October 5, 2004

Fire on Canadian Submarine

One of Canada's Submarine fleet suffered a fire. Two news reports: Fropm CBC News: bq. A rescue effort is underway off the west coast of Scotland after a Canadian military submarine with 57 people on board issued a distress call Tuesday morning. bq. Military officials in Halifax said a fire broke out on HMCS Chicoutimi about 200 kilometres west of Scotland and northwest of Ireland, but had since been extinguished. bq. Nine submariners inhaled fumes, but there were no serious injuries, said Commodore Tyrone Pyle, commander of the Canadian Fleet Atlantic. bq. "Out of the 57 crew on board, nine were treated for minor smoke inhalation but are fine," Pyle said. bq. He gave little detail on the cause of the fire, saying only it had started in an "electrical panel in a passageway." From Yahoo/AFP bq. The newest submarine in the Canadian navy, the HMCS Chicoutimi, was adrift in rough seas off northwest Ireland after a fire that left nine sailors injured, the Ministry of Defence in London said. bq. "As far as we know, she's lost all power," a ministry spokesman told AFP, as a British maritime patrol aircraft loitered over the crippled submarine about 100 nautical miles (180 kilometers) off shore. bq. Two Royal Navy frigates and a support ship were expected to reach the Chicoutimi -- a refitted British submarine that only joined the Canadian navy five days ago -- on Wednesday morning, the spokesman said. About the submarines themselves (from teh CBC article): bq. Four Victoria-class submarines are in the Canadian fleet, each named after port cities (their former names in the Royal Navy appear as well): * HMCS Victoria (HMS Unseen) * HMCS Windsor (HMS Unicorn) * HMCS Corner Brook (HMS Ursula) * HMCS Chicoutimi (HMS Upholder) bq. The Canadian Forces bought the subs in 1998 for $750 million. Victoria operates in the Pacific Ocean out of Esquimalt, B.C. The rest are based in Halifax. bq. Built by the U.K., the subs were mothballed in favour of an all-nuclear fleet. bq. Nearly identical to nuclear subs in design, except for their diesel-electric engines. Posted by DaveH at October 5, 2004 3:05 PM