we blew it up, but you want us to pay for it? crazy canucksFollow

intellegent, but not quite intellegent enough to post on here without being pointed and laughed at, i wasn't even stating fact or opinion then, you're just gonna play the "they'll drop someday drac ROFLOLOLOLOLOLOMFGZZ!!" card at everything i say, aren't ya?

I didn't know they still made non-nuclear subs in nuclear countries.

detectability.

Nuclear (nucular?) subs carry detectable isotopes which (early 90s) could be seen from geo-synchronous orbits.

Trad subs were invisible beyond 20Km until about 1995/6.

Fact remains, they bought sub-standard 14127h crap and are paying the price.

Another crew member is now critical. Prayers don't hurt.

The reason we bought non-nuclear subs is two-fold.

First and foremost - Canada has a non-nuclear defense policy. Which is why we have nuclear plants, but no nuclear missiles. We just choose not to fight our battles with radioactive materials.

Second, nuclear subs are actually noisier than diesel/electric. When "going electric", a DE sub is much quieter. The main advantage of a nuclear sub is that it doesn't have to stop into a friendly port to refuel, so it can go long long distances without pulling into a friendly harbor. Since Canada is using the subs to protect fishing rights (scare off the Japanese, Portugese, Spanish, and French fishing trawlers) and to patrol the Northwest Passage (under pressure from the US to do this), the subs will always be within range of a friendly port.

Thus, no need or desire for a nuclear sub. In many ways, should the sub ever see battle, it's better that it's diesel/electric from a stealth/tactical perspective. Also, these subs are recent, good fighting machines, not some old outdated undesired piece of crap (at least on paper!). Britain got rid of them (on paper) because they elected to go with an all-nuclear fleet.

Not so sure how they could have gotten all banged up like that, but it will be interesting to follow the scandal as we figure out who really screwed up. My sympathies go out to the families of the poor sailor who died.

edited: for clarity

Edited, Fri Oct 8 09:12:49 2004 by fmagnet

I think the problem is that "somebody" did an inspection and signed off on them. Nobody really knows the details surrounding the "sign-off" on those ships, or whether a real inspection was done. Suffice to say, parliament's going to be pissed. Whether they're going to be pissed off at the Brits, at their own inspector's stupidity, or at some government official who signed a cheque when he shouldn't have is still to be uncovered.