Canada’s only operational submarine returns from North Sea drill

Her Majesty’s Canadian Submarine (HMCS) Windsor arrived at its homeport in Halifax on August 9, returning from the NATO exercise Dynamic Mongoose 2016.

The submarine spent little over 50 days underway during her deployment that was initially postponed in June.

Windsor had to return to port after it suffered an engine supercharger breakdown on June 3.

While the submarine may have been a bit late to arrive, Rear-Adm. John Newton, commander of Canadian Maritime Forces Atlantic, told media that most of the boat’s planned program would be recovered.

On arriving back Lt.-Cmdr. Peter Chu, Windsor’s commanding officer said the submarine lived up to its operational obligations and added that the crew had very little technical issues during the past two months.

The 10-day Dynamic Mongoose exercise, took place off the coast of Norway and ran from June 23 to July 2. It was attended by 3,000 sailors and aircrew from eight allied countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

HMCS Windsor is one of four Victoria-class submarines Canada purchased from Britain in 1998.Various technical problems plagued the submarines ever since they were acquired. One occurrence even resulted in death when HMCS Chicoutimi caught fire in 2004 when nine sailors sustained injuries in the incident and one died shortly after being evacuated.