What Can I Say.

The first rule, a golden one, of the watch (officer) and, in case of ships of such rank, combat informational center, is this: BE CONSTANTLY AWARE OF THE SITUATION AND ACT ACCORDINGLY. The rest, COLREGS, maneuvering boards, collision avoidance means and protocols, professional knowledge of maneuvering characteristics of own ship, navigation--all that comes after constant maintenance of situational awareness by all: electronic, optronic and other means at the disposal. But all this, becomes irrelevant when you are, well, let the press talk:

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Norwegian Navy frigate was rammed by a tanker while it was docked in a harbor on the country's west coast Thursday, the military said. The crew of 127 was evacuated amid fears the ship will sink. Eight people on the KNM Helge Instad were slightly injured when the accident occurred at 4 a.m. local time in Sture, north of Bergen, the Joint Rescue Coordination Center for southern Norway said. The military said the ship, which had recently taken part in the vast NATO drill Trident Juncture, is taking on water. Eirik Walle, with the rescue center, told Norwegian news agency NTB that the collision caused an opening in the frigate's hull and "it is taking in more water than they can pump out. There is no control over the leak and the stern is heavily in the sea."The Maltese-flagged tanker, Sola TS, was not damaged and its 23-man crew remained on board.

You can see the damage which immediately brings up the issue of: what were they thinking at the bridge of a tanker? Tankers are big, stupid and barely maneuverable. 

At least nobody died in this 5,300 tons of displacement against 120,000. You know, Geo Metro against 18-wheeler semi fully loaded. Here is this Sola TS. She is big.

We'll have to wait for more details coming out soon.    

UPDATE: In related (naval) news. 

Officials: Ronald Reagan LSD probe bigger than you think, 14 nuke sailors snagged

Holy shit! 

Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov

Just an interesting clip which gives a glance into the newest Russian frigate's insides. The video was made by frigate's crew. 

The view of the CICS Sigma 22350 at GKP (Main Command Post) is most interesting, while, by now, most people should have gotten used to the view of launch consoles for Kalibr or Puma directors. So, here it is--new class of Russia's frigates or, which is more appropriate for the old Cold War farts like me, SKRs, aka Escort Ships. 

I don't like baseball caps--nothing personal against baseball caps per se, but Russian/Soviet naval tradition of the most of the 20th century was always pilotka hat, also popular in US Army. Here is one of my favorites of all time (human and military leader), Ike in his pilotka.

       

But then again, traditional naval uniform hats known as gribany (mushrooms) were also "Emercomed", making Russian naval officers look more like the operatives of Sergei Shoigu's former ministry. Well, if it is the price one should pay for getting new classes of highly capable naval ships being procured (plus fairly hefty pay-checks of Russian officers), I guess Russian naval officer corps would agree that this is a small price to pay.  So, here it is.