Nervous, anxious and a little restless. In the minute before Preben Ottesen (54) was to enter and testify in the trial after the frigate collision in 2018, he alternated between sitting quietly on a chair and walking back and forth in the hallway outside. – I have quite intense exam nerves, he said briefly to news while he waited. Today he works as head of the operations department in the Norwegian Navy. But Ottesen was the ship’s commander and trained responsibly on KNM “Helge Ingstad” before it collided and sank in 2018. He himself was asleep when the collision occurred. The collision threw him out of the bunk and onto the door. – I remember I was scared. I realized then and there that it was insanely serious, Ottesen told the court. – Everything is my responsibility Now it is the 33-year-old watch commander who alone is being prosecuted for causing the collision with “Sola TS” and thus endangering many human lives. – I just want this to be said loud and clear: I am responsible for everything that happens on that boat, said the captain in the direction of the judges in the courtroom. It happened after two hours during which state prosecutor Magne Kvamme Sylta had asked several questions. Question about who was responsible for “one and the other” on the ship. – If someone spills diesel on the fjord, if the chef cuts his finger, or if we sail on a tanker. It is my responsibility. – If I’m being completely honest, I’m struggling to accept that it’s the warden who’s sitting there (on the prosecution bench, journalist’s note) and I’m sitting here in the witness box. SOV: Captain Preben Ottesen on his way into the courtroom. He was sleeping in his cabin when the collision occurred, but was suddenly awakened by the collision. Photo: Jon Bolstad / news Rejects press The state prosecutors believe the individual decisions of the warden caused the collision. The defenders point to system failures, including in the Navy where they believe young watch commanders were cleared too quickly. It was Ottesen who cleared the accused warden in March 2018, some eight months before the collision. – I found him to be capable. He was a good guy who I trusted a lot. I wouldn’t be able to sleep on a frigate if I didn’t trust the watch commander I had trusted to sail my ship, the 54-year-old told the court. He went on to argue that those who graduate from the Naval Academy these days are far more skilled than those who graduated in the 1990s, when he started in the Navy. Earlier in the court case, the accused warden explained that there was pressure to be approved as warden. In his case within a year, because the navigators on the frigate were to go ashore to be trained as warfare officers. Thus, the frigate needed new commanders of the watch. – There was no pressure. I don’t know myself in that, said the captain. He also specified that it was “tough and difficult” to be approved as a guard. “A big lump” on the radar The accused watch commander has explained in court that he thought the tanker was something lying at rest on land. He shared his mistaken understanding of the situation with several others on the bridge. They have explained that the strong deck lights on the tanker made it difficult to see that it was a vessel in motion. Light mixes with “industrial light” at Stureterminalen. When the prosecutor grilled the defendant about why he didn’t look at the radar when the calls started to come on the radio, the warden replied that “there was a lot I could have done differently”. – What can be done to compensate for strong background light, to ensure safe navigation?, asked the prosecutor in the direction of the ship’s commander today. – After all, the radar is the simplest and safest aid we have. And then you could see that a large lump had left the quay. The tanker had shown up as a huge blob on the radar, replied the ship’s commander. COLLIDES: Tanker “Sola TS”. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness About the sailing route to the tanker: – Håreisande The defenders and the defendant have pointed to a system failure at Fedje maritime traffic centre, which monitors the traffic, and on the tanker “Sola TS”. Several people made mistakes that led to the collision that night, they believe. Ottesen also chose to attack the fact that the tanker took the port side out of the Sture terminal. Normally, the traffic on the starboard side goes both north and south in the fjords, as in car traffic. But at Stureterminalen, the maritime traffic center has a rule that tankers must go port side in line. – I have been told that afterwards. It’s hair-raising if it’s a norm, because I didn’t know about it. Neither did other captains I asked know about it. It is not on the map, said Ottesen. Graphics: Norwegian Accident Investigation Board About Fedje VTS: – What’s the point? Then he had also just sent a jab in the direction of Fedje sea traffic centre. They forgot that KNM “Helge Ingstad” had reported to the fjord a few hours before. Therefore, “Sola TS” did not get an answer right away when they asked on the radio who was against them. – Hjeltefjorden is a wide and clear fjord. In addition, it is, or should appear to be in any case, monitored by Fedje VTS, said Ottesen. Later, he directed even harder shots at the efforts of the traffic operator at Fedje that night. – When we report to them, I take it for granted that the maritime traffic center plots my radar echo and follows it all the way through the area. – If the navigators in the Hjeltefjord can’t expect more support from the maritime traffic center than they gave that night, I don’t understand what’s the point of having such a center there at all, said Ottesen.
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– Everything that happens on the boat is my responsibility, says ship commander Preben Ottesen – news Vestland
