Cost of Canada’s sub fleet rising

• The cost to operate and maintain Canada’s submarine fleet is increasing, forcing the navy to request more funding to keep the vessels at sea.

The Royal Canadian Navy needs an additional $19-million for the sub fleet’s operating and maintenance costs for the period up to spring of 2016, the service’s new business plan says. That plan, which covers spending from 2014 to 2017, was obtained by Postmedia News.

Ongoing governmentordered cuts “has severely reduced the RCN’s ability to mitigate the steadily increasing costs of the submarine operating and maintenance,” the plan pointed out.

The plan was signed off in December by Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, the navy’s top officer.

The navy is committed to the submarines and has no intention of sidelining the boats, a navy official said. Over the years, the service has redirected funding from other areas to pay for their upkeep.

“The RCN is committed to operationalizing the Victoriaclass submarine fleet by end of 2014 and intends to operate the Victoria-class submarine fleet until the mid-2020s,” navy spokesman Lt.-Cmdr. Al Blondin said in an email Thursday. “A plan has therefore been put in place to ensure that the submarine program will continue to be appropriately funded.”

A request for more money was submitted and approved. Details on how much will be provided to the submarine fleet were not released. But Lt.-Cmdr. Blondin said the “submarine program is appropriately funded.”

The business plan indicated that continued funding for the submarines would become difficult as Halifax-class frigates, which were being modernized, return to sea. “As the surface ships are returned to operations the ability of the RCN to mitigate the increasing operations and maintenance costs of the Vic Class Subs, as they progress to a steady state operating tempo of an average of 140 Sea Days per submarine is greatly diminished,” it added.

The navy also hopes to increase numbers of qualified submariners by boosting the availability of training on board the boats.

The submarine program, which has already cost about $900-million, has been dealing with maintenance issues that, over the years, have limited the availability of the boats for operations.

Canada purchased the subs second-hand from Britain and took delivery of the boats between 2000 and 2004. The navy said it did a thorough examination of the vessels to ensure they met Canadian needs, yet problems started materializing almost immediately.

High-pressure welds had to be replaced and cracks were found in some of the valves on the four subs. Steel piping also needed to be replaced because the boats were put into storage in the United Kingdom with water in their fuel tanks.

HMCS Chicoutimi was damaged by a fire in 2004 that killed one officer. HMCS Corner Brook struck bottom off the west coast of Vancouver Island in 2011.