Page 19: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2006)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 19

Navy Sensors Rack Up

Repairs

A navy ship that helps Canada scan for enemy mines on the sea floor of the west coast has twice damaged its high-tech underwater gear, racking up big repair bills.

The incidents involving HMCS Whitehorse have prompted reprimands and tighter con- trols over how the sophisticated technology is used.

For more than a year, Whitehorse's crew has been mapping the sea floor around

Vancouver Island using side-scan sonar.

But on Oct. 14, 2005, the five-meter-long sensor — known as a towfish — smashed into an unexpected pinnacle of rock rising sharply from the sea floor. The navy could not provide the exact cost of repairs to date, but said it was between $50,000 and $100,000.

And on June 15, a second towfish smashed into a ridge of rock near the entrance to the

Nanoose experimental test range, on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

The impact damaged a tail fin, a shaft and internal electronics, including a gyroscope.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. is repairing the device for the navy, but the bill is expected to be between $100,000 and $200,000.

With only four towfish available for work on the West Coast, half the naval inventory has been damaged. Records released under the Access to Information Act show that investigators blamed carelessness on the part of the operators for the second incident, but absolved them for the first. (Source: www.theglobeandmail.com)

Navy news

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