HNoMS Helge Ingstad (F313)

HNoMS Helge Ingstad is a of the Royal Norwegian Navy. On 8 November 2018, the tanker MT Sola TS collided with the frigate in Norwegian waters. Helge Ingstad was severely damaged in the collision and beached. On 13 November, the ship sank where she had run aground and is in all probability a constructive total loss.

Construction and commissioning
Built by the Spanish shipbuilders Navantia in Ferrol, Spain, Helge Ingstad was the fourth of the Fridtjof Nansen class to be launched and then commissioned into the Royal Norwegian Navy.

Service
From December 2013 to May 2014, Helge Ingstad was one of the escort ships for merchant vessels carrying chemical weapons from Syria to be destroyed.

Collision with oil tanker
On 8 November 2018, while returning from a NATO exercise, she was navigating inshore waters north of Bergen at speeds of up to 17.4 kn. Starting from around 0340 there was a watch handover on board the Helge Ingstad, during which three oncoming vessels were noted. After radio communication was established, and upon being asked to alter course to starboard, to avoid the 250 m, 112,939 t, Maltese-flagged oil tanker Sola TS, escorted by VSP Tenax, which had just left its berth, the Helge Ingstad believed the vessel calling them to be one of the oncoming vessels they were tracking on radar. Believing the tanker, slow moving and with its bright deck lights obscuring its navigation lights, to be part of the shore installation, the frigate intended passing it before altering course moving near her starboard channel margin. By the time they realised their error[citation needed] they were within 400m of Sola TS and it was too late to avoid a collision. Preben Ottesen, the ship's Commanding Officer, stated that he was asleep in his cabin when the collision happened, and was in fact woken by the collision, which caused severe damage to the Helge Ingstad, which lost control of engine and steering[citation needed], with a huge breach along her side from starboard torpedo launchers to the stern, and grounded while the crew were deploying the starboard RHIB, 2 rescue nets and 4 liferafts, and wearing their survival suits for evacuation. The vessel continued to take on water, through the propeller shaft[citation needed] and stuffing boxes Seven sailors were injured in the incident. The tug Ajax was required to assist pushing the stern to ground the frigate in shallow waters. All available boats were required. By late morning she had developed a severe list to starboard with most of the stern submerged. After several efforts and grounding works, in the early hours of 13 November, the vessel sank with only smaller sections of the superstructure remaining above water. The (alleged) failure of the vessel’s watertight integrity led to an immediate safety alert to designers Navantia, calling on them to advise operators of similar vessels on any necessary measures to address safety. Poor weather hampered salvage operations through December 2018; with the planned date to raise the ship being delayed until late January 2019.

Following the frigate's sinking a local fish farming company which had had to move fish from the area due to the release of diesel oil claimed one million kroner (116,000 U.S. dollars) in damages.

This is the first incident of such scale in the Royal Norwegian Navy since 1994, when HNOMS Oslo (F300) was lost after it ran aground.

Investigations
An investigation was immediately commenced by the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) jointly with the Defence Accident Investigation Board Norway (DAIBN) and with involvement of the Marine Safety Investigation Unit of Malta. On 29 November 2018 the AIBN published their preliminary accident report together with two interim safety recommendations. It recommended that the Norwegian military authorities investigate the findings of the preliminary report with a view to implementing any necessary safety measures, and that the shipbuilder Navantia investigate relevant aspects of the design of the frigate and whether other ships might be similarly affected.