Canadian submarine returns to sea 14 years after collision

HMCS Corner Brook in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off southern Vancouver Island on Feb. 13, 2025. (Handout)

A Canadian military submarine that was heavily damaged when it ran aground off British Columbia in 2011 is back at sea for the first time since the collision, now undergoing mechanical trials near Victoria.

HMCS Corner Brook entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca off southern Vancouver Island on Feb. 13, nearly 14 years since the vessel hit bottom near Nootka Sound, tearing a hole in the hull and triggering a cascade of failures, repairs, refits and delays.

If the current sea trials prove successful, the Royal Canadian Navy expects the sub to be operational by this summer, according to Pedram Mohyeddin, a spokesperson for Maritime Forces Pacific.

“HMCS Corner Brook is commencing sea trials as it prepares to operate in the Pacific, focusing on continental defence and Indo-Pacific operations,” Mohyeddin wrote in an email Tuesday.

Total repair costs unknown

HMCS Corner Brook is one of four hunter-killer subs bought second-hand from Britain in 1998. The initial $750-million price tag is a fraction of the billions of dollars the federal government has since poured into maintaining the vessels.

National Defence spokesperson Kened Sadiku said the department did not have an estimate of the Corner Brook’s total repair costs available by publication Wednesday.

At no point over the past decade have more than two of Canada’s four submarines been operational at any one time. The navy tried to hit that milestone in 2020, and tried again in 2021, but the service’s ambitions for the sub fleet largely hinged on the health of HMCS Corner Brook.

In August 2019, while the submarine was docked for repairs near Victoria, a damaging fire broke out on board. Then in March 2021, the sub’s main ballast tank ruptured during testing by contractor Babcock Canada, extending the sub’s already lengthy dry-dock period and putting further tests on hold.

‘Canada needs a new fleet’

With HMCS Corner Brook’s anticipated return to service, Canada will have two submarines at or approaching full operational readiness in 2025.

Halifax-based HMCS Windsor set sail earlier this month and is now conducting operations off the Atlantic coast, according to Rear-Admiral Christopher Robinson, commander of Maritime Forces Pacific and former head of the Canadian Submarine Force.

“Much hard work went into completing the refit and training the (Corner Brook) crew,” Robinson said in an emailed statement. “As the senior serving submariner, and a former captain of HMCS Corner Brook, I could not be more thrilled and prouder of the team.”

Last September, the federal government formally launched its plan to acquire up to 12 new submarines to replace the existing fleet, which is expected to be decommissioned in the mid to late 2030s.

“As an Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific nation with the world’s longest coastline, Canada needs a new fleet of submarines,” Defense Minister Bill Blair in a statement announcing the multibillion-dollar acquisition effort.

“The procurement of up to 12 conventionally powered, under-ice capable submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy will enhance Canada’s ability to detect and deter maritime threats, control our maritime approaches, and project power and striking capabilities further from our shores.”