January 15, 2025
From a career that spanned 35 years in the Navy, which included leading the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Maintenance Facility, Martin Drews is now at the helm of Seaspan Victoria Shipyards’ submarine program. We sat down with Martin to learn more about his role and how his vision for the program is informed by his naval career.
What is your role at Seaspan Victoria Shipyards?
I oversee Seaspan’s scope of work for the Victoria In-Service Support Contract program (VISSC) with our partner, Babcock Canada. My role entails overseeing the entire production, quality assurance, planning and estimating, along with the supporting teams delivering VISSC program. That includes everything from welding to electrical starting with equipment removal at the beginning stages of the refit, right to the completion and commissioning before we deliver the submarine back to Canada.
How long have you been in this role?
I have been in my current role for about six months, but I have worked with Seaspan for two years. I previously led the Submarine Sustainment Improvement Program with my counterpart in Babcock Canada. Before joining Seaspan, I worked for General Dynamics after serving with the Navy, where I ran the Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) program. In other words, I am not new to submarines – in fact, I was part of Canada’s submarine acquisition project in the early 2000s.
How does it feel to go full circle and be working to support the VISSC program today?
It has been interesting and very fulfilling. I have gained a much better appreciation for the challenges that industry faces. You know, when you’re on the other side, there’s a different set of challenges, and sometimes you underestimate the degree of complexity that’s on the re-fit, repair, and maintenance side. But it’s really rewarding for me to still be serving and supporting the Navy in this new capacity.
What do you enjoy the most about your role?
How I am still serving the Navy with a great bunch of talented and dedicated people, and I know that we are doing the right thing for Canada, particularly in this current geopolitical environment – maintaining our submarine program has never been more important than it is today.
How would you describe a typical day?
An average day starts with a quick 15-minute touch base meeting with the team where we talk about our priorities for the day. Then it typically goes into a series of various meetings with the different departments to assess the program. Occasionally I will tour the submarine to see how work is progressing and assess all the risks because they are always changing. A ‘day-in-the-life’ always revolves around: project scope, schedule, cost, assuring everything is on track, assessing those risks, and re-prioritizing based on those risks.
Do you have any advice for anyone who’s just starting out in their career, whether they are serving in the Navy or looking to work with submarines in industry?
You never have as much time as you do when you start your career to learn the basics. I would stress that you need to understand the basics of your job, understand how the organization works and that will lay the foundation for your future success. When you truly understand that, go to the next level. Understand what your boss’ and his or her boss’ role and how the whole organization works.
Do your friends and family think it’s cool that you work with submarines?
My Navy friends are surprised that I couldn’t retire from submarines altogether – but my kids think it’s really cool – especially my daughter, who is an engineer, because she really understands the complexity of the submarine fleet and the challenges that go along with it.
Looking ahead, what do you think the next five years holds for the submarine program?
We are tracking to deliver the Victoria submarine to Canada and over that time, I hope to see more work to support Canada’s submarine program. Looking beyond five years there will be a procurement process for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, which is the replacement for the Victoria-class. This new fleet will be critical to Canada’s security and sovereignty.