- The report does not address any safety recommendation to Navantia.
- NSIA concludes that the ship “could have been prevented from sinking, had she been shut down before she was evacuated”
Navantia welcomes the publication of the final part 2 report from the Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) on the collision between the HNoMS Helge Ingstad and the tanker Sola TS in the early hours of November 8th 2018. The report concerns the sequence of events after the collision and the facts that contributed to the grounding and eventually the sinking of HNoMS Helge Ingstad. The part 1 report, concerning the circumstances up until the collision was published in November 2019.
The report includes a total 28 Safety Recommendations to improve safety at sea and none of them is addressed to Navantia. Most recommendations are directed to the Royal Norwegian Navy and the Norwegian Defence Material Agency (NDMA).
NSIA has conducted a thorough and exhaustive investigation to describe what happened after HNoMS Helge Ingstad collided with Sola TS in November 2018 and Navantia commend its professionalism.
The investigation has confirmed that “the collision resulted in a severe damage to the vessel, over and above what she was designed to withstand”. It is further concluded that “the frigate could have been prevented from sinking, had she been shut down before she was evacuated”, and it is stated that “doors, hatches and other openings in the frigate that were supposed to be closed to maintain stability and buoyance, were not closed at the time of evacuation. As a result, watertight integrity and buoyancy were not adequately maintained, so that the ship eventually sank”.
Navantia also welcomes that the report has concluded that the flow of water through the hollow propeller shaft “was not a decisive factor in causing it to sink”. This issue had been previously mentioned in a preliminary report a few weeks after the collision.
Navantia has had a robust collaboration relationship with NSIA during the investigation and has contributed to the investigation with facts, information and results from several analyses. As a world class ship designer and builder, Navantia places on top of its priorities the safety of its ships and of the crews that operate them worldwide. Therefore, Navantia sees the investigation and collaboration with NSIA as an opportunity for constant improvement. Navantia also has a cordial relationship with the Royal Norwegian Navy. HNoMS Helge Ingstad was the fourth of five frigates built by Navantia for the Royal Norwegian Navy between 2006 and 2011.
