The Royal Canadian Navy still doesn't know the extent of the damage to the submarine HMCS Corner Brook, which ran aground off B.C. last year.

The submarine slammed into the ocean floor in Nootka Sound on June 4. It ended up with a four-by-four metre hole in its bow after hitting a rock.

The navy's second in command, Admiral Mark Norman, compared it to a car accident.

"When you're looking at your damaged car in the intersection and you can drive it home, you don't really know how badly damaged it is," he told CBC earlier this year. "It is similar to a fender bender."

That was in February, before the navy knew the full extent of the damage to its submarine.

In fact, the navy says it's still assessing the damage to the sub. Minimal repairs are underway, but the full overhaul won’t begin until January after another damaged sub, HMCS Chicoutimi, is done.

"This period of minimal maintenance is programmed to primarily arrest system degradation while the submarine awaits her turn in deep maintenance," according to a sub fleet status update released this week.

In a statement issued to CBC late Thursday, the navy said Norman used the "automotive analogy in order to explain the damage … to the average viewer."

The submarine hit the bottom when it was 45 metres below the surface. It remained watertight and none of the crew was in danger, the navy said in February.

The navy's official board of inquiry blamed Lt.-Cmdr. Paul Sutherland, the sub's captain, for the collision.

Corner Brook is expected to be fully operational in 2016.