The Spanish Navy is attributed to a human error the sinking of the frigate norway

The collision between a tanker and frigate norway Helde Ingstad last November 8, to the west of the nordic country was the result of “human error”, according to an internal report of the Spanish Armada.

This document advance by Abc, contradicts to the Commission Norway Accident Investigation (AIBN), which in its preliminary findings blamed the last Thursday of the sinking of the warship fault “safety critical” in the design of the shipyard public Spanish Navantia.

While the commission norway spent tip-toeing on the causes of the incident, limiting itself to pointing out that “it was not caused by an isolated act, but rather by a complex array of factors that interacted with each other”, and suggesting that the frigate might confuse the lights of the tanker with the loading dock, the note of the Spanish Armada details, with the information available, a series of alleged violations of the navigation rules.

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Norway blames Navantia for the sinking of a frigate by a failure "critical" design A frigate norway hunbde after returning from a few exercises of NATO

he Explains that the frigate sailed “to a very high velocity” (or 17.4 knots), despite travel through the interior of a fjord; it was not turned on AIS (identification of ships); disregard the appeals of the tanker to go to starboard (right), as when two vessels are located in the front; he did not use the emergency stopping (crash-stop) and maneuvered too late to avoid the collision.

The excess of confidence Vdcasino and relaxation “could have a negative impact” on decisions that took the crew of the frigate, “which was returning after almost a month of maneuvering” and it was already close to its base, explains the note of the Navy.

the central point of The report is concerned, however, the alleged lack of water-tightness of the frigate built by Navantia, which, according to the commission, Norwegian research, caused the flooding is spreading further than expected, causing them to collapse.

THE ACCIDENT

Source: the Spanish Armada. THE COUNTRY

According to the commission, norway, the open crack by the collision with the tanker caused the flooding of three of the 13 compartments of the frigate, but later it was noticed that the water was coming in through the gap of the blades, flooding in a fourth compartment, and forcing you to evacuate the ship. The extension of the flood through the interior of the vessel is due to his “lack of tightness”.

however, from the analysis of the images of the frigate, the Spanish Armada notes that the visible crack is 18.2 meters (15% of the length), with three compartments flooded. But he adds that probably under the floating line was affected by a fourth compartment, and up to a fifth, due to another crack, which would explain the presence of aviation fuel in the sea.

The design requirements for a boat of these features force you to keep afloat with a crack of up to 15% of the length, so that only the visible damage was on the limit of what is tolerated. “On the basis of the behavior of the frigate after the collision, it concludes that this meets the criteria of survival [...] as the dimensions of damage exceed the limits required in their construction and even their 134 crew members could be rescued,” he says. “Any vessel of similar characteristics would be unable to control the flood.”

The report leaves the question of whether the commander of the frigate applied before entering the fjord the procedure Zebra, which reinforces the sealing of all compartments below the waterline.