HNoMS Helge Ingstad

## HNoMS Helge Ingstad (F313)

HNoMS Helge Ingstad

**HNoMS *Helge Ingstad*** was a *Fridtjof Nansen*-class frigate of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The vessel was ordered on 23 June 2000 and constructed by Navantia in Spain. The ship was launched on 23 November 2007 and commissioned on 29 November 2009. Named for Helge Ingstad, a Norwegian explorer, the *Fridtjof Nansen* class are capable of anti-air, anti-submarine and surface warfare. On 8 November 2018, HNoMS *Helge Ingstad* was in collision with the tanker *Sola TS* in Norwegian waters just outside Sture Terminal. *Helge Ingstad* was severely damaged in the collision and ran aground. On 13 November 2018, the ship sank where she had run aground and became a constructive total loss.

She was raised in a salvage operation from 27 February 2019 to 3 March 2019. In June 2019 after it was deemed uneconomical to repair her, it was decided that she would be scrapped.

### Service

The ship was ordered for construction on 23 June 2000 by Norway and built by the Spanish shipbuilders Navantia at Ferrol, Spain. The vessel was the fourth of the *Fridtjof Nansen* class to be constructed, and was laid down on 28 April 2006. Construction had been delayed by disputes over quality control. The frigate was launched on 23 November 2007 and named for the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad. *Helge Ingstad* was commissioned in the Royal Norwegian Navy on 29 September 2009.

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. In August 2017, she joined Exercise Saxon Warrior off the coast of Scotland, escorting the aircraft carriers HMS *Queen Elizabeth* of the Royal Navy and USS *George H. W. Bush* of the United States Navy.

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 knots (32.2 km/h; 20.0 mph). Starting from around 03:40 there was a watch handover on board *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-metre (820 ft), 112,939 t, Maltese-flagged oil tanker *Sola TS*, escorted by VSP *Tenax*, which had just left its berth, *Helge Ingstad* believed the vessel calling them to be one of the oncoming vessels they were tracking on radar. Assuming the tanker, slow moving and with its bright deck lights obscuring its navigation lights, to be part of the shore installation, the frigate intended to pass it before altering course moving near her starboard channel margin. By the time they realised their error they were within 400 metres (440 yd) of *Sola TS* and it was too late to avoid a collision. Preben Østheim, the ship's commanding officer, stated that he was asleep in his cabin when the collision happened, and was in fact awakened by the collision.

The collision caused severe damage to *Helge Ingstad*, which lost control of engine and steering, with a large breach along her side from the starboard torpedo launchers to the stern. The vessel grounded and continued to take on water, through the propeller shaft and stuffing boxes. Seven sailors were injured in the incident. By late morning she had developed a severe list to starboard with most of the stern submerged. Inadequate damage control efforts like leaving open water tight doors led to the vessel sinking in the early hours of 13 November, with only small sections of the superstructure remaining above water. A possible design flaw at Navantia was dismissed, as the accident report points to a succession of human failures. This is the first incident of such scale in the Royal Norwegian Navy since 1994, when HNoMS *Oslo* was lost after it ran aground.

Norwegian defence department's report found that 53 of 88 rules and "barriers" meant to avoid collisons were violated by the *Helge Ingstad* in this case. In addition, they found that the crew on the bridge had little experience.

Unlike *Helge Ingstad*, *Sola TS* only suffered minor damages in its front and was never in danger of sinking. She was able to continue to her destination after the incident. The tanker subsequently sailed to a shipyard in Gdańsk for repairs and was back in regular service by late December 2018.

Following the frigate's sinking, a local fish farming company, which had had to move fish from the area due to spill of diesel oil from the vessel, claimed one million kroner (US$ 116,000) in damages from the Ministry of Defence.

### Salvaging and Scrapping

After the Helge Ingstad was evacuated, other vessels were used to prevent it from slipping back into the water. By 9 November 2018 thick cable wires were used to anchor the hull to the shore to prevent it from sinking into the water.

Subsequently on 13 November 2018 Rear Admiral Nils Andreas Stensoenes, head of Norway's navy announced that the wires had snapped overnight. Apart from the main mast most of the ship was under water.

The Norwegian Navy inspected *Helge Ingstad*; the Norwegian Blueye Pioneer underwater drone was used. Poor weather hampered salvage operations through December 2018; with the planned date to raise the ship being delayed until late January 2019.

The lifting operation began on 26 February 2019. On 27 February 2019, due to weather concerns, the partially raised ship was moved to a location which is better protected from the elements, where further salvage work took place. The ship and the two heavy lift vessels (*Rambiz* and *Gulliver*) reached the Semco Maritime yard at Hanøytangen on 28 February 2019. Boarding parties consisting of some 300 people, including around 100 members of *Helge Ingstad*'s original crew, assisted in pumping out the remaining water so that the ship could be placed on a barge and fully salvaged. *Helge Ingstad* was successfully placed on *Boa barge 33* on 2 March 2019 and arrived at the Haakonsvern naval base on 3 March 2019, for removal of spare parts and sensitive equipment.

On 14 May 2019 it was reported the cost of repairing *Helge Ingstad* would exceed US$1.4 billion, according to the Norwegian Armed Forces, implying that it would be nearly three times cheaper to build a new ship. However, restarting production for just one ship could result in a disproportionally high per-ship cost. In January 2021, the Norwegian government signed a 60 million kr (almost $7 million) contract with Norscrap West for the ship's scrapping. The scrapping process was used to learn how to scrap the other *Fridtjof Nansen*-class vessels in the future.