Last week, the guided-missile frigate Helge Ingstad somehow collided with a civilian oil tanker called Sola TS. The Norwegian frigate’s captain, realizing the dire situation, made the desperate decision to run the ship onto the rocky Norwegian coastline. Several crew members were injured, none seriously, though the stern of the ship was almost completely submerged.
The Norwegian warship was repeatedly warned of its collision course with a Maltese oil tanker before then hitting it in a fjord, the BBC has been told.
"The tanker, which was heading northbound, contacted the frigate, heading southbound, to ask if they had a plan to safely pass them as they seemed to be on a collision course," Kjetil Stormark, the editor of AldriMer.no told the BBC.
Citing what he called key sources, he said: "The response was: 'We have everything under control.'"
The bizarre maritime mishap is headed for an unhappy ending. The Norwegian Navy warship is almost completely underwater and may not see active duty ever again.
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