HMS Ursula (S42): A Second Life as HMCS Corner Brook

The Build: Birkenhead

HMS Ursula was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, her keel laid on 10 January 1989, launched on 28 February 1991 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 May 1992, an Upholder-class diesel-electric submarine, the fourth and last of her class to be built.

A Short Royal Navy Career

Like her sister boats, Ursula's time in Royal Navy service was cut short by the sweeping post-Cold War defence reviews that judged the entire Upholder class surplus to requirements almost as soon as it had entered the fleet. She was decommissioned on 16 October 1994, having served for barely two and a half years.

Sold to Canada

The British government offered Ursula and her three sister submarines to Canada in 1993, an offer accepted in 1998 under a lease arrangement worth US$427 million plus a further US$98 million for upgrades, with provision for an eventual symbolic sale after eight years.

Reactivation was delayed by welding issues discovered during the refit process, but Ursula was finally handed over to the Canadian Forces on 21 February 2003.

A New Name

She was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Corner Brook on 29 June 2003, taking her name from the Newfoundland city, and has continued to serve under that identity ever since, a submarine that has now spent considerably longer flying the Canadian maple leaf than she ever spent under the White Ensign.