After five years in the shop, the only submarine permanently stationed at CFB Esquimalt returned to sea over the weekend, the B次元官网网址 has learned.

HMCS Victoria was tugged out of dry dock and parked alongside a dockyard jetty in Esquimalt Harbour Sunday night, according to sources.

It is a momentous occasion for CanadaB次元官网网址檚 submarine program, making the HMCS Victoria the second sub to have sea-faring capabilities, however limited.

ItB次元官网网址檚 second only to HMCS Corner Brook, which is expected to arrive in Victoria from CFB Halifax this summer to run patrols.

Sources reveal the Victoria-class boat was tugged out at the base dockyard when the tides were at their highest.

HMCS Victoria has been undergoing extensive maintenance, repairs and modernizing upgrades in the base dry dock for the past five years B次元官网网址� about half its life as a Canadian submarine.

B次元官网网址淰ictoria is the first (Victoria-class) submarine weB次元官网网址檝e ever done this level of maintenance on,B次元官网网址� Cmdr. Christopher Earl, the navyB次元官网网址檚 technical authority on CanadaB次元官网网址檚 submarines, said in a February interview.

He said he couldnB次元官网网址檛 estimate repair and upgrade costs at the time because work on the HMCS Victoria is ongoing.

Earlier this year the plan was to float the boat around the end of February and park it at a jetty to put it through another round of tests and evaluations, the subB次元官网网址檚 captain, Cmdr. Christopher Ellis, told the B次元官网网址 in January.

At the time, he said he hoped to take HMCS Victoria out to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in early July, the beginning of a six-month round of additional tests and trials. The goal was to have the sub become fully operational, possibly in December, Ellis said.

Once the vessel receives full clearance, it will become the first fully operational weapons-capable Victoria-class submarine on the West Coast.

The navyB次元官网网址檚 objective is to one day have three functioning submarines operating at the same time, with a fourth undergoing maintenance at Victoria Shipyards, said Earl.

B次元官网网址淓very six to eight years any marine system you put in a marine environment has to be fixed or maintained,B次元官网网址� he explained. B次元官网网址淥ur sub program is no different from any other submarine program in the world.B次元官网网址�

emccracken@vicnews.com