By David Dunlop, 20 September 2021 The French government has immediately recalled their Ambassadors to the US and Australia amid the Australian government's decision to cancel the DCNS Barracuda Block 1A 12 boat submarine deal reached in 2016. Recalling an Ambassador from any country, especially with allied partners, is not […]
Submarines
30 posts
By Brian Bertosa, 19 September 2021 It is said that an unlikely personal friendship between Rear Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN, widely regarded as the person most responsible (in the West, at any rate) for the development of the pressurized water reactor (PWR) as a form of submarine propulsion, and […]
By David Dunlop, 16 September 2021 Australia has now done an about-face and scrapped the 12 boat French DCNS Barracuda Block 1A submarine deal. The French/Naval Group naturally are livid but a deal among the US, UK and Australia has just been announced to transfer nuclear technology to Australia. Up […]
David Dunlop, 28 February 2020. Nuclear propulsion of submarines is ideal for long distances and extended under-ice missions. But is there a better, more affordable and collaborative way? Off-the-shelf air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarines such as the French Barracuda Block 1A class being designed for Australia or the Japanese Soyru-class AIP […]
It seems that new submarines won’t be part of the future mix for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), at least in the foreseeable future. The government has quickly rejected a critical key Senate committee recommendation to at least take the first steps in replacing our aging Victoria-class submarines with a […]
6 November 2018. The news out of Asia is always interesting. But from a naval perspective, it’s particularly interesting. There are multiple states spending huge sums to update their navies, illustrating what everyone has been saying – that in terms of possible future conflict, the Asia-Pacific region is a maritime theatre. […]
David Dunlop, 1 October 2018. The characteristics of modern 21st century submarines are: endurance, stealth, freedom of movement and versatility. The best sensor weapon that gives others pause is, without question, another submarine. If Canada does not invest in a modern submarine capability, its navy will be unable to patrol […]
28 September 2018. There have been many discussions about the missing element in the National Shipbuilding Strategy – i.e., submarines. In the not so distant future, Canada will have to start thinking about submarines. The Victoria-class subs are all up and running – after a slow start due to extended […]
We’ve published several commentaries in recent issues of CNR about the Royal Navy and the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent. In particular the commentaries have discussed how it is important to remember the conventional elements that are necessary for deterrence. But there is concern that the RN capability (and capacity) is […]
Canada is in the early stages of thinking about replacing its submarines. Submarines are not part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, but they are mentioned in the new defence policy. As complex platforms, they’re extremely expensive, and it will be a long and painful process before Canada has them and […]