Canadian Submarine History – From CC-1 to CPSP: Canada’s Century Beneath the Waves
BY JAMES CARELESS
The Canadian government’s decision to buy up to 12 new conventionally-powered submarines is a bold, resolute response to Canada’s maritime security challenges. It is also a welcome break with history. With the exception of Canada purchasing three new Oberon-class subs in the 1960s, this nation has had a very challenging history with submarines—the latest chapter of which is the trouble-plagued Victoria-class fleet.
That being said, Canada’s relationship with military submarines is more than a century old. Here is how that relationship started, and how we went from there to the current Canadian Patrol Submarine project (CPSP).
READ: TKMS Goes Deep on Canada’s CPSP Submarine Project
THE LAUNCH OF CANADA’S SUBMARINE SERVICE
Even before WWI began on August 4, 1914, the coastal residents of British Columbia were nervous. They had good reason to be: The German East Asia Squadron, consisting of the cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, were operating in the Pacific. At that time, Canada only had one obsolete cruiser stationed in the Pacific—HMCS Rainbow. It had been commissioned into Britain’s Royal Navy in 1893 and decommissioned in 1909 before being sold to Canada.
With such a weak defence, the notion that the newer, more capable German cruisers might shell Vancouver was a reasonable fear.
Mindful of this, B.C. Premier Sir Richard McBride struck a covert deal with the Seattle Construction and Drydock Company to buy two submarines for $1.15 million. The subs had been built for the Chilean Navy, but the deal had fallen through due to a lack of complete payment.
In a bid to get the subs to Canada before the United States was due to declare neutrality—August 5, 1914—the ships snuck out under battery power the night before, and headed into Canadian waters for the handover. There, the Chilean subs were inspected by Royal Canadian Navy personnel, a cheque was handed over, and an RCN crew took the subs to Esquimalt. They were commissioned as HMCS CC-1 and CC-2—serving as the RCN’s first submarine fleet until paid off in 1920 and sold for scrap in 1925.
Then as now, it was not Canadian policy to allow provinces to purchase naval ships without federal approval. However, as a 1917 Royal Commission report into the purchase stated, “The acquisition of these submarines probably saved the cities of Victoria and Vancouver from attack…What Sir Richard McBride did in those days of great anxiety…deserves the commendation of his fellow countrymen. For his motives were those of patriotism; and his conduct that of an honourable man.”
A BIGGER FLEET – TEMPORARILY
For a brief period after the Great War, the RCN had four submarines—at least on paper. That’s because the Royal Navy gave Canada two surplus H-class subs in 1919.
Originally built by the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, these boats had a rather unique history. Due to American neutrality during the early years of the war, they were interned in the United States upon completion. The two were only released to the UK after the U.S. entered the conflict in 1917. As a result, these two subs never saw combat action during WWI.
After the armistice, both were officially transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in Bermuda in February 1919, arriving in Halifax that June. Upon their arrival, the boats—formerly H-14 and H-15—were rechristened CH-14 and CH-15. They then sat unused and neglected for nearly two years, due to a severe lack of naval manpower and funding. In fact, it was not until the Royal Canadian Navy decided to refit both subs to replace the worn-out CC-1 and CC-2 that CH-14 and CH-15 entered active service.
Both vessels were formally commissioned on April 1, 1921. They were mainly used to help the RCN’s warships practice anti-submarine warfare (ASW) tactics. CH-14 and CH-15 also took part in a mock attack on Halifax harbour in August 1921 to test the port’s defences. They then deployed to Bermuda during the winter of 1921–1922 to conduct joint exercises with the Royal Navy—and avoid the freezing hazards of the North Atlantic.
Unfortunately, the CH-class’ days were already numbered. In 1922, the newly-elected Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King slashed the defence budget by $1 million (about $18 million in 2026). This cut was so deep that the RCN had to choose between its surface destroyer fleet or its subs: It couldn’t afford to maintain both. So, one year after finishing a refit and coming into service, CH-14 and CH-15 were paid off (decommissioned) and left to rust unused in Halifax’s Northwest Arm for five years before being sold for scrap in 1927.
A PATCHY SERVICE
During WWII, RCN personnel served on Royal Navy subs. After the war, Canada received the surrendered German U-boat U-190, which was used for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training and propaganda. According to the federal government website Canada.ca “Eventually, American submarines were also available for limited anti-submarine training for RCN ships. Until 1955, RCN ASW training relied on: rotating two RN submarines per year in Halifax; training opportunities offered by the US Navy (USN) off both coasts.”
The RCN re-entered the submarine world in 1961 by leasing the USS Burrfish (renamed HMCS Grilse), which served until 1969. Just prior to Grilse’s retirement, the RCN purchased the USS Argonaut in 1968, commissioning it as HMCS Rainbow. It served in the West Coast fleet for ASW training until 1974.
THE RETURN OF THE FLEET
A year after the leasing of the HMCS Grilse, the Canadian government decided to rebuild a permanent, purpose-built Canadian submarine fleet. “In March 1962, we got the go-ahead to buy three British Oberon-class submarines,” says the Canada.ca website. “These were the first newly built submarines we bought since the unconventional purchase of CC-1 and CC-2 in 1914.”
Three new submarines formed the Halifax-based First Canadian Submarine Squadron. They were HMCS Ojibwa, HMCS Onondaga, and HMCS Okanagan. (A fourth boat, the former Royal Navy HMS Olympus, was acquired later solely as a static training ship and for spare parts.)
In the early 1980s, the RCN upgraded the Oberons by refitting them with Mark 48 torpedoes, fire-control systems, and upgraded sonar suites. They remained in service until the late 1990s. HMCS Ojibwa was paid off on May 21, 1998. HMCS Okanagan was paid off on September 14, 1998. And the last Oberon-class sub, HMCS Onondaga, was decommissioned on July 28, 2000. (It is now a museum ship in Rimouski, Quebec, while the HMCS Ojibwa is a museum ship in Port Burwell, Ontario. The HMCS Okanagan was sold for scrap.)
THE VICTORIA-CLASS
To replace the aging Oberons, Canada purchased four existing Upholder-class conventionally-powered submarines from the United Kingdom in 1998. They were renamed as the Victoria-class and delivered to Canada between 2000 and 2004. These four submarines are named HMCS Chicoutimi, HMCS Corner Brook, HMCS Victoria, and HMCS Windsor.
The Royal Navy had commissioned all four of these boats into service between 1990 and 1993. However, funding cuts led to them being retired in 1994, after the RN decided to only operate nuclear-powered types. After that, the subs sat in salt water for years, waiting for a new home while the UK tried to sell them.
Under the purchase deal, the UK sold the four submarines to Canada in exchange for $750 million. At the time, the deal to sell Canada used British submarines was greeted with skepticism. “Why were the Canadians daft enough to buy them?” said Mike Hancock, then a Liberal Democrat MP for Portsmouth South.
There have been a number of issues associated with the Victoria-class submarines over the years. A case in point: Canadian inspectors found dangerous cracks in the high-pressure air pipe systems—used to blow ballast tanks to surface—across the fleet. Cracks were also found in the exhaust valves that prevent water from entering the diesel engines.
The most serious and tragic issue occurred in 2004, during HMCS Chicoutimi’s maiden voyage under the Canadian flag. On October 5, 2004, while travelling from the UK to Canada on the surface in rough seas, the submarine suffered a major electrical fire. The incident occurred after a large wave crashed over the open conning tower, sending seawater into the hull and soaking the main power cables. The resulting fire led to the death of Lieutenant (Navy) Chris Saunders and the injury of eight other crewmembers.
According to an in-depth report by CBC News, “An air vent in Chicoutimi’s tower wasn’t working because a nut had fallen off, just 24 hours into the vessel’s first trip to Canada. Crewmembers had to leave two hatches open to fix the problem, and were working on it when a wave broke over the vessel, flooding the compartments below. A series of electrical connectors in the captain’s cabin that were soaked in the flooding had only one layer of waterproof sealant instead of the three layers that British navy specifications required… The sealant was added to the other three British subs as they were being built, but not to HMS Upholder, the vessel that would later be named HMCS Chicoutimi and sold to Canada.”
The CBC News report continued, “On May 5, 2005, a Canadian naval board of inquiry released a 700-page report on the accident. It found that no one was to blame for the series of events that led to the fire…The report concluded that Luc Pelletier, the Chicoutimi’s captain, made rational and reasonable decisions the day the fire broke out. Pelletier’s decision to leave both hatches on the submarine open because of the mechanical problem with their vents was at the root of the inquiry. The board found that there was no way he could have predicted that a rogue wave would wash in, flooding the submarine with 2,000 litres of water and cause the events that led to the fire.”
It took more than a decade to repair HMCS Chicoutimi and return her to service in 2015.
In fairness, this delay was related to the RCN keeping the boat in drydock for its Extended Docking Work Period (EDWP) along with repairs to fire damage. The EDWP is a complete strip-down and modernization.
Then there was the issue of the “dented hull” incident involving HMCS Victoria. Soon after the boat arrived in Canada, technicians made a disturbing discovery during a routine inspection at Halifax Dockyard in April 2002. They found a significant dent in the submarine’s pressure hull, the high-strength steel skin that keeps the ocean out at depth.
According to a CBC News report, “The flaw, which Cmdr. Bill Woodburn described as about a quarter-centimetre deep and 900 square centimeters in area [roughly the size of a dinner plate], was below the waterline.” Until the hull was repaired, the RCN restricted the submarine to “safe diving depths”, which was often reported as 75% of its maximum. Because the dent was hidden under the Victoria’s acoustic tiles (and noticed during initial servicing in Canada), it is believed that it occurred when the sub was in service with the Royal Navy—perhaps from a collision with a dock or tugboat. The repair required the cutting out and replacement of a pressure hull section and welding in a new plate, which was a highly complex operation.
Today, after many multi-millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades, the Victoria-class fleet is in regular service with the RCN. But the experience of buying used rather than new hasn’t been a pleasant one for Canada. It has been associated with unexpected costs, deployment delays, operational issues, injuries, and the death of Lt. Chris Saunders. This is not an outcome that anyone intended when the used Victoria-class subs were purchased from Britain, and it is one that hopefully will not be repeated thanks to the purchase of new boats through the CPSP.
“We bought four submarines that were tied up alongside in Britain for a reason. They were duds,” observed Senator Colin Kenny, Former Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence. “We bought somebody else’s problem, and we’ve been paying for it ever since.”
James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief
