HMCS Victoria (SSK 876)

HMCS Victoria (SSK 876) is a long-range hunter-killer (SSK) submarine of the Royal Canadian Navy, the lead ship of her class. She is named after the city of Victoria, British Columbia. She was purchased from the Royal Navy, and is the former HMS Unseen (S41). The class was also renamed from the Upholder-class.

She was the focus of the novel H.M.S. Unseen.

Design
HMCS Victoria's displacement is approximately 2,200 tons surfaced and 2,400 tons submerged. Covered in anechoic tiles to reduce her detection by active sonar, the submarine is 70.3 meters long, 7.6 meters across the beam and has a deep diving depth in excess of 200 meters. The main hull is constructed of high tensile steel sections stiffened by circular internal frames. Equipment located outside the main hull is covered by the Casing, which also gives the crew a safe walkway when the submarine is surfaced. The Fin, which helps support the masts, serves as a kind of keel and provides a raised conning position.

Specifications
HMCS Victoria has six torpedo tubes and can carry up to eighteen Mark 48 Mod 4 heavyweight torpedoes for use against surface and sub-surface targets.

HMCS Victoria's sonar sets allow her to locate and track ships and other submarines "passively", that is without transmitting on active sonar and thus giving away her location. She is fitted with radar for general navigation, attack and search periscopes (incorporating video recording and thermal imaging), and an electronic support measures (ESM) suite.

The vessel's propulsion is a conventional diesel-electric layout, in which an electric motor driving a single screw is powered by two main batteries, each consisting of 240 cells, the battery is charged via two diesel engines, each capable of producing up to 1,410 kilowatts when running on the surface or snorkeling. The generators can float the load but this is not a normal configuration. HMCS Victoria can reach a submerged speed of up to 20 kn.

Construction
The submarine was laid down as HMS Unseen at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead yard on 12 August 1987. She was launched on 14 November 1989, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 20 July 1991.

Royal Navy
Unseen was decommissioned on 6 April 1994, and placed in reserve.

Transfer
Looking to discontinue the operation of diesel-electric boats, the British government offered to sell Unseen and her sister submarines to Canada in 1993. The offer was accepted in 1998. The four boats were leased to the Canadians for US$427 million (plus US$98 million for upgrades and alteration to Canadian standards), with the lease to run for eight years; the submarines would then be sold for £1.

Unseen was the first to be reactivated, and was due to enter service in May 2000. However, problems were discovered with the piping welds on all four submarines, which delayed the reactivation. Unseen was handed over to the Canadian Navy on 6 October 2000, and was commissioned as HMCS Victoria on 2 December 2000.

Damage
On arrival in Halifax, Victoria was placed into dockyard hands for refitting. This was originally scheduled to take six months, but was not completed until 2003. Victoria was then transferred to Esquimalt, British Columbia, becoming the first Canadian submarine stationed in the Pacific since the 1974 decommissioning of HMCS Rainbow (SS-75). The submarine was in and out of dock during 2004 and 2005, cumulating in a planned two-year repair program in late 2005.

Quoting a CBC News report from May, 2006:


 * Navy technicians caused "catastrophic damage" to one of Canada's trouble-plagued submarines two years ago, says a Halifax newspaper report that cited military documents.
 * The technicians blew out the electrical system when they hooked up HMCS Victoria to a modern electrical generator, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported Saturday.
 * "Attempts to use a DC [direct current] feed … caused catastrophic damage to certain onboard filters and power supply units," the Chronicle-Herald reported, quoting recently released military documents about the incident, which occurred in British Columbia.
 * The navy is now spending about $200,000 to buy old electrical equipment that mirrors the original equipment found on the submarine.

Recent events
As of March 2011, repairs were still ongoing.

Between 2000 and 2010, Victoria has only been at sea for 115 days; it is expected to re-enter service in mid-2011, after six years in drydock.

As of April 23, 2011, the submarine is reported to be out of drydock and going through trials.

December 5, 2011, Victoria departs Equimalt Harbour to conduct sea trials and crew training

December 13, 2011, Victoria arrives at Bangor Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor for Deperming (degaussing or the erasure of magnetism)

December 16, 2011, Victoria returns to Esquimalt Harbour

March 16, 2012, Victoria fires first exercise torpedo

July 17, 2012, Victoria successfully fires a Mark 48 torpedo, striking and sinking USNS Concord as part of the RIMPAC 2012 exercises. Victoria was declared fully operational in 2012.