The Spectre of Uncontrollable Electrical Fire in Enclosed Spaces

Chicoutimi electrical system revamped, in good shape at handover: refitter   Murray Brewster Canadian Press Friday, October 15, 2004 1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT >> GLASGOW -- One of the chief refitters of HMCS Chicoutimi said the submarine had a revamped electrical system and was in prime condition when it was handed over to the Canadians three days before an electrical fire crippled the vessel and killed a crew member. The electrical space located on the second deck of HMCS Chicoutimi. "There was nothing wrong with the boat," Ken Collins, who managed logistics on the warship's refit for BAE Systems, said from his home in Barrow-in-Furness in southern Scotland. After 10 years in mothballs, wires and circuit boxes that needed to be replaced "were replaced with brand-new equipment," he added. And new cables were installed where the Canadians replaced British equipment with their own. The warship was kept in show-room condition during the years it sat along a dock in southern England, said Collins, who disputes Canadian and British media reports that the refit was a logistical nightmare. "Power to the boat was kept on all of the time in case someone was interested in looking at her," he said. Some of warship's parts were cannabalized in order to get its sister ships up and running. But in its former incarnation as HMS Upholder, the Chicoutimi was known to have a variety of electrical problems. One famous incident saw the crew slam the engines into reverse during underwater sea trials only to lose all power. The ship's diesel engines were originally designed for use in railway locomotives, and were not intended to be rapidly stopped and started, the Royal Navy concluded. The submarine, which was designed to be highly automated, also suffered from spontaneous flooding in what's called the forward torpedo room. Collins said all of the flaws were corrected. And the former Royal Navy submariner had a theory on what might have happened aboard the Chicoutimi. In order to cause the kind of fire that befell the sub, he said, an electrical panel box would needed to have been left open at the precise instant sea water came splashing down the decks of the submarine. Another veteran Royal Navy engineer, who sailed on the vessel when it was still the Upholder, agreed. The electrical panel box could have either been active, causing a fire instantly, or the water could have hit a dead box that short-circuited the moment it was re-energized, said Ron Hiseman, 49. "If the box was off, once they hit the switch, she could've gone bang," said the 24-year naval veteran who also oversaw the construction of the boat. Marine engineers have suggested another possible cause for the kind of short circuit and fire, which crippled the boat north of Ireland on Oct. 5, would be a massive number of loose connections - or grounded faults. The navy said Thursday in Ottawa that water did seep into the vessel as it plowed through rough seas. But the military refused to draw a link between the highly conductive sea water and the electrical fire.   NATIONAL POST Latest News Chicoutimi electrical system revamped, in good shape at handover: refitter   << PREVIOUS | 1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT >>   Crew members have described the accident that killed Lieut. Chris Saunders as a "one-in-ten-million shot," and some have described a chain reaction of events that preceded the fire. But they have also vehemently denied human error played any part in the tragedy. Collins said submarines are designed to get wet and their electrical boxes are encased in a water-tight seal when they're closed. "If you've got it open and water comes down, you've got a major catastrophe on your hands," said the mechanical engineer. "The electrical panel would also need to be fully live." At the time of the tragedy, sailors reported they were looking for a grounded electrical fault near the spot where the fire broke out on the lower deck. It's not clear whether the damage-control party had any panels open - or whether they had inadvertently forgotten to close one as they searched. Another mystery is whether they shut down power to each compartment as they hunted for the glitch. Standard procedure, said Collins, would be to shut off the feed. Collins, who knows some of the submarine's crew personally, dismissed the theory that there was any kind of cascade of loose electrical connections. However, another marine engineer with 40 years' experience cautioned that the state of the wiring needs to be thoroughly checked by the ongoing board of inquiry. "When vessels are alongside for as long as this one was, dampness sets in and there tends to be a deterioration of insulation," David Clark, president DC Maritime Technologies Inc. in Vancouver, said in a telephone interview. The issue of the condition of the boat is a sore point in Britain, where the tragedy has caused a lot of hand-wringing in the shipbuilding community. It's also a political flashpoint for the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair since it's been suggested Canada may sue over the $750 million lease-to-purchase submarine program, which has been plagued with myriad glitches. A finding of crew error by a military board of inquiry would also take the heat off Ottawa and the suggestion by the Opposition Converatives that the Liberal government is sending sailors to sea in unsafe vessels. A crucial element in answering the question of whether human error or workmanship is to blame will addressed on the fine point of whether the crew had one or two hatches open while the submarine was running on the surface in five-metre swells. Crew members have described how the boat was hit by "a huge rogue wave," which allowed water to seep down into the control room. It's been suggested the water in the control room was ankle deep - too much for the ship's drains to carry to the bilge tanks. Some of the water is reported to have cascaded down to the lower deck. Running on the surface with conning tower hatches open is not unusual, even in rough seas, some crew members say.  But Collins, who spent decades in Royal Navy conventional and nuclear submarines, said that being on the surface, in rough  weather, with two hatches open "is not good submarine practice." link   2004-10-16 02:31:56 email this    print this    Sea water came through open hatches, crew say     GLASGOW, SCOTLAND -- Both hatches in HMCS Chicoutimi were open when a wave crashed against it, throwing sea water into the control room before last week's fatal fire, crew members say. They said the control room was "ankle deep'' in water, with crew trying to mop it up, but there was so much it cascaded to the lower deck. The crew members said the practice of running on the surface with the conning tower hatches open is not an unusual practice, even in the rough North Atlantic waters the Chicoutimi was plying on Oct. 5. Unidentified crew said electrical panels in both the control room and on the lower deck later emitted a machine-gun volley of "sparks the size of golf balls." One sailor said, "I couldn't believe the amount of water that was coming down. Everything got soaked. We were mopping like crazy." Crew members described fire racing down walls as if it was following the path of electrical wires. Earlier this week, the crew's statements that they were hunting a mysterious electrical ground fault led to speculation loose wiring might have ignited the fire. That suggestion is political dynamite in Britain, where concern about the quality of the submarine's refit and the possible impact on shipyard jobs has politicians, military officials and some media pointing the finger at human error aboard the sub. But another sailor insisted, "it was not human error. A published report quoted a "political source" familiar with the incident as saying the crew inadvertently left a hatch open. That could have allowed water to run down the inside of the conning tower and on to one of the panels, which erupted in sparks. It also was reported a radio operator's log of a transmission between a British search-and-rescue helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft suggests a British offer to airlift injured sailors off the submarine the day of the fire was declined. The transmission indicates the helicopter, identified as R177, asked the aircraft, R51, if it could confirm the chopper was to airlift two casualties to hospital, saying it was getting conflicting information. The aircraft replied: "R51, from the C.O. (commanding officer) of vessel, all casualties suffering from smoke inhalation. Seven are fully recovered, the two serious casualties are returning to normal. The C.O. does not wish any casualties to be airlifted off. He is happy for them to stay on vessel and he does not need any more oxygen."   Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003 Canada Buries Sailor Killed in Sub Fire Future of Four-Vessel Underwater Fleet, Bought From Britain, Now in Question By Doug Struck Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, October 14, 2004; Page A24   TORONTO, Oct. 13 -- With a Canadian flag and white officer's cap on his coffin, navy Lt. Chris Saunders was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday, the casualty of a frightening submarine fire at sea that threatened both the crew of the sub and the future of Canada's submarine fleet. Saunders, the first Canadian sailor to die in service in 49 years, was found lying on the floor in the blackened hold of the HMCS Chicoutimi, minutes after an electrical fire filled the vessel with acrid smoke and cut power and engines on the submarine's maiden voyage under the Canadian flag last week. The boat pitched and rolled for five days in a North Sea gale off the coast of Ireland as Canadians followed the rescue efforts, with questions mounting over the wisdom of trying to keep the country's four-vessel underwater fleet. Canada's defense minister on Tuesday ordered the navy's three other submarines to dock until the cause of the fire was discovered. Saunders, 32, the father of two young boys, "died as a hero, one who gave his life for his friends," chaplain John Finlayson said at the service. Canada's navy officers are defending the acquisition of the four diesel submarines from Britain in 1998 against complaints that the country had gotten the equivalent of used-car lemons. The process of fitting the subs for sea already has run three years and $150 million more than expected, at a time when the Canadian military is stretched by peacekeeping missions and U.S. pressures after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Canada has a small military -- about 53,000 service members, compared with 1.4 million Americans on active duty. The Canadian navy includes 12 frigates, four destroyers and about 10,000 sailors. The U.S. Navy, at about 375,000 service members, has more than 200 large ships. "Most Canadians were probably surprised to know we even had submarines," said Joel Sokolski, a professor of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. But since Oct. 4, the front pages of Canada's newspapers have been filled with photos of the stricken sub. The government's first reports -- that the fire was small, damage minimal and injuries minor -- unraveled through the week. When the sub was finally towed back to port, the crewmen described a harrowing ordeal. Just as the 57 crewmen were going through their checklists to dive under the wind-driven North Sea about 85 miles off the coast of Scotland on Oct. 4, sparks described by one crew member as "the size of golf balls" erupted from an electrical display panel near the control room. Thick black smoke quickly filled the 231-foot sub, so dense that Cmdr. Luc Pelletier said he could not see a flashlight more than six inches away. "Imagine being in a mask in total darkness. You couldn't even see the fire, you could only feel the heat," the skipper told reporters in Scotland on Monday. "It's one of the worst nightmares of a submariner." Sailors grabbed for the emergency breathing gear and groped their way through the blackness to try to deal with the emergency, finding Saunders. Smoke poured out of the conning tower as if it were a chimney; an officer with a battery-driven portable satellite phone managed to send off a Mayday. A British helicopter made a dangerous and dramatic airlift to take Saunders and two others from the heaving deck of the powerless vessel, but the lieutenant was dead when they arrived at an Irish hospital. Tow boats slowly dragged the crippled sub back to Scotland. Canada has periodically owned submarines since 1914, when two were secretly bought in Seattle. In 1987, the Canadian government proposed an ambitious expansion of the fleet to a dozen nuclear-powered subs that would patrol the country's long coastlines and the polar ice cap to its north. That plan died with the end of the Cold War and the reluctance of Canadians to spend so much on their military. But navy officials kept pushing for submarines, and in 1998, they got what Canada considered a good deal. Britain, moving to a nuclear fleet, had mothballed four fairly new submarines in 1994, and sold them to Canada for about $750 million, most of that to be paid in trade for the use of Canadian airspace to train British military pilots. But the process of putting the vessels back to sea was plagued with delays and rising costs, as the subs were found with rusting hulls, cracked pipes and faulty equipment. One was discovered to have a dent in its hull. The Chicoutimi, the last of the four to be refitted, was on its maiden voyage from its Scotland shipyards, preparing to submerge for a 16-day undersea trip to Canada when the fire broke out. Critics said the Canadian navy wants the subs mainly to train with the U.S. Navy's fleet of 72 nuclear submarines, which use the Canadian diesel-powered craft in exercises. "The submarines are to sustain Canada's profile and prestige," said Wesley Wark, a professor of international relations at the University of Toronto. The navy has convened a board of inquiry in Faslane, Scotland, where the Chicoutimi now sits, to determine the cause of the fire. The three other subs are in port in Halifax and British Columbia. Officials insist that the grounding order was precautionary and that the subs will put to sea again. "This was a prudent decision," Vice Adm. Bruce MacLean, chief of the maritime command, said Tuesday. link Electrical panel exposed as waves washed into sub Experts query opening of hatches British early airlift offer declined: CBC     SANDRO CONTENTA EUROPEAN BUREAU GLASGOW, Scotland—Accounts of golf-ball-sized sparks shooting from an electrical panel on HMCS Chicoutimi suggest the panel doors were open when salt water splashed on them, say experts who helped build or refit Canada's submarines. These experts insist that electrical panels on the Victoria class submarines — the four second-hand subs Canada bought from Britain — are waterproof when closed. They speculate that technicians on the lower deck of the Chicoutimi were doing work with the electrical panel doors open when a wave gushed down the open hatches of the sub's conning tower, or fin. "If you get a massive influx of water that comes down the conning tower and goes into the boxes, you're going to get a fire, no doubt about it," said Ken Collins, the BAE Systems manager who oversaw the refitting of the Chicoutimi's three sister subs. "You're going to get sparks flying everywhere," added Collins, a former British submariner who now chairs the Submariners' Association of Barrow-in-Furness, England, where the subs were built and refurbished. Witnesses among the 57 crew described sparks shooting from an electrical panel on the lower deck of the Chicoutimi when fire broke out Oct. 5, killing a Canadian sailor and leaving the sub drifting powerless in the North Atlantic for five days. What's known is that a technical crew on the lower deck was searching for a "grounding fault" — a leak of electricity — when an electrical panel three metres away exploded. Meanwhile, a report emerged yesterday that a British helicopter offered to immediately airlift the injured sailors from the submarine, but the offer was declined, according to a short-wave radio operator's log of a transmission between search-and-rescue aircraft on the day of the fire. The account of the transmission has not been verified. Military officials refused to comment on its accuracy yesterday, the CBC reported.   It was not until 13 hours later, on the morning of Oct. 6, that the British frigate HMS Montrose arrived at the scene, dropping off a doctor and a medical technician on board. The submarine's commanding officer, Luc Pelletier, has said that in the hours after the fire, the injured sailors were recovering and the danger wasn't considered great enough for a risky rescue operation in stormy weather. A Canadian military board of inquiry into the fire is to examine the "open panel theory." The inquiry has selected 16 crew members to interview as key witnesses to the fire, and allowed 38 others to fly home to Halifax yesterday. One of the challenges the board of inquiry faces is getting an accurate timeline for a series of events described by one crew member as a "domino effect" of mishaps. One senior crew member has said the wave first poured water into the submarine, then the grounding fault occurred and technicians went searching for it. That raises the possibility of faulty insulation around electrical wires or electrical panels. One electrical panel sits underneath the captain's cabin, which was consumed by the fire. The captain's cabin and adjacent control room were first soaked by a wave that gushed through the open hatches of the sub's tower, and cascaded to the lower deck. The electrical panel distributes current of 115 volts to operate equipment mainly on the lower deck, including lights, hot water tanks and sonar, said Ron Hiseman, 49, a former British navy engineer who was an adviser during the 1985-90 building of the Chicoutimi. Hiseman also believes the only way sparks could have exploded from that panel is if salt water made contact with it while its doors were open. Hiseman and Collins, both former submariners with the British navy, questioned the decision by Pelletier to keep both hatches of the conning tower open during rough seas with eight-metre high waves. "If you're in heavy seas, you would run shut down," said Hiseman, referring to having at least one of the two tower hatches closed. Said Collins: "It's the captain's call, but if eight-metre waves are crashing above you ... personally, I would have had one of the hatches shut." link      Return to Latest Additions