The DUD Subs...

[Canuck E Stan]

The Dud subs

At that point, the admirals and the Liberal politicians could have bitten the ballast, admitted they had made a terrible mistake, and consigned the whole sub fleet to the scrapyard, at least saving taxpayers a fortune in good money after bad.

Alas, bureaucratic butt-covering triumphed in the defence department once again -- supported, we should add, by the collective genius of Paul Martin's administration -- and the decision was made that there is nothing other people's money couldn't fix, including a bunch of lemon submarines.

While defence officials publicly estimated repairs to the Chicoutimi wouldn't cost more than about $50 million, internal government documents obtained by Sun Media suggest a sub salvage sailing towards an ocean of bills several times that amount. Last August, for instance, the government issued the second of two contracts totalling more than $15 million, not to actually repair the Chicoutimi -- just to draft the plan to fix it.

And a significant stack of contract documents and memos details plans to provide the naval brass and about 30 staff with new dockside offices, complete with all-new furniture and a gym, for the indefinite period of the Chicoutimi repair.

No one seems quite sure how many millions got spent on repair plans and new desks before the light finally flickered on at defence headquarters, aided perhaps by a new Conservative government wondering what the heck was going on.

Enough is enough.I for one think Prime Minister Harper should end this charade of these Subs being worthwhile and ship them up to the Artic and let them float around as the Liberal ghost fleet of the north.

Of course the Liberal logo would be painted on their sides as a reminder of all things Liberal.

They could float aimlessly like the Liberal party that purchased them until they fill with holes and sink to the bottom of the sea.

Seriously,these ships with 60's technology aren't deserving of being kept alive for the Canadian navy.Save the repair cost toward something the Navy could use.Subs just aren't needed any more.

[geoffrey]

The subs are actually quite decent technology, among the most quiet in the world (if not the most).

Should we have bought new? Probably. But scuttling them now really serves no purpose, lets fix up what we've got.

[Canuck E Stan]

Should we have bought new? Probably. But scuttling them now really serves no purpose, lets fix up what we've got.

One of the subs has been in the repair shop in Halifax for three years, another won't be wet again until at least 2008, and the third one will be lucky to see the ocean floor before 2013.

The only member of this unique landlubbing fleet still in service, the Windsor, is also being hauled out of the water in 2007 for an estimated three years of repair and refit.

After more than a decade of being dockside decorations in a British shipyard, the subs had rusted on the outside, rotted from the inside, and required hundreds of millions of dollars of repair just to make them marginally seaworthy.

Scuttling them now would serve a great purpose.It would stop anymore money being spent on something that will never be seaworthy.Cut the loses and look to building something the Navy could really use.Subs are just plain obsolete in today's world.Send them to the Liberal Lost Moneypit Museum.

[fixer1]

The subs are old but they are serviceable for the next decade or two. Canada needs to have a couple of submarines, if only to show we have have the presence in the northern most islands. We do sent icebreakers for part of the year to open the north west passge. But we do not have any other means to show presence in the winter months.

We as a country will find that keeping our presence in the north will have large pay backs in natural resources and it would be money well spent to make our claim as strong as possible. Since we never would have seen the money Britain owed Canada, other then through the deal for the subs. Its really not such a bad thing then is it?

[Canuck E Stan]

Its really not such a bad thing then is it?

Have to disagree with you.Investing in something the Navy could really use,.."Ice-breakers" would show a presence in the Artic.A sub that will constantly have to be repaired and has seen dry dock for 15 years and is rotting away at that will never "show a presence in the Artic".Another "moneypit" won't do anything to show anything.GPS systems would be cheaper and better planes would "Show a presence" quicker than an oboslete sub.