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* Since 1910, the men
and women of the Navy have sailed to serve the country with the world’s
longest coastline. Since the 1914, they have served not only on the
waves but below them as well.
Canada’s Victoria-class submarines provide the Navy and the CF with
unique and essential strategic capability. Acquired in 1998, the
submarines take the Navy where no other CF personnel go — undetected
below the oceans’ surface to gather intelligence that helps Canada
safeguard its sovereignty and contribute to international operations.
They are capable of patrolling for 45 days without refuelling or
resupplying, and are internationally recognised as a maritime core
capability, able to perform in a variety of roles that support national
security and defence objectives.
The strategic stealth of the submarines depends on the vessels’ ability
to remain undetected and submerged for periods of time. That ability
depends, in part, on maintenance and improvements to on-board
technologies. A key on-board technology is the submarine’s oxygen
generators. The Navy recently began work on new oxygen generators
aboard the Victoria-class boats, and the new generators have double the
previous generators’ capacity to supply oxygen in an emergency scenario
and still operate without a power source.
The new oxygen generators are the result of collaboration among experts
from the Canadian Navy, the UK’s Royal Navy, the US Navy and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This type of
collaboration enables the CF and our allies to develop and operate
cutting-edge technology by pooling resources to address shared needs.
The Navy’s escape and rescue capabilities, which are critical for a
submarine crew, are also being enhanced. These include a life raft
system, a capability for immediate oxygen treatment of crew members
after an emergency evacuation, and hyperbaric stretchers.
Emergency life-support pods would enable rescuers to provide food,
water, oxygen generators, and medical and other supplies to a submarine
crew awaiting evacuation following an emergency, while a decompression
and
ventilation system stabilizes the atmosphere inside the submarine.
Combining characteristics of stealth, lethality, endurance and relative
invulnerability, Canada’s submarines are a platform of profound power
and flexibility. With the increasing need for intelligence,
particularly along Canada’s coastlines, submarines and their ability to
provide undetected surveillance over vast swaths of sea are an important
capability
in a balanced maritime force. |
