Ouch! HMCS Corner Brook Damage

[sidmo001]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Its really sad since these (originally Upholder class) were well designed boats. However, the design never really translated into the build. The boats really never got the full "Royal Navy" treatment upon commissioning - literally - the bugs never got worked out. Then they get decommissioned, sit in mothballs and finally get "recommissioned" many years later...

Within 3 years - Ursula - now Corner Brook - needed a refit. Still a design with "bugs" - and no offense to our Northern allies - but Canada doesn't have quite the naval tradition or know-how that the British do - so a lot of problems never got found and fixed.

4 boats - one catches fire due to a hatch being left open (not a bright move by our Canuck friends), Windsor is undergoing a refit that looks to be taking 6 yrs (as of now). Victoria suffered massive damage when Canadian naval personnel hooked up a generator they shouldn't have. And now Corner Brook is out of action due to an avoidable accident.

I have to say the Canadians seriously need to reconsider their desire to operate subs.... As of this point it doesn't look like the Canadians are properly trained to move on from the old Oberon Class - even though they are no longer in service.

I've always been a proponent of the Canadian Navy going after an LHD or LPD fleet. With the amount of money the DND has sunk in to these 4 subs, we could of purchased a couple of Wasp Class LHD's, or a San Antonio LPD.

[magicstix]

Originally Posted by sidmo001

I've always been a proponent of the Canadian Navy going after an LHD or LPD fleet. With the amount of money the DND has sunk in to these 4 subs, we could of purchased a couple of Wasp Class LHD's, or a San Antonio LPD.

LHD and LPD = submarine bait. That's probably why they didn't get them over subs.

[sidmo001]

Originally Posted by magicstix

LHD and LPD = submarine bait. That's probably why they didn't get them over subs.

Canada has the United States Navy and the Royal Navy as allies when it comes to having Subs and screening ships.

Canada on the other hand does not have an ability to transport Expeditionary Forces on it's own. LHD's and LPD's would be perfect for this role.

As it stands right now the DND is renting services from the Russians to get men and material in and out of Afghanistan via An's and Tu services.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Originally Posted by sidmo001

Canada has the United States Navy and the Royal Navy as allies when it comes to having Subs and screening ships.

I wouldn't count to Americans and Britons having enough vessels for helping you in time of need. Ofcourse it can be questionable if British Royal Navy even have missiles onboard their vessels then.

Originally Posted by sidmo001

Canada on the other hand does not have an ability to transport Expeditionary Forces on it's own. LHD's and LPD's would be perfect for this role.

And for what it needs that capability? With couple of LHDs and/or LPDs you are not going to do forced entry to anywhere without someone elses protection. Without escort they are just high price torpedo practice targets.

Originally Posted by sidmo001

As it stands right now the DND is renting services from the Russians to get men and material in and out of Afghanistan via An's and Tu services.

That is unlikely to change with ship purchase. Unless you buy some own heavy transport aircraft you are still going to need Russians in future.

[sidmo001]

Originally Posted by kraznyi_oktjabr

I wouldn't count to Americans and Britons having enough vessels for helping you in time of need. Ofcourse it can be questionable if British Royal Navy even have missiles onboard their vessels then.

The only possible enemies of Canada in any type of armed conflict are likely Russia and China. Russia and China don't have the navies (even combined) to mount any type of serious threat to the East or Western North American coasts.

It's almost a guarantee that in any armed conflict with either of these nations that the US would guarantee the sovereignty and defence of Canada's coasts.

And for what it needs that capability? With couple of LHDs and/or LPDs you are not going to do forced entry to anywhere without someone elses protection. Without escort they are just high price torpedo practice targets.

Canada doesn't need to do any forced entries, nor would we have any capability to do so anyway.

The Wasps or San Antonio's I speak of would be to transport our troops and equipment to and fro from 'x' region when need be.

That is unlikely to change with ship purchase. Unless you buy some own heavy transport aircraft you are still going to need Russians in future.

LPD's and LHD's would cut a significant amount of need for Russia's air transport services moving forward.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Originally Posted by sidmo001

The only possible enemies of Canada in any type of armed conflict are likely Russia and China. Russia and China don't have the navies (even combined) to mount any type of serious threat to the East or Western North American coasts.

It's almost a guarantee that in any armed conflict with either of these nations that the US would guarantee the sovereignty and defence of Canada's coasts.

With current U.S. Navy and British Royal Navy (in lesser extent) I don't doubt that. However with U.S. somewhat "challenging" economical situation I wouldn't count on that to be true in future.

Regardless I don't see such war happening unless Washington decides to wage one. That is ofcourse just my opinion.

Originally Posted by sidmo001

Canada doesn't need to do any forced entries, nor would we have any capability to do so anyway.

The Wasps or San Antonio's I speak of would be to transport our troops and equipment to and fro from 'x' region when need be.

LPD's and LHD's would cut a significant amount of need for Russia's air transport services moving forward.

Then I would buy some Ro-Ro ferries for that purpose. LHD and LPD are (in my opinion) unnecessarily expensive to act as simple transports. If flight deck is absolutely necessary then installing hangar and helipad shouldn't be too expensive.

[u crank]

Original cost for four used diesel subs: 750 million.

Repair bill since purchase: 1 billion.

Total estimated cost by 2016: 3 billion.

Total number of boats currently in service: 0.

Age of boats when all back in service in 2016: 30 years.

As a Canadian tax payer I can only say this is one heck of a deal. What a country.