The Armed Forces plan with four Frigates

Frigate Collision Tanker FrigatesThe frigate KNM Helge Ingstad takes on water in the Øygarden archipelago outside Bergen. Marius Vågenes Villanger / Armed Forces

The Armed Forces plan with only four Frigates

The Armed Forces must reschedule the sailing program and crew after the Frigate KNM Helge Ingstad collided and, therefore, can not be used for a prolonged period of time, at least. 

 

Due to the collision during the night before Thursday, the number of serviceable Frigates in the Royal Norwegian Navy has been reduced from five to four.

– The Navy will prepare a plan for how we can best utilize the four remaining vessels. We will consider how we can adjust the sailing program in the future and how we can use the crews, writes the Armed Forces in a press release.

The Norwegian Frigates are as follows: KNM Fridtjof Nansen, KNM Roald Amundsen, KNM Otto Sverdrup, KNM Thor Heyerdahl in addition to the wrecked KNM Helge Ingstad.

The Frigates are a cornerstone Norwegian contribution to NATO.

Security zone

The Norwegian Armed Forces have established a security zone around the wreck of the Frigate KNM Helge Ingstad. The zone is to be considered as a military area.

– This implies a ban on movement in an area of 500 metres on land and 1,000 metres at sea in all directions surrounding the wreck, the West Police District writes in a press release.

The military zone was established as a replacement to traffic restrictions imposed by the police in the Øygarden archipelago, where the collision occurred between KNM Helge Ingstad and the oil tanker Sola. Additionally, there is still a no-fly zone in the area.

– The police have pulled all their personnel out of the area in the Øygarden archipelago, and it is the Armed Forces themselves who enforce the restrictions in the military zone, the police states.

The police have, however, nothing to report regarding the investigation of the incident for the time being.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today