couple of comments that have come from the chief of the Navy:
The time after KNM "Helge Ingstad" is raised will be decisive for whether it can ever sail again
thes faster they can prevent corrosion... these better. but so long it isn't in contact with air... but still it have been under water 2 months.... and with the storm we had this christmas, wonder what damage she received during that storm.
The goal now is to carry out the raising in January. However, if the vessel can ever sail for its own machine again, it is highly uncertain.
But the longer the frigate is under water, the greater the damage, says Rear Admiral Nils Andreas Stensønes, chief of the Navy.
He says that the most critical phase of saving the vessel will be after the frigate is raised from the seabed.
- When it is raised and air and oxygen are added, there will be strong corrosion. We have made a plan to reduce the damage as much as possible. Anyway, we are talking about years before the vessel is in operation again, if it is at all possible to save it, he says.
Electronics are gone, except those electronics that are designed for that... but 2 months! But I think he is talking about metal here... i hope. How want to use missiles and cannons that have been under water?
The re-admiral says Norway is more vulnerable after losing one of a total of five frigates.
There is always one in for service. If we come in an emergency situation where we had needed all four frigates and now we only have three. We are trying to shorten maintenance periods so that we have the four frigates available to a greater extent than we have had before, he says.
Shorter maintenance and hugh workload on 3+1 frigates... hm. yeah, what happened in USA when they started to save in on there service back then.... if I remember correct.
If they have success on corrosion protection, my bet she will be rebuild within 3 years and on it's way to USA to have it's weapons systems tested, but after such rebuild she would probably be a totally different vessel compared to here sisters and set the standard for here sisters MLU.
or:
If they fail on the corrosion protection, I think the last 4 frigates will be pushed to there limits and eventually replaced earlier than planed, so insted for between 2030-2040 with a +-30 year service, I bet some of them will show some "problems" after +-15/20 year service.
But at the moment it looks like it goes...... "that way!"