Thursday, February 28, 2019

Plans Change for the Salvage of Norway's Sunken Frigate, the Helge Ingstad

First up, Marine Executive, Feb. 26, 2019:

Photos: Operation to Raise Norwegian Frigate Underway 
The operation to raise the partially sunken frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad started early morning on Tuesday 26 February. The operation is estimated to take five to six days.

The frigate was involved in a collision with the oil tanker Sola TS just outside the coast northwest of Bergen in western Norway on November 8, 2018.

The operation to raise the ship out of the water has been complex, and it has been postponed several times due to rough weather conditions. In order to raise the frigate safely, wind and waves must be calm for the duration of the operartion. Maximum wave height must not exceed 0.5 meters....MORE
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https://www.maritime-executive.com/media/images/article/Photos/Wreckage_Salvage/helge-ingstad-4.jpeg

And from Views and News From Norway, the headline story, February 27:
After a day of slowly raising the sunken frigate KNM Helge Ingstad out of the Hjelte Fjord, there’s been a change of plan. Fears of rougher seas and weather are prompting salvage crews to now move the wreckage 30 kilometers south to the other side of the fjord, where waters are expected to be calmer.

The frigate is now off the seabed and secured by chains from the heavy-lift ships used to raise it in an operation that finally began this week, nearly four months after the frigate collided with a tanker and sank while returning from NATO exercises.

Swells were too strong, navy officials announced Wednesday morning, to continue the operation at the site of the sinking. The frigate was high enough in the water to start pumping water out of it, and start moving it to a more protected area of the fjord off the south side of Hanøytangen on the island of Askøy....MORE
https://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/fdfe5d28b781218cc16a0eb53a3937d3Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaCwxNTUxMjY0NjU1/2.41447497.jpg?w=640
 Cranes raise the Norwegian navy frigate KNM Helge Ingstad, in a harbor north of Bergen, Norway, on Tuesday. 
The operation has begun to raise a Norwegian frigate that sank last year in a harbor north of Bergen following a collision with an oil tanker. 
(Pool via NTB Scanpix via AP)
Previously:
Nov. 8 
Norway's Equinor Announced They Restarted Operations at the Kollsnes Gas Facility, Britain Will Get Its Methane (and the ship that wouldn't sink)
Nov. 14
Norway Getting Ready to Lift Sinking Frigate
Fortunately, what with the offshore oil platforms and everything, Norway has some experience lifting and moving heavy stuff....

Note the date. That report proved to be a bit optimistic.