In 2021 the Accident Investigation Board – Norway (AIBN) published a detailed report covering the loss of HNoMS Helge Ingstad after she collided with an oil tanker in November 2018. There is much to be learned from this event that is applicable to the RN and global navies. In this in-depth, although far from exhaustive, article we describe the incident and look at some of the key lessons.
The accident in summary
On 8th November 2018, the frigate Helge Ingstad (HING) was heading south down Hjeltefjord returning to her home base at Haakonsvern, near Bergen after participation in NATO exercise Trident Juncture. Just after 0400, HING collided with the bow of the Sola TS, a fully laden 112,939 DWT tanker, heading north having just departed from Sture oil terminal. The bulbous anchor hawse pipe on the tanker’s starboard bow ripped a large gash down the aft starboard side of the frigate. As HING heeled slightly under the impact, the tear in the side was extended sufficiently below the waterline to cause significant flooding.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities but HING suffered a brief total electrical failure after the impact. Power was partially restored but confusion and internal communication problems limited damage the control effort. Having lost steering and engine control, the ship ran aground on rocks about 10 minutes after the collision. Believing the flooding made capsize a likely, the crew abandoned ship in an orderly manner, assisted by tugs and rescue craft. Despite efforts to pin the ship on the rocks by tugs and with steel hawsers, HING progressively flooded sinking until almost entirely submerged.
Some months later, after complex clearance diving operations to remove fuel and live weapons and then secure chains beneath the wreck, HNIG was raised off the sea bed using a heavy lift crane barge. The wreck was eventually placed on a semi-submersible transportation barge and taken to Haakonsvern for further investigations and to remove sensitive material. Temporary patches were applied to the damaged shell plating and the ship was refloated. Unsurprisingly the navy declared the ship a total loss and in Jan 2021 handed her over to be scrapped, a process that is ongoing at the time of writing.
The cost of the accident is estimated at $80m for the salvage, operation, not to mention enormous reputational damage. Building a direct replacement for a ship that ceased production a decade ago is estimated at $1.4 billion and not considered viable. The Norwegian Navy was already overstretched, primarily occupied with monitoring its aggressive neighbour, lost 20% of its frigate force.
Around the world and in Norway particularly, there was considerable shock that this could happen, especially involving a warship operating close to home and in waters monitored by a traffic management system. Some hasty judgements were made by those speculating about the event, with some suggesting the accident “must have been the fault of the tanker crew as a highly trained naval personnel on board a modern warship with sophisticated sensors would be unlikely to make such a mistake.” Some also assumed the subsequent sinking was because: “the ship must have been poorly constructed by the Spanish shipbuilder Navantia as warships are specifically designed to survive damage and flooded compartments”. The investigation has proved neither of these assumptions to be the case.
Map showing the area of the accident on the west coast of Norway (via Google) and timeline of the collision and grounding (via AIBN).
Standing into danger
The root causes of the accident were entirely human error, primarily on the bridge of the warship. It was a clear and calm night and there were no technical problems that contributed to the initial collision.
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