Following Submarine Mattersarticle of December 4, 2018 Gorka L Martinez Mezo has made December 8, 2018 comments on the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad sinking. Gorka comments:
"I'm really surprised by the tone of this conversation. I wonder what makes Australian ASC workers, with little practical experience in building ships better than their Spanish [Navantia] comrades working in Ferrol which had quite a bit more experience in shipbuilding. Nor does Australian construction standards differ from Spanish ones as the ships are designed and built under widely used international standards for both civilian and military ships.
On the Norwegian incident, maybe we’re obviating the fact the frigate was hit by a 140.000 ton oiler when doind 17 knots. I wonder how other ships in the same class would have fared.
The crew had left the ships 11 min after the impact, so looks like no major damage control efforts may have been performed.
On the Norwegian imput in the construction phase, all the ships were inspected and certified by the Norwegian navy team detached in Ferrol and the watertightness of the ships was specifically tested as requested by the customers, the ships also being subjected to shock tests. All the tests were passed without any issues and approved by the Norwegian team. The watertightness tests were exhaustive and all the points from the Norwegian team, some in excess of the acepted construction standards, were passed.
The F-100s were also subjected to these same tests when they were being built as were ships built previously like the F-80 frigates built using the FFG-7 design.
As the ship is still underwater, looks like the members of the investigation commission are making some accusations without access to all the evidence.
"I'm really surprised by the tone of this conversation. I wonder what makes Australian ASC workers, with little practical experience in building ships better than their Spanish [Navantia] comrades working in Ferrol which had quite a bit more experience in shipbuilding. Nor does Australian construction standards differ from Spanish ones as the ships are designed and built under widely used international standards for both civilian and military ships.
On the Norwegian incident, maybe we’re obviating the fact the frigate was hit by a 140.000 ton oiler when doind 17 knots. I wonder how other ships in the same class would have fared.
The crew had left the ships 11 min after the impact, so looks like no major damage control efforts may have been performed.
On the Norwegian imput in the construction phase, all the ships were inspected and certified by the Norwegian navy team detached in Ferrol and the watertightness of the ships was specifically tested as requested by the customers, the ships also being subjected to shock tests. All the tests were passed without any issues and approved by the Norwegian team. The watertightness tests were exhaustive and all the points from the Norwegian team, some in excess of the acepted construction standards, were passed.
The F-100s were also subjected to these same tests when they were being built as were ships built previously like the F-80 frigates built using the FFG-7 design.
As the ship is still underwater, looks like the members of the investigation commission are making some accusations without access to all the evidence.
Reading the reports in the Norwegian press, looks like the Norwegian Navy isn’t as keen to finger pointing as the commissioners. "