Norway battle frigate sunk by Malta oil tanker

[kamnet]

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/17/euro ... index.html

A maritime blunder then a ruinous rescue attempt has left a multi-million dollar warship under NATO command almost entirely submerged in a Norwegian fjord.

A large hole was torn into the side of KNM Helge Ingstad when it collided with a Malta-registered oil tanker, Sola TS, in the early hours of November 8.

The frigate, one of five in the Scandinavian country's navy, had been moving around inner fjords in western Norway for navigation training before it collided with the 250-meter long tanker (820 ft) that was sailing out of an oil terminal.

While military crew reportedly drove the vessel up on underwater rocks in order to prevent it from sinking, the tanker emerged relatively unscathed.

But efforts to move the 5,500-ton warship to a safe place went catastrophically wrong this week after cables attached to hold it in place snapped.

Now all that remains above the waterline is the frigate's top, antennas and radar, leading local media to speculate how a ship designed for war failed to avoid a slow moving 150,000-ton tanker.

Norway's military has remained tight lipped about the situation, which injured eight of the 137 people on board. Navy communications officer Torill Herland told CNN that whatever occurred during the accident near Bergen is now "police work."

A joint Norwegian and Maltese investigation is now also underway to try and determine the cause.

[Chrill]

I may have misread it, but wasn't the Norwegian frigate not insured? Oopsie.

[kamnet]

Would a military warship normally be covered by a commercial insurance policy?

[piratescooby]

Good question , just out of curiosity had a look online came up with this , "War risks: General hull insurance does not cover the risks of a vessel sailing into a war zone. A typical example is the risk to a tanker sailing in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War. The war risks areas are established by the London-based Joint War Committee, which has recently (when?) moved to include the Malacca Straits as a war risks area due to piracy. If an attack is classified as a "riot" then it would be covered by war-risk insurers. " Of which raised another question , If a Civilian found him/herself on a Warship and became a casualty on said ship would their Life Insurance be valid .

[EXTspotter]

I’d be surprised if it was possible to insure a warship commercially because the inherent risk of damage is much higher than your average civil ship of a similar size; plus given the fact that a nation state government will likely have deeper pockets than a commercial enterprise, it may be cheaper to not insure them but have an agreement whereby the government will pay to fix/rebuild/replace a piece of military hardware if required and pay out if it caused the damage to someone else’s property.

[YNM]

I think it's possible to insure them if an insurance company wills to, probably a nationally owned one.

I'm more surprised on the collision however. Like, I mean, is a tanker that difficult to see ? Maybe we can rely on one for spying then