Frigate And Oil Tanker Collided In Norway

a reply to: Hellmutt

Is that you?

Yes.

Where are you?

I am here. Where are you?

I too am here.

a reply to: Phage

It has been confirmed that the radar on the bridge was on, despite "navigation training". They should've been able to see the tanker on the radar. Somehow they didn't, so they must have been distracted. If you listen to the available audio log (the log from the harddisk is not available yet), you can hear that he's very happy and excited while replying to Sola TS's call. After the crash, they said they'd hit "an object". They didn't even know that they'd been hit by Sola TS. Whatever they were doing, they must have been very committed to it. Not for a few seconds, but for several minutes. Some kind of frigate equivalent to the 5 mile-high club? It would explain the strange radio communication and apparent blindness. I've seen jokes being made in Norway about blondes on the bridge holding the navigation charts upsidedown, but I don't think she was responsible for the crash. Maybe she somehow caused it indirectly, but I guess it was not her fault. We'll see (maybe).

Another Collision

KNM Olav Tryggvason had just finnished guard duty by the wreck of KNM Helge Ingstad when it collided with a smaller vessel today.


KNM «Olav Tryggvason» involvert i kollisjon (Norwegian)

Marinefartøy kolliderte med fritidsbåt (Norwegian)

It really has to make you wonder if they can't detect and steer clear of a massive oil tanker how do they expect self driving cars and trucks to do it when they are driving 6-10x as fast from many more angles?

Floating Dock Capsizes

Way too many accidents in that area...


Historic floating dock capsizes

November 26, 2018


A large floating dock that was built in 1911 but still in use on Norway’s West Coast suddenly capsized and sank Monday morning. Two workers on the dock landed in the water but were quickly rescued before it sank out of sight.

The dock was located at Ågotnes west of Bergen, right where a naval vessel had sailed after colliding with a small pleasure craft on Sunday. The weather was sunny and clear, and the seas calm, when both accidents occurred.

“We can’t understand how this could happen,” claimed the chief executive of the firm CCB that runs the industrial area in Ågotnes.

Preliminary Report

The commision has released a preliminary report (Norwegian) on the incident. The crew of KNM Helge Ingstad apparently mistook Sola TS for a stationary object. They didn't realize that it was moving. They also believed that they were communicating with one of the other northbound ships. So, it was a misunderstanding. When they realized their mistake, it was too late to avoid a collision. Also, some critical error in the frigate caused water to fill up the watertight compartments, and this led to the loss of the ship. This error is apparently a serious problem for all frigates of this class. They've taken steps, some temporary fix, to avoid taking the other frigates out of service for the time being.

Havarikommisjonen: Fregatten forvekslet tankskipet med terminal (Norwegian)

originally posted by: Hellmutt
They should've been able to see the tanker on the radar.

They should have been able to see the tanker had they looked out of the window and / or heard its horn booming "kom deg ut av jævla veien".

Unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait a long time for the full report.


Early report blames confused watchstanders, possible design flaws for Norway’s sunken frigate

“The AIBN has found safety critical issues relating to the vessel’s watertight compartments,” the report reads. “This must be assumed to also apply to the other four Nansen-class frigates.

“It cannot be excluded that the same applies to vessels of a similar design delivered by Navantia, or that the design concept continues to be used for similar vessel models.

The report found that Ingstad was transiting the channel at about 17 knots well before dawn, faster than one might expect near a busy port at night. It also found that the collision took place about 10-15 minutes after a watch turnover.

The report concludes that Ingstad’s bridge watch team mistook Sola for an object on land, and that Sola’s illuminated deck lights obscured its navigation lights from view. Furthermore, even after the Sola got underway there would have been relatively little motion of Sola’s lights as it moved away from the quay.

In the last six minutes before the collision, Sola contacted Ingstad and instructed it to turn away from its course. Ingstad’s watchstanders thought they were communicating with one of the other ships in the channel, still thinking Sola was a stationary object, and said if they turned, they’d run into the object that turned out to be the rapidly closing tanker.

The US Navy ship at least had an excuse, because they thought the lighthouse was a ship. If you believe that a ship is a lighthouse and the "lighthouse" request you to change course, what do you do?

Lighthouse and naval vessel urban legend


The preliminary report says the frigate didn't alter course to starboard, but it does not say whether or not it altered its course to port, which would've been a big no-no. The report says the deck lights on the tanker was on, and this seems to have tricked the crew on the frigate, but it didn't say whether these lights were swithed off before the collision. If the deck lights was such an an important factor in this accident, the report should've included the status on the lights at impact. It also didn't consider that the supporting tug had its own lights and lanterns. This information should've been more clear in this preliminary report. In this way, the report seems to put some of the blame on the tanker somehow. But it seems pretty obvious to us that the frigate was probably going too fast and made some wrong moves. Also, ships have had their deck lights on while moving near this terminal for 30 years. It's not unusual at all.


Havarikommisjonen driver tåkelegging (Norwegian)

Salvage Operation

They are ready to lift KNM Helge Ingstad, but the weather Gods are not ready yet. A six day weather window is required, and it may not happen until April...


KNM Helge Ingstad is now Ready to be Lifted … BUT the Salvage Teams are Waiting on Weather (12 Feb 2019)

KNM «Helge Ingstad» kan bli liggende til etter påske (Norwegian - 9 hours ago)

It will be cheaper to build a new frigate.


'Cheaper to Buy a New One': Norway Discovers Sunken Frigate's True Repair Costs

Repairing the frigate KNM Helge Ingstad will cost over NOK 12 billion ($1.37 billion), which is three times as much as its original cost, the newspaper Bergens Tidende reported.


""The cost of repairing the frigate will exceed NOK 12 billion. Building a new one will be cheaper", the damage assessment to be presented on Wednesday said."

Report: Cost to Repair Wrecked Norwegian Frigate Exceeds $1.4B

The salvage of the Ingstad has already cost the Norwegian government over $80 million, and documents from Forsvaret's Defense Materials division given to Bergens Tidende show that "the cost of repairing the frigate will be more than [$1.4 billion]."

The owner of the tanker has agreed to pay 235 000 000 NOK, so there will be no trial. There was supposed to be a trial next month regarding compensasion for the loss of the frigate.


Staten inngår forlik i søksmål om fregatten Helge Ingstad (norwegian)

"HELGE INGSTAD REPORT ENGLISH 2021"

someone cut the brake lines.

After hearing the minutes leading up to the point of impact in the radio log (and also hearing it while it's been synced with the radar image), I really can't understand WHY the owner of the tanker would have to pay anything at all! But since it was apparently settled out of court, I guess we'll never know.

There's a short clip from an onboard camera showing the collision in this video. When this collision happened, Russia was jamming GPS signals in northern Norway where there was a military exercise. Could they have jammed GPS and caused this collision too? I still don't understand how this could happen.