The last supper
Remaining Merchant Navy vets gather for Christmas dinner Page A14
NEWS: Colombian military learns English in Victoria /A3 ARTS: Submissions sought for Shoreline Film Festival /A7 SPORTS: Esquimalt wrestlers bring home gold /A17
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Lt. Phil Fordham of the Royal Canadian Navy gives a tour of the HMCS Chicoutimi submarine at CFB Esquimalt. Pamela Roth/Victoria News
Working under water: a day in the life of a submariner Pamela Roth Victoria News
The ladder leading down into the HMCS Chicoutimi submarine is surprisingly long. Taking the first step feels like entering a manhole, but the bottom is a world unlike any other. A maze of white pipes and shiny valves line much of the dimly lit walls, making it look like a spaceship
that’s preparing for take off. Aside from a periscope, there are no windows to see what’s going on outside as the submarine plunges into the darkness of the ocean for days on end. This is where Petty Officer First Class John Janssen and Lt. Phil Fordham come to work each day. The pair can’t imagine anything better than working on a submarine.
“It’s definitely one of the coolest things you can do in the military,” said the 28-year-old Fordham, who began working on submarines when he got bored with surface fleet. “With subs, there’s always something different. You get to be a lot more involved with everything you’re doing for operations.” A member of the Canadian navy for 30
years, Janssen has spent 17 of those on surface fleet and the rest on a submarine. Like Fordham, he needed a change and jumped at the opportunity to work on a submarine when he heard they were getting placed on the West Coast, even though he had never been on one before. But when Janssen stepped onto a sub for the first time he
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was overwhelmed. Despite his training, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. So did Fordham. “I looked at all the pipe work, the valves — it’s the most technologically advanced thing besides a spaceship,” Fordham said. Canada’s fleet of submarines has had its share of ups and downs. In 1998, the Canadian navy
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purchased four used diesel-electric long subs from the British navy for nearly $900 million, and they’ve undergone a series of costly repairs and upgrades since then. A fire on board the HMCS Chicoutimi in 2004 killed Lt. Chris Saunders and injured eight others just hours into its maiden voyage, and in 2011, the HMCS Corner Brooke ran aground off
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Vancouver Island. The sub is now undergoing maintenance and upgrades that won’t be ready until 2017. Last February was cause for a celebration when the HMCS Victoria became operational, patrolling waters along the B.C. coast with the HMCS Chicoutimi. PlEASE SEE: Subs a valuable component, Page A3
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