A Canadian submarine last week fired the decisive shot that sent a once-fearsome U.S. Navy warship to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, marking the undersea force’s dramatic return to the world’s largest naval exercise after a 12-year absence. HMCS Corner Brook delivered the final blow to the decommissioned guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay with a Mark 48 heavyweight torpedo during a simulated combat exercise off Hawaii on July 12. The strike served as a dramatic capstone to Canada’s participation in the month-long Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) war games. Canadian task group commander Capt. Landon Creasy says live-fire targeting exercises such as this are “invaluable to our submariners.” “Not only do they have the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned by working together, both within the submarine and alongside partner nations to accomplish an extraordinary task,” Creasy said in a statement Thursday. “But they also get to showcase the expertise they have developed in their respective occupations and the significance of their contributions to Canada’s defence program.” ‘These relationships matter’ According to the U.S. Navy, which hosts the biennial exercise involving more than 25,000 military personnel from over two dozen countries, the Mobile Bay was sunk in waters roughly 4,570 metres deep off Kauai’s northern coast. Vice Admiral Jeff Jablon, the U.S. Navy commander for the RIMPAC combined task force, highlighted the sinking exercise as a “prime example of the strength and readiness” shared among participating nations, which also included Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and Spain. “Watching our sailors work side-by-side with partners from around the world, executing complex maritime events together, is the strongest reminder of why these relationships matter,” Jablon said in a separate statement Thursday. A second decommissioned ship, the amphibious assault vessel USS Peleliu, was also sunk in the area during separate drills on July 17. In delivering the final blow, the aging Canadian submarine proved it retains “precision strike capability” in complex marine environments, said Lt.-Cmdr. Linda Coleman, a Royal Canadian Navy spokesperson deployed in Hawaii, in a statement. Prior to the exercise, HMCS Corner Brook was outfitted with a modern electronic warfare system designed to boost its ability to detect and identify nearby ships and potential threats. While Canada’s Victoria-class submarines are admittedly “an older platform,” Coleman said in an interview last month, rolling upgrades across the fleet have allowed them to keep pace with evolving maritime threats. Submarine fleet status HMCS Corner Brook is currently the only operational submarine in Canada’s four-vessel fleet. The sub returned to service last year following a 14-year period of repairs and upgrades after running aground off Vancouver Island in 2011. The work included approximately $20 million in repairs to address the immediate damage from the accident, plus a further $695 million in maintenance, upgrades and life-extension work as part of a long-term refit cycle. Before this year, Canada had not sent a submarine to RIMPAC since 2014, when HMCS Victoria participated in the U.S.-led drills. HMCS Victoria was scheduled to return in 2020, but that deployment was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from the submarine, the Canadian contingent at this year’s exercise featured a pair of Halifax-class frigates, a replenishment ship, a long-range patrol plane, two maritime helicopter, and over 800 Canadian Armed Forces members. This year marks the 30th edition of RIMPAC, which was established in 1971. As a founding nation alongside the United States and Australia, Canada has participated in every iteration of the exercise since it began.
