Lurkers in the deep: How Canada’s new submarines will be used in peace and potential war | German-built 212CD submarines won’t just patrol Canada’s coasts, but will travel the world’s oceans in stealth

>[retired vice-admiral Darren] Hawco says the immediate threat in the North is the fact that Canada and Russia have [overlapping undersea claims.](https://arcticportal.org/ap-library/news/2969-canada-extends-its-arctic-ocean-seabed-claim-all-the-way-to-russian-waters)

>There would be little return for Russia to invade Canada’s Arctic archipelago, much less its mainland, he said. But the ocean floor is a different matter.

>”I think the return for them is to say, ‘I own the entire Lomonosov Ridge and all the resources that are there, and there’s nothing you can do,'” he said, referring to the 1,800-kilometre-long ridge under the Arctic Ocean that’s the subject of a territorial dispute.

>The answer to that kind of threat, Hawco said, is “having a submarine that can operate at that kind of distance, that’s covert, super-quiet and can sink anything that comes close.”