safe extent. Some hull valves were cracked, air turbine pumps were defective, and the Chicoutimi had been looted for usable parts. Ironically, the cannibalization of the Chicoutimi took place to provide parts for her sister ship, HMCS Corner Brook, according to documents acquired by the Halifax Daily News in September 2004.^[2]

The increased cost of preparing the Chicoutimi for active service in the Canadian Forces has drawn considerable scrutiny in Canada, where public scepticism over military spending and hardware has increased. However, some sources cite the cost of four new submarines with capabilities little greater than those of the Victoria-class as high as $2 billion CAD, while even with the overruns, the cost of restoring the Upholder-class could be less than half of that.

Opposition Canadian MP Bill Casey listed a catalogue of problems that the Upholder class have suffered:

"They have experienced overheating, they have experienced leaks, they have experienced rust," he said.

"They have had to have the exhaust valves replaced, which is a huge valve in the middle of the boat which redirects the exhaust whether the boat is submerged, partially-submerged or on the surface."

The Chicoutimi was the last of the newly renamed Victoria-class vessels to be delivered, handed over to the Canadians 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 apparently surfaced and running through heavy seas 100 miles (160 km) north-west of County Mayo, Ireland. Both hatches in the bridge fin lockout chamber were left open and an estimated 2,000 litres of seawater entered the vessel.

The seawater created electrical shorting and a fire. Nine crewmembers were affected by smoke inhalation and the ship was left drifting without power in heavy seas.^[3] Three of these crew members were airlifted to Sligo General Hospital in the Republic of Ireland the next day, with one listed in 'critical' condition. Later, on 6 October, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin confirmed that one of the Chicoutimi's crew, Lieutenant(N) Chris Saunders, died in transit to hospital.^[4]

The RNLI lifeboat stationed on Achill Island, County Mayo (the "Sam and Ada Moody") was put on standby to assist, but was later stood down. An Irish Naval Service vessel, the LÉ Róisín, attempted to assist the submarine, but was seriously damaged by the rough seas and forced to return to harbour. The only other Irish naval vessels available to help, the 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. The LÉ Aoife later reached the area, and took over co-ordination of the rescue and salvage efforts. Other ships dispatched to assist the boat 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 the efforts of the Irish and British navies to rescue the surfaced Chicoutimi, and a former Canadian naval officer said of the Chicoutimi that "[it's] not [a] good surface rider at all. It’s by no means unsafe; it’s just very uncomfortable."^[5]

By the evening of 7 October the weather had abated, and the Chicoutimi was taken in tow by the British Coastguard tugboat Anglian Prince to return to Faslane Naval Base in Scotland. Towing was later taken over by the US Submarine Support Vessel MV Carolyn Chouest, which was able to increase the towing speed from three knots (6 km/h) to eight or nine 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.

As well as highlighting the problems with the Victoria class, the incident has also sparked debate in Ireland over the country's search and rescue capabilities.

Following claims made in the Canadian media about the cause of the fire, blaming the UK for supplying an unsafe vessel, the situation was further exacerbated by controversial comments made by Secretary of State for Defence Geoff Hoon. He 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 World War II veterans were outraged by his comments, considering Canada's sacrifice for the British.^[1]

In April 2006, it was announced that repair priorities had shifted; Chicoutimi would remain in drydock until at least 2010, and would likely not be seaworthy again until 2012.^[6]

• 1983, Nov: Laid down
• 1986, Dec 2: Launched
• 1990, Jun 2: Commissioned (as HMS Upholder)
• 1994, Apr: Decommissioned and mothballed
• 1998: Acquired by Canadian Navy
• 2004, Sep: Work completed
• 2004, Oct 2: Faslane [1]
• 2004, Oct 2: Submarine HMCS Chicoutimi (ex-HMS Upholder) handed over to the Canadian Navy at Faslane Naval Base in Scotland. [2]
• 2004, Oct 4: fatal fire during maiden voyage from Scotland to Halifax. One killed in major fire onboard submarine HMCS Chicoutimi northwest of Ireland. [3]
• 2004: towed back to Scotland
• 2004, Nov 4: Department of National Defense announced the decision to transport HMCS Chicoutimi by sealift to Halifax for repairs [4]
• 2004, Dec 14: The Department of National Defense awarded a contract valued at approximately $2.7 million to EIDE Marine of Norway for the sealift of HMCS Chicoutimi to Canada from Faslane, Scotland. The contract was awarded following a competitive bidding process.[5]
• 2005, Jan 13: Canada's troubled second-hand submarine HMCS Chicoutimi finally headed home -- welded to a giant Norwegian freighter. The Norwegian semi-submersible transporter Eide weighed anchor in Faslane, Scotland, ending days of delays due to bad weather. [6]
• 2005, Feb 1: HMCS Chicoutimi arrived Halifax aboard MV Eide Transporter. [7] [8]
• 2005, Feb 16: The Department of National Defense has awarded a contract valued at approximately $560,000 to Irving Shipbuilding Incorporated of St. John New Brunswick for the first phase of the repairs to HMCS Chicoutimi. [9]
• 2005, Apr 18: Former prime minister Jean Chretien's government took too long to purchase four used British submarines, a decision that may have contributed to the deterioration of the vessels, a parliamentary committee has found. [10]
• 2005, May 5: Vice-Admiral Bruce MacLean, the Commander of Canada's Navy, will make the final report of the HMCS Chicoutimi board of inquiry public at a news conference at 1100. [11]
• 2005, Aug 19: Phase II of the repairs to HMCS Chicoutimi has begun with the award of an $11.76 million contract to Irving Shipbuilding Incorporated of Saint John NB at its Halifax Shipyard facility. This phase involves detailed materiel surveys and assessments, as well as the development of the engineering and job specifications needed to begin Phase III, the repair and other concurrent work. [12]
• 2005, Oct 5: Chief of the Defense Staff General Rick Hillier announced today that HMCS Chicoutimi has received the Canadian Forces Unit Commendation for the exceptional effort of her crew to save the submarine during a five-day struggle that began on October 5, 2004 with an on-board electrical fire that crippled the submarine. [13]
• 2005, Nov 25: General Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), will present the Canadian Forces (CF) Unit Commendation to Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Chicoutimi for the exceptional effort of her crew to save the submarine after an onboard electrical fire on October 5, 2004. Accepting the award on behalf of Chicoutimi will be Commander Luc Pelletier, former Commanding Officer. [14]
• 2006, Apr 28: Department of National Defense announced that repairs to HMCS Chicoutimi, damaged by fire in 2004, will be deferred until 2010 when a two-year refit on the submarine is conducted. [15]
• 2006, Jun 29: Surgeon Lieutenant Michael Henry Lindsay has received the highest bravery award, given by the Order of St. John for saving the lives of Canadian sailors aboard a stricken submarine. A member of HM Submarine Service and the Defense Medical Services, Surgeon Lieutenant Lindsay, 29, received the Life Saving Medal of the Order in Gold for bravery and outstanding actions performed in October 2004, when the submarine HMCS Chicoutimi broke down in the Atlantic and suffered a serious fire that destroyed all of the medical supplies. The vessel drifted for two days whilst nine crewmembers needed urgent medical attention. Winds of up to 50 knots and sea swell reaching heights of up to 25 feet prevented a helicopter rescue, so when Surgeon Lieutenant Lindsay, who was in the area training to drive a submarine, radioed the Chicoutimi he realized he had to get onboard to provide medical treatment and supplies. [16]
• 2006, Nov 4: HMCS Chicoutimi towed out of the Halifax Shipyard to HMC Dockyard. The submarine has been sitting in dry dock at the Irving-owned yard since the spring of 2005. [17]
• 2007: a B.C. consortium won a five-year, $1.5 billion contract to maintain all four submarines
• 2008, Nov 26: The navy plans to spend $16.84 million to ship the HMCS Chicoutimi to Esquimalt
• 2009, Apr 1: Scheduled departure from Halifax aboard heavy-lift ship. [18], [19]
• 2009, Apr: 30-day voyage, presumably going through Panama Canal
• future: will undergo "essential preservation work" prior to a refit [20]
• May 09: arrive in Esquimalt on MV Tern
• 2012: scheduled to return to service [21]

• HMS Upholder for other ships of the same name
• Major submarine incidents since 2000

• HMCS Chicoutimi
• HMCS Chicoutimi Board of Enquiry website
• Canadian Navy fleet
• "U.S. Submarine Support Ship Assists Canadian Submarine", Navy newsstand, 13 October 2004.
• "Three years after Chicoutimi fire, crew members’ health worsening"