Canadian Submarine HMCS Chicoutimi Gets Ready
The Canadian navy's British Columbia-based HMCS Chicoutimi will be operational by early next year, says a report by Canadian Press.
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman said a problem with some of the welding on HMCS Chicoutimi as well as HMCS Victoria was discovered late last year.
He said the welding work was done by a subcontractor that was hired by a contractor working on both Victoria-class submarines as well as some surface ships in Victoria.
The welds were passing inspections, but the navy did not realize at the time that the inspection process itself was flawed, said Norman.
"In this case, we relied on a series of contracted support systems that didn't deliver what we needed from them. So we've tightened up our processes and the good thing is that we found it and we're fixing it," said Norman during an interview aboard HMCS Windsor as it sailed roughly 57 metres below sea level off the coast of Halifax.