Canada's submarine requirement includes long journeys between bases and patrol areas, with Arctic ice restricting opportunities to surface. The objection to Gotland is whether it can complete the required base-to-base journey on its available fuel. Fourteen days submerged without snorkelling is quoted, alongside maximum speeds of 11 knots on the surface and 20 knots submerged, but these figures do not establish suitability for that route. The design's age is another objection: construction began in the 1990s from work dating to the 1980s. Australia is used as a parallel example of why submarine endurance must fit national geography.
Notable Point · 2:02:22-2:04:22
Why the Gotland class does not fit Canadian Arctic patrols
The Swedish Gotland class is too short-ranged and too old a design to meet Canada's long-distance Arctic patrol requirement.