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HMCS Corner Brook (SSK–878) Moved in Floating Drydock For Repairs and Maintenance

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook in floating dry dock Seaspan Careen while pumping buoyancy tanks is completed. (Murray Polson photo)

A startling view of the damaged bow of HMCS Corner Brook was shown on TV recently. In June 2011 HMCS Corner Brook ran aground during exercises off Vancouver Island and suffered damage to her bow (which is evident in the images) - the pressure hull is reportedly intact. This incident brought forward pre-maintenance work on the submarine, in expectation of a previously planned extended 2.5 year planned maintenance program which has been developed for all the submarines in its class. The RCN states categorically that she will return to active duty status about 2016.

Our Victoria Waterfront Correspondent, Murray Polson, caught some dramatic images of HMCS Corner Brook being docked in the floating Drydock Seaspan Careen. He was mainly interested in the tugs and floating dry dock and was unaware of the drama unfolding in front of him. We thought readers would be interested in the rest of the process of docking the submarine preparatory to carrying out the pre-planned maintenance and repair program.

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook as tanks in the dry dock are pumped. (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook as tanks in the dry dock are pumped. (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook as tanks in the dry dock are pumped. (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook moved into position over the submerged floating dry dock Seaspan Careen and secured by cables. (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook in floating dry dock Seaspan Careen while pumping buoyancy tanks is completed. In the background is the naval tug Glendyne, the Seaspan Raven' is at the far end of the floating dry dock. The smallest tug, with her mast down, is the Seaspan Foam. (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Cornerbrook

HMCS Corner Brook in the fully buoyant Seaspan Careen ready for towing. (Murray Polson photo)

HMCS Corner Brook (SSK-878) is a Victoria-class diesel electric submarine of 2,400 tons displacement. She is 70m x 7.6m carrying a crew of 48. She is capable of 12 knots on the surface and 20 knots submerged. An SSK is a long-range hunter-killer submarine. She is the former Royal Navy Upholder class submarine HMS Ursula (S42), purchased from the British at the end of the Cold War. She is the third ship of the Victoria-class and is named after the city of Corner Brook, Newfoundland. She is covered in anechoic tiles (a sophisticated stealth technology) to reduce her detection by active sonar. She has six torpedo tubes and can carry up to eighteen heavyweight torpedoes for use against surface and sub-surface targets.

Nauticapedia

Site News: December 21, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 45,000 processed so far this year (2024).

The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).

Thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of vessel histories in the database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.

Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.

My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

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