Hi Darren!

This is what I've found out so far...

On April 6,1998, the Canadian Government announced that four ex-Royal Navy submarines of the UPHOLDER class were purchased from Britain (in an 8 year lease-to-buy schedule).

These submarines were decommissioned from the Royal Navy in 1993 and were then laid up for several years, after the Royal Navy decided to focus solely on nuclear submarines as a cost-saving measure. These submarines are twenty-five years more modern than the OBERON class submarines that they replace, and they represent a substantial leap in techology over their predecessors. They use a scaled down hull from the Royal Navy's successful TRAFALGAR class SSN (nuclear powered attack submarines).

The subs have undergone preliminary refits at Barrow-in-Furness in England, and traveled to Canada for further "Canadianization" work once the Navy was convinced that they were ready. This class of subs is suffering a large number of teething problems on being reactivated, possibly exacerbated by the long period of deactivation. As well, the program to refit them to Canadian requirements is taking longer than expected due to manpower shortages resulting from the efforts required to ready ships for Operation Apollo deployments to the Middle East. It is not expected that all submarines will be fully operational until after 2012.

CHICOUTIMI was accepted by the Canadian Navy in Faslane, Scotland, in a ceremony in earler October, and was underway to Canada when she suffered a serious fire just forward of the bridge. The crew were able to extinguish the fire, but several crew members suffered injury from smoke inhalation, and one officer later died of his injuries. CHICOUTIMI was towed back to Faslane. On October 12, the Navy ordered that all the subs be returned to port indefinately while the investigation into the fire on CHICOUTIMI continues.

It was originally projected that they would be fitted with fuel cell technology (Air Independent Propulsion, or AIP) produced by Ballard Canada. This would have enabled them to remain submerged for extended periods, possibly allowing them limited under-ice capabilities. However, this now seems unlikely.

VICTORIA

VICTORIA arrived in Halifax in late October, 2000, and has since been refitted considerably. She has been commissioned into the Canadian Navy, and travelled to Esquimalt, British Columbia, where further work has been done. VICTORIA has been in and out of refit since arriving on the West Coast, intermixed with short periods of service.

WINDSOR

WINDSOR has been commissioned, and after completing a portion of the refit process, she saw some active service (minus several capabilities, including that to fire torpedos) to aid in the training of submariners. During this time, she participated in several cruises including an exercise with the US Navy. She entered an extended refit period in 2007 that is expected to last into 2009.

CORNER BROOK

CORNER BROOK was in refit in 2006, but has since returned to active service interspersed with several maintenance periods. She still does not have the capability of firing torpedoes. She has participated in several exercises, including at least one with the US Navy.

CHICOUTIMI

CHICOUTIMI suffered the aforementioned fire in October 2004, and did not arrive in Canada until February 2005 when she was transported on the Eide Transporter. She entered the graving dock of the Halifax Shipyard in 2005 and underwent assessment and minor repair and cleanup work during that time. Upon leaving drydock, she then was laid up at HMC Dockyard for a period of time until she departed for Esquimalt on the deck of the semi-submersible heavy lift vessel Dockwise Tern in April 2009. She arrived in Esqimalt during the last week of April. In 2010, she is expected to enter an extended refit period which will return her to service. CHICOUTIMI may have been partially cannibalized during her layup to keep her sister ships operational.

Well, that's it for now!!! I'll post more ASAP! ;)

Respectfully,
Henry