‘It was pretty cool seeing it’

Royal Canadian Navy declines comment on Cape Breton submarine sightings

SYDNEY — The Royal Canadian Navy is now confirming a submarine that caused waves of excitement in Cape Breton Sept. 18 is one of theirs.

The vessel surfacing in Cape Breton waters caught a lot of attention.

“People were very fascinated by seeing a submarine in Sydney harbour,” said Nicole MacAulay, cruise manager for the Port of Sydney. “We were certainly receiving inquiries on what it was doing.”

MacAulay said they did see photos of the submarine on social media. However, the Port of Sydney wasn’t involved with the vessel as it didn’t require any dock space at the main berth or at Liberty Pier.

“Because they were just out in the harbour, they didn’t have to check in with us,” she added.

When searching where the submarine came from, the Canadian Coast Guard said they do not have a submarine in their fleet.

The Cape Breton Post sent the Navy photos on Sept. 20 which had been taken by various Cape Breton residents who spotted a submarine in waters off the island Saturday, Sept. 18.

Marc Greatti, a communications adviser at the Maritime Forces Atlantic Headquarters, wasn’t able to confirm it was a Navy submarine by deadline Monday, but he has since confirmed it was the HMCS Windsor.

“Unfortunately, we are bound by the regulations of operational security,” he said in an email response. “We have a procedure that must be followed with queries of this nature regarding submarines.”

The Navy is unable to comment on what their submarine was doing in Cape Breton, citing operational security reasons.

TRAINING EXERCISE

The submarine was part of a recent training exercise, the bi-annual Cutlass Fury, which was held Sept. 7-17 off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, involving the Navy, Canadian Air Force, the United States navy and the Marine Nationale of France.

In a news release, the exercise was described to include an array of live air and surface weapons firings against a challenging array of remotely-operated targets, providing participants with a realistic exercise that culminates into a crisis scenario. The exercise included the Canadian Navy submarine, the HMCS Windsor.

However, the exercise ended Sept. 17 and the submarine sightings in Cape Breton were Sept. 18.

DEPTHS OF EXCITEMENT

Tristan Donovan of Sydney Mines took a photo of the submarine from Shore Road in North Sydney at 11:21 a.m. Saturday, asking on social media if anyone knew what it was doing there. Donovan told SaltWire Network he honestly didn’t know what to think when he saw it.

“I was shocked to see it but was incredibly excited as I never seen anything like it here before,” he said.

George Stubbert of Bras d’Or was at the Joyful Journey Campark Resort in Englishtown when he saw the submarine at about 4:20 p.m. and snapped a photo.

“I thought it was pretty cool seeing it, you don’t see nothing like that around here,” he said.

Stubbert said it looked like the crew was in shorts and bathing suits and were swimming, but added it was hard to tell as it was so far out in the water.

Jean Hogan reported on social media seeing it close to shore on the north shore around Jersey Cove at about 4 p.m.

Billy Petite took a photo of the submarine off South Bar Saturday and another sighting came from Glace Bay. Brian Steffens also reported a sighting on social media.

“After leaving the (Sydney) harbour they went to St. Anns, dropped the anchor to let the crew go for a swim,” he said.

Those who didn’t see it seemed to appreciate the photos.

“Pretty cool,” posted Brandon MacDonald. “You don’t see that every day!”

SUB SPECS

The 70-m long HMCS Windsor was built in Birkenhead, England and launched in 1992.

According to the Royal Canadian Navy website, the HMS Windsor entered the submarine shed in Halifax in October 2018, undergoing deep maintenance work along with modernization upgrades to the Victoria-class submarine.

It also underwent capability upgrades, receiving its state-of-the-art bow sonar site system, radically improving their ability to detect, classify and track quiet warships and submarines. The Windsor also received an overhaul to its weapons systems and is now armed with the Mark 48 MOD 7AT torpedo.

In 2020 the submarine began its new operational cycle of nine years of operational availability to be followed by another three years of maintenance, although it experienced a work interruption during the spring when the country locked down to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

A four-year sailing period for the HMCS Windsor and crew of 49 prior to the maintenance period included deployment to Europe multiple times, participating in exercises and more than three months operating in the Mediterranean.