The Norwegian Navy is facing heavy criticism after State Prosecutors blamed the 2018 collision and sinking of the frigate Helge Ingstad on an inexperienced young man left in charge on the bridge.
They want the local court in Bergen to sentence the man to a 120-day suspended sentence.
Prosecutor, Magne Kvamme Sylta claimed in court that it was correct to enforce personal punitive responsibility for the loss of one of Norway’s five frigates.
The Duty Chief Officer aboard Helge Ingstad, sailing back to Bergen after major NATO exercises in the autumn of 2018, failed to follow his radar screen and see that a large tanker was approaching the frigate on its starboard side.
The fully-laden tanker, which couldn’t stop, and the frigate collided in the dark early morning hours – the frigate later sank after all on board were evacuated.
The prosecutors’ demand for a 120-day suspended jail term plus two years on probation was made as a two-month court case into the collision was wrapping up.
The now-33-year-old Duty Chief Officer has been charged with negligence but denies punitive responsibility for the collision.
At the time, senior naval officers and Norway’s Minister of Defence shielded those on board the frigate and stressed how no one was hurt or killed.
Now critics maintain the Duty Chief Officer shouldn’t bear the entire blame for the collision.
One former naval officer responsible for ensuring navigators’ competence told journalists the officer should never have been cleared for his post.
Retired officer, Cato Rasmussen said he’d never heard of a Duty Chief Officer with so little experience being put in control of the frigate.
Chief of the Norwegian Navy, Rune Andersen said routines had been changed after the collision and the Navy was working on several areas in need of improvement.
Oslo, 11 March 2023
