From the the BBC News website:

"A Canadian submarine sparked a major rescue operation after a fire broke out on board off the west coast of Ireland.

Three members of the HMCS Chicoutimi's crew suffered smoke inhalation, a Royal Navy spokesman said.

A Royal Air Force Nimrod from Kinloss was diverted to the area and a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter was sent from HMS Gannet in Ayrshire.

A Canadian Forces spokeswoman confirmed that the crew was safe and that no-one needed to be taken from the vessel.

Captain Holy Apostoliuk said: "The submarine, while transiting from UK to Canada, experienced a fire while at sea off the west coast of Ireland earlier today.

HMCS CHICOUTIMI
"The submarine and its Canadian crew left Faslane on 4 October and was en route to Halifax, Nova Scotia, when the fire occurred.

"The cause of the fire has not been determined but it was contained and is now out."

She said that the sailors who experienced smoke inhalation did not need to be evacuated from the vessel.

"The submarine is currently without propulsion north west of Ireland," she added.

"The Canadian Forces are working in co-operation with the Royal Navy, who will assist the Chicoutimi as required.

"We are in the process of informing family members."

The alarm was raised by the captain of the submarine, which is not nuclear-powered or carrying nuclear warheads, shortly after 1500 BST on Tuesday.

The request for assistance came from the vessel some 100 miles north west of Ireland.

Neil Smith, a spokesman for the Faslane submarine base on the Clyde, said that the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Wave Knight had turned round and was on its way to the scene.

A Type 23 frigate, HMS Montrose, was being sent from Faslane, accompanied by tug boat support.

A Faslane spokeswoman said that the electrical fire on board the Chicoutimi had resulted in smoke throughout the vessel.

"She is now on the surface and everything appears to be all right," she said.

"There are three casualties with smoke inhalation, but nothing life-threatening."

There were thought to be about 50 personnel on board the submarine.

The Chicoutimi was originally built for the Royal Navy, when it was known as HMS Upholder.

Handed over

It was bought by the Canadian Navy, where it is now one of four Victoria Class long-range patrol submarines.

It was renamed and formally handed over to its new owners during a ceremony at Faslane on Saturday.

The vessel had been due to arrive in Halifax, on the east coast of Canada, on 18 October.

This is the second time in a month that the Chicoutimi has been involved in a rescue at sea.

Last month, she was involved in an incident when an ocean-going tug boat accompanying it ran aground off Skye during sea trials.

Eight sailors were taken off the tug by Portree lifeboat."

I am glad to hear that nobody was seriously injured in the incident.

I seem to recall other instances where the Canadian Navy had probelms with submarines bought from the Royal Navy. These boats may very well be surplus to UK needs (read we can't afford to run them)but we should not be selling them on if they are not sea worthy. I may be being a bit harsh here especially as the cause is not yet known. Does the Canadian Navy have much sub experience/expertise?

I know this is not hunting related, but I thought this is probably the best place to post it.

Regards,

Pete

Damn, we must have what, 3 canoes and a sub now.

The only submarines those stupid bastards in Ottawa know about is from Subway.

I am not expert on military matters or submarines, but, as I understand the situation the British gave we Canucks a very good deal on a type of vessel that we really need and everyone concerned was well aware that they had been mothballed and needed a considerable amount of work done to be brought up to where their design parameters would function as intended. I don't think that anyone has done anything untoward and the crew aboard with the able assist of the R.N. will, I'm sure, be able to handle everything with their typical skill and efficiency.

I think that this was one of the few GOOD moves that the Lieberals have made in acquiring military equipment as the Canadian public will simply not pay for a fleet of "Los Angeles" class U.S. boomer boats. We can and do waste tens of billions of dollars in Canada on special handouts for Aboriginal groups, Multiculturalism, Bilingualism, ineffective "Foreign Aid" to dictators and genocidal maniacs, but, God forbid we should ever fund an effective military force to defend our country; instead we rely on the Americans and then carp about their activities in Afganistan and Iraq.....sadly typical of Canada today and not the proud nation I was born in nearly 60 yrs. ago.

Hello;
Obviously we don't know what he problem was, but I would have thought that one of the key rquirements of a crew on a war ship, especialy a submarine, would be the ability to keep the thing running under virtualy all situations.
Grizz

I shudder to think what the cost of repairs is likely to be and the Canadian public will probably have to pick up the tab, AGAIN! derf

Having spoken to a friend this morning who has first hand information about this incident through his military service it seems that the reports we are getting here in Canada are not relaying the gravity of this situation.

The submarine is caught in this storm which now is recording gale force levels of 5 to 6. There is absolutely no radio communication with the sub at this time. Though the British Royal Navy is on site and ready to go in for rescue at the first sign of calming of the storm. They are presently powerless to do anything. Their fear is the capasizing/sinking of the sub in such ferocious conditions in the water.

"My thoughts and prayers go out for these men, their families and their rescuers" "For the safe return of the crew and those involved in their rescue"

Lynn D

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1096991616876_92400816/?hub=TopStories

Rough seas slow rescue of stranded Canadian sub
CTV.ca News Staff

The rough waters of the Atlantic are hampering efforts to retrieve a stranded Canadian submarine drifting off the west coast of Scotland.

Weather conditions described as "very severe" forced an Irish vessel to abandon its attempt to reach the HMCS Chicoutimi overnight. Damaged by an "unusually large wave," the vessel is now back in port for repairs, an Irish Navy spokesperson told Reuters.

Reporting from Faslane, Scotland, CTV's Tom Kennedy says weather conditions are having a significant impact.

British vessels dispatched to the sub when it sent out a distress call late Tuesday morning are being slowed by the listing sea, but still expected to make contact sometime Wednesday afternoon.

British Navy officials have said, however, that the rough conditions mean they will decide on an appropriate plan of action once they get arrive.

In the meantime, the submarine and its 57-member crew are not alone. As it bobbed powerless overnight, it was watched over by several nearby fishing vessels and a British surveillance plane.

Former Canadian submarine commander Peter Kavanagh says the ship and its crew may be safe, but it's unlikely they're very comfortable.

"They're bobbing around like a cork. They're rolling from side to side up and down," he told CTV's Canada AM. "It's like an uncontrolled elevator."

One of four used subs bought from Britain in 1998, the diesel-electric patrol HMCS Chicoutimi was crippled off the coast of Scotland by an electrical fire around 11:15 AT on Tuesday.

Although the fire was extinguished within minutes, the vessel was left powerless and filled with smoke. Nine of the crew suffered minor injuries related to smoke inhalation. None required evacuation.

Commodore Tyrone Pile, commander of the Canadian Fleet Atlantic, called the incident "a small setback."

"We're taking this problem seriously, and our desire is to get that submarine and crew back to a safe port to effect repairs as soon as possible," he told reporters at a briefing in Halifax on Tuesday.

Pile said the submarine had been scheduled for an "extended running period at sea" when it encountered the problem.

Navy officials don't know what caused the fire. It's unclear whether the blaze broke out when the sub was on the surface or submerged.

Maiden voyage

The Chicoutimi was built for the British navy in the late 1980s. It was mothballed in 1994, when Britain moved to an all-nuclear submarine force.

Canada bought it in 1998 as one of four replacements for aging Oberon class boats. But shortly after Canada took possession, cracks were found in key valves on the second-hand subs.

Defending the government's $750 million purchase on Tuesday, Defence Minister Bill Graham said taxpayers are nevertheless getting value for money.

"From every point of view these are very, very useful tools for Canada," he told reporters in Ottawa.

Kavanagh disagrees. They were a good deal, he says, but "they're not doing their jobs -- it's clear to see that."

The problem, he says, stems from underfunding. If adequately supported, Kavanagh believes submarines can play a useful role in Canada's navy.

"It is cost-effective to put a submarine out to patrol our sovereignty as opposed to a ship," he said. "They're a lot cheaper to run once they're fixed."

Chicoutimi is one of four Victoria-class submarines bought from the British navy. Repairs and tests to certify the boats subsequently took longer than expected, putting the so-called "Canadianization process" about three years behind schedule

Further update from my friend in the UK.

From what he has explained to me:

To get a line across they need a person on the deck of both the rescue ship and the sub, so imagine how hazardous that is in those heavy seas.

BBC N. Ireland has shipping forecasts for the area concerned, and mid morning they were predicting the weather was going to go up to a max of Gale Force 9 before hopefully improving later today. If the Sub can weather things for the next 6 hours or so, the worst will be over; the worst case scenario is if it capsizes. Even in the event of a capsize, the weather will remain a critical�in calm weather a such a rescue would be pretty routine, but pulling guys out of the water in heavy seas is fraught with danger.

Lynn D