[UPDATED WITH MORE PHOTOS] One of the Canadian navy’s four submarines is ready for testing in water after undergoing extensive maintenance at Esquimalt graving dock over the past three years.

HMCS Chicoutimi, which has not been to sea since catching fire on its delivery voyage to Canada in 2004, was towed Monday on a floating dry dock from Esquimalt harbour to Ogden Point.

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It is expected to enter the water today, said Lt. Paul Pendergast, navy public affairs officer.

“The reason that it’s being done down there is because the water’s not deep enough in Esquimalt harbour to do that,” he said.

The submarine will then undergo further testing and trials, he said.

“It’s not the end of the process. There’s certain work that’s done in dock and there’s certain work that’s done after it re-enters the water.

“But it’s a significant milestone in the process.”

Canada purchased Chicoutimi and three other used diesel-electric submarines from Great Britain in 1998 for $750 million and has since sunk more than that into upgrades and maintenance.

The 2004 fire killed one sailor and injured eight others. Chicoutimi was moved by ship from Halifax to Esquimalt in 2009 and maintenance work began the following year at Victoria Shipyards Co. Ltd., which is a subcontractor of Babcock Canada Inc.

The government announced a five-year extension of Babcock’s original $370-million contract to maintain the submarines earlier this year.

The new deal was worth $531 million with all the heavy maintenance work to be done at Victoria Shipyards, thereby protecting more than 200 jobs in Esquimalt, the government said.

While in dry dock, the submarines receive repairs, overhauls and upgrades to more than 200 systems, DND said.

Two other submarines — HMCS Victoria and HMCS Windsor — received earlier refits. HMCS Corner Brook, which struck bottom in Nootka Sound in June 2011, is slated to begin an extended docking work period next year.

The plan is to eventually have three of the four Victoria-class submarines ready for operations — one in the Atlantic, one in the Pacific and the Chicoutimi at standard readiness.

lkines@timescolonist.com