Description:
The Victoria-class submarines, formerly known as Upholder-class, were transferred to Canada from the Royal Navy. These submarines replaced the 3 Oberon-class ships owned by Canada. The first ship achieved initial operational capability with the Canadian Navy in 1998.
The Victoria-class submarines feature 6 533mm torpedo tubes with up to 18 Mk 48 torpedoes. These ships are able to engage submarines and surface ships and have been designed to be hard to detect improving survivability over preceding submarines.
On October 5, 2005, a fire broke out aboard HMCS Chicoutimi (ex-Upholder) submarine when she was on passage from Faslane to Canada about 60 miles off the northwest coast of Ireland. Three sailors were injured and one of them died next morning.
In late February 2005, Northrop-Grumman announced that it was awarded a $9.7 million contract from the Canadian government to supply advanced ship's inertial navigation systems (SINS) for Victoria-class conventionally-powered submarines. Northrop Grumman's Sperry Marine committed to supply its MK49 ring laser gyro (RLG) systems and new-generation navigation distribution systems for the four submarines. Installation was expected to occur during 2005 and 2006. MK 49 provides highly accurate position, attitude, velocity and heading inputs to ships' navigation and fire-control systems.
Specifications Accommodation: Crew 48
Number of Weapons: 18
Dimensions: Height 5.5 m, Length 70 m, Width 7.6 m
Weights: Max Weight 2,400 t, Min Weight 2,185 t
Performance: Endurance 56 day, Max Operating Depth 200 m (656 ft), Top Speed 10 mps (20 kt)
Canada / 4 
United Kingdom / 4 /