By Cory Ruf, CBC News
Posted: Nov 9, 2012 9:06 AM ET
Last Updated: Nov 8, 2012 6:27 PM ET
The HMCS Ojibwa, a half-century-old submarine, is getting a makeover before its final journey — from a shipyard in Hamilton to its final resting place, a new naval museum in Port Burwell, Ont.
Docked at Heddle Marine at Pier 14, the vessel is slated to set sail as early as next week.
"It could be ready as soon as Wednesday and as late as the next week," said Ret. Rear-Admiral Dan McNeil, a former naval officer and co-ordinator of Project Ojibwa, the team that's orchestrating the endeavour.
The sub's exact date of departure depends on the weather. Originally, it was supposed to leave earlier in November, but Superstorm Sandy scuttled those plans.
The Ojibwa is the last of Canada's Oberon-class submarines and a relic from the Cold War, when the West and the Soviet Union were each other's greatest adversary.
"It was commissioned in 1965, built to be one of the quietest submarines in the world," said McNeil of the Ojibwa.
"Canadian had obligations in the international community and the main one was to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Our job was to help keep the sea lines of communication open in the event of the Cold War breaking into any kind of hot war."
To commemorate this role, the Ojibwa, which was donated by the Department of National Defence, will become the centrepiece of the new Elgin Military Museum of Naval History, set to open in 2013.
Visitors will be able to go on guided tours of the sub.
"The story will be told about the submariners, the people who have served Canada, particularly under the waters of the north Atlantic," McNeil said.
The Ojibwa won't make the upcoming trek under its own power. Two tugs boats will tow the vessel — which has been out of commission since 1998 — to Port Burwell, located about 140 km southwest of Hamilton on the north shore of Lake Erie.
The most challenging part of the journey will be towing the sub through the Welland Canal, the 43-kilometre man-made waterway that connects lakes Ontario and Erie, said John Ham, a project co-ordinator with Mammoet, a transportation firm helping to engineer the feat.
Mercifully, this final jaunt will be much shorter than the one that brought the Ojibwa to Hamilton. In the spring, it was hauled from its previous home in Halifax via the St. Lawrence Seaway.
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