From: doodlebug@NOTREALADDRESS.com   
      
             A sad day indeed.   
      
      
   Old subs to be scrapped   
   Ottawa issues tender to get rid of remaining vintage vessels   
   By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter   
   Sat. Nov 1 - 5:20 AM   
      
      
   The federal government issued a tender Friday to scrap three surplus   
   submarines that have been tied up in Dartmouth for seven years.   
      
   "The Oberon-class submarines are 1960s vintage submarines that are no   
   longer required by Canada and were decommissioned prior to 2001," says   
   the tender.   
      
   The feds are looking for a company capable of moving the subs from HMC   
   Dockyard, Jetty NL in Dartmouth, to a dry-dock facility where they can   
   be dismantled.   
      
   "Confidential material, controlled goods and explosives have been   
   removed from the submarines," says the tender.   
      
   Ottawa wants Canadian companies to identify the cost of removing and   
   disposing of the subs.   
      
   "They are to be removed intact by way of towing or on a floating   
   barge/dock to a Canadian facility, where they will be disposed of as   
   scrap."   
      
   The subs are HMS Olympus, which served as a stationary training vessel   
   at dockside in Halifax, HMCS Okanagan and HMCS Ojibwa.   
      
   Whoever wins the contract will be under orders to remove all three   
   subs from the dockyard within eight weeks of taking custody.   
      
   The contractor will have to "certify in writing with photographic   
   evidence that the torpedo tubes have been demilitarized," says the   
   tender.   
      
   There are also strict environmental demands surrounding the sub   
   scrapping.   
      
   "The movements of hazardous wastes should be reduced to a minimum;   
   they should be managed in an environmentally sound manner; hazardous   
   wastes should be treated and disposed of as close as possible to their   
   source of generation; and hazardous-waste generation should be   
   minimized at source."   
      
   The Musee de la Mer de Pointe-au-Pere, near Rimouski, bought another   
   Oberon-class vessel, HMCS Onondaga, for the much-publicized price of   
   $4. But towing Onondaga to Quebec and setting it up as a museum piece   
   cost about $3 million.   
      
   A year ago, a military spokeswoman said there weren't any offers on   
   the table for the other three subs. The Department of National Defence   
   couldn't provide answers to questions Friday about the plan to scrap   
   them.   
      
   In 2004, a British museum expressed interest in buying one of the   
   vessels. And Halifax Regional Municipality also briefly pondered the   
   idea. But neither of the potential sales came to fruition. That same   
   year, former Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps unsuccessfully   
   lobbied Ottawa to get one of the surplus subs for Hamilton's   
   waterfront naval museum.   
      
   A plan to tow one of the 90-metre subs to Ottawa for display at the   
   Canadian War Museum was also scuttled when museum officials got a look   
   at what it would cost to transport the vessel.   
      
   The first of Canada's four Oberon-class subs was commissioned in 1965   
   by the Canadian navy.   
      
   Canada took the last of its Oberons out of service in July 2000. The   
   military bought four used Upholder-class subs - dubbed Victoria class   
   by the Canadian navy - as replacements.   
      
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