LONDON (AFP) - The newest addition to the Canadian navy, the submarine HMCS Chicoutimi, was adrift in stormy seas off northwest Ireland after a fire that left nine sailors injured, officials said.
"As far as we know, she's lost all power," a British defence ministry spokesman in London told AFP as the crippled sub pitched and rolled all night in gale force winds, some 100 nautical miles (180 kilometers) from shore.
Overhead, a British air force Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft loitered in the sky, maintaining contact with the 57 crew of the submarine which had apparently been stricken by an electrical fire while submerged.
Two Royal Navy frigates and a support ship were due to reach the Chicoutimi -- a refitted British submarine, formerly the HMS Upholder, that only joined the Canadian navy five days ago -- on Wednesday morning, the spokesman said.
Three air-sea rescue helicopters were meanwhile on standby at Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, and two tugboats were being prepared to steam out to the Chicoutimi to tow it back into port if need be.
In Ireland, the marine ministry said it had been asked by British authorities to prepare a refueling facility for possible use.
"The main focus is on our preparations to lend the crew assistance if required," the spokesman said, confirming that nine sailors had been injured -- six more than reported earlier.
The injuries were believed to have been caused by smoke inhalation, the spokesman added.
For Canada, a NATO member, the incident was only the latest in a long list of setbacks for its underequipped armed forces, ranging from ageing Sea King helicopters to unarmoured utility vehicles on the mean streets of Kabul.
The Chicoutimi -- named for a city in largely French-speaking Quebec -- was the last of four refitted conventional powered submarines that Canada bought from the Royal Navy, for which they were built in the 1980s.
The other three -- HMCS Windsor, HMCS Corner Brook and HMCS Victoria -- have been plagued by leaks, faulty valves and, in one case, a pizza-sized dent to its hull, the Times newspaper in London reported last month.
The four Victoria-class subs were purchased for 750 million Canadian dollars (595 million US dollars, 483 million euros in current rates) after Britain decided to adopt an all-nuclear submarine fleet.
The Chicoutimi was on its way, submerged, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Faslane, Scotland when the fire -- apparently originating in its electrical system, according to one source -- broke out just a day after it set sail.
"The crew is safe," the Canadian defence ministry in Ottawa said on its Internet site (www.forces.gc.ca). "Several sailors experienced smoke inhalation, but do not require evacuation from the submarine."
It added: "The cause of the fire has not been determined, but it was contained and is now out. The incident is under investigation."