HNoMS Kvikk (P984)

HNoMS Kvikk (P984) was a Royal Norwegian Navy fast patrol boat (FPB) of the Snøgg class which was built in 1970, taken out of service in 1994 and scrapped in 1996. The boat gained a lot of media attention inn the so called Kvikk case, due to the fact that an abnormally high number of the children of the men who had served on the boat were born with club foot and other congenital disorders of which the cause has not yet been established.

EW vessel
In 1987, the Kvikk was equipped as an electronic warfare (EW) vessel. Among other equipment, she received an extra RF transmitter aft rated at 750 watts and a powerful radar, which was actively used in exercises and tests. Because of this, the crew was exposed to heavy electromagnetic radiation. Her service as an EW vessel ended in December 1994.

Reconstruction
In 1996, only nine days after the strong link between the men serving on the boat and birth defects among their children got known by the media, Kvikk was scrapped. Therefore it was decided in 1997 to rebuild a sister ship with the same electronic equipment in order to find out if there was a link with the use of the equipment. The tests carried out by the RNoN in collaboration with scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) were inconclusive, and no direct link was found. However, the investigation of the case was set to continue until 2006, and the RNoN is working on new guidelines for radiation aboard their vessels.