On Fri, 8 Oct 2004, at around 17:08:53 local time, Mark Hooper
<mhooper@digiscreen.ca> wrote:
>OK I am not laughing, but it is still grimly ironic for us LBC types.
>
>Canada just took delivery of a used British submarine from the late 80s.
>Wouldn't you know it, on the maiden voyage back home this week, the crew
>experienced a major fire of electrical origin caused by far too much current
>(13,000 amps) going through too thin wiring right under the Captain's cabin.
>The sub was wallowing powerless around the east Atlantic all this week in
>gale force winds waiting for tow back to Scotland for repairs. I've been out
>in the Altantic in a force 10 in a small boat, it's no fun. Tragically one
>sailor died from smoke inhalation in the fire. Does Lucas do submarines?
I'm not sure about submarines of this class, but, Lucas was a major
contractor for UK-built warships of all types for very many years.
According to Wikepedia, this boat, formerly HMS Upholder, pennant S-40,
was the lead ship of the Upholder (2400) class of submarines. She was
built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL), launched
on December 2, 1986 and commissioned on June 2, 1990. I was working
for a contractor who worked for VSEL at the time, but providing steam
turbines for Trident boats (Vanguard class), not electrical systems for
Upholders.
It should be pointed out that a fourteen-year-old submarine is not a
rusty old banger, but in the prime of its life. This cannot be a
maintenance issue, but a design one. :-( That certainly sounds like
Lucas.
ATB
--
Mike
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