News Helge Ingstad: Norway's warship collides with tanker in fjord

[Notebook]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46136564

Norway has evacuated all 137 crew from one of its warships after it collided in a fjord with a Maltese oil tanker.
Eight people were lightly injured in the collision in the Hjeltefjord near Bergen. The KNM Helge Ingstad frigate has been listing dangerously.
The warship had been returning from Nato military exercises. The tanker, the Sola TS, was slightly damaged and it appears that it did not spill oil.
The incident led to the shutdown of a major oil terminal and a gas plant.

Interesting the way all the tugs back off when it starts to shift.
Guessing that's going to be expensive, good no one is injured.


N.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

Anything with ships is expensive. But that is going to be a court marshal for the captain.

The reason the tugs back off is that a sinking ship can suck a smaller boat down with it as is submerges and can over stress the structures of those that have significant extra bouncy to not get sucked down. And tugs are not cheap.

It is a good thing that there where not any serious casualties and that the tanker did not spill any of her cargo.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Court martial, perhaps. But he saved the ship from going down deep in the fjord, and all souls made it off the ship with only minor injuries reported. At least they have the option of salvaging the ship and returning it to service. If it had gone down in the main part of the fjord... No way. It'd be scrap.

Also, some more on it can be found here and here.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

Its SOP for captains of military ships to be put under a court martial whenever their ship is lost or gets damaged. Even if no fault is found with the crew or captain it is usually a career ender, especially now that most navies have fewer ships than those able to command them.


Looks like they where lucky to get the ship to where she grounded. Damage seems to start amidships and goes all the way aft on her starboard side.

img from https://twitter.com/TimDotChoi/status/1060437059939123200/photo/1

 

[MaverickSawyer]

More news coming out... Looks like that court martial is possibly going to end the career of the OOD...
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...re-collision-we-have-everything-under-control

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Aaaand the situation isn't getting better. Looks like it almost slipped off the rocks in recent weather, and there's some concerns that there may have been some... underhanded dealings in the salvage contracts being handed out.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ompletely-sunk-after-its-anchor-wires-snapped

On Nov. 13, 2018, Rear Admiral Nils Andreas Stensoenes, head of Norway's navy, disclosed that multiple steel wires anchoring the Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate to the shore had snapped overnight. At present, only a portion of ship's main mast, which holds its advanced AN/SPY-1F radar, a key component of its version of the Aegis Combat System, along with a small portion of the rear superstructure, remain above the waterline. On Nov. 11, 2018, the Norwegian Armed Forces, or Forsvaret, had said the ship was "stable." Over the weekend, workers had also added two additional anchor wires between the vessel and the shore, for a total of seven.
...
The Forsvaret's decision to hire BOA, over competitor Ardent Global Marine Services, to lead the salvage operation has come under scrutiny, as well. Ardent Global says it made an offer, but that it was rejected for being too expensive, according to Norwegian outlet AldriMer.no. Another nearby firm, Sotra Anchor & Chain, has criticized the decision to use wires instead of chains to secure the frigate to the shore, saying that the latter is the international standard for holding large ships in place after an accident.

 

[Urwumpe]

Since the tanker was towed, it is clear that the warship had to change course there by current collision avoidance rules. The tanker was not to blame, he can't even change course that quickly. Also, the tanker warned the frigate four times to change course by radio, after asking for the ID at the local ship traffic control.

So, the commanding officer sure did more than just one tiny thing wrong there.

Also, he replied on radio that he can't turn to starboard because he could collide with "blocks" then. But nobody knows what he means by that. It would have brought him closer to the place where the ship was stranded later by him.

He could have entered a region reserved for fishing by changing course, but that would have been no problem.