HMCS Ojibwa

Named after the First Nation tribe, there has been only one vessel named HMCS Ojibwa in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Ojibwa (72)

The three “O” Class submarines, which included two of the first submarines to be built to order for the Royal Canadian Navy, were duplicates of the Oberon Class, at the time the Royal Navy’s latest conventionally powered submarines. All were built at Her Majesty’s Dockyard, Chatham, UK.  In 1979, approval was given for the three to undergo a Submarine Operational Update Program (SOUP). In the course of this, they were fitted with new fire control, sonar, communications and optical equipment, as well as new batteries, which improved their endurance. Carried out at Halifax, Nova Scotia, the procedure upgraded their status from that of passive “tame” anti-submarine (ASW) targets to an aggressive capability. Though respectable enough craft in their prime, the “O” boats had long since reached the end of their useful lives and by July 1999, the three were paid off.

Laid down as HMS Onyx, she was sold to the Royal Canadian Navy while completing, and commissioned at Chatham on 23 September 1965. Like her sisters, HMCS Ojibwa served all her time operating from Halifax, NS, except for two deployments in 1977 and 1997 on the west coast from Esquimalt, BC. She underwent her Submarine Operational Update Program refit 20 December 1981 and 31 May 1982. In 1994, HMCS Ojibwa was cut in half, her engines removed and replaced with newer ones from HMS Osiris, which had been purchased for spare parts. She was paid off in Halifax on 21 May 1998.

• Builder: Her Majesty’s Dockyard, Chatham, UK
• Date laid down: 27 September 1962
• Date launched: 29 February 1964
• Date commissioned: 23 September 1965
• Date paid off: 21 May 1998
• Displacement: 1635.8 tonnes (surface) / 2448.7 tonnes (submerged)
• Dimensions: 90 m x 8 m x 5.5 m
• Speed: 12 knots (surface) / 17 knots (submerged)
• Crew: 68
• Armament: eight 21-inch (533-mm) torpedo tubes

Motto: Ne ke che dah (Let us be prepared)