The Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (Forsvarsmateriell) signed a contract with Norscrap West on 11 January to scrap the Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad (F313). The company will scrap the frigate at its facility at Hanøytangen by the end of the year. The FMA said the vessel will be scrapped in Norway by a domestic company to protect the ship’s secrets, with agency technical experts overseeing the work in accordance with Norway’s Security Act. The agency valued the contract at approximately NOK60 million (nearly USD7 million), with sales of the metal recovered expected to reduce the cost by several million kroner.
On 8 November 2018, while returning from a NATO exercise, she was navigating inshore waters north of Bergen at speeds of up to 17.4 knots (32.2 km/h; 20.0 mph). Starting from around 03:40 there was a watch handover on board Helge Ingstad, during which three oncoming vessels were noted. After radio communication was established, and upon being asked to alter course to starboard, to avoid the 250-metre (820 ft), 112,939 t, Maltese-flagged oil tanker Sola TS, escorted by VSP Tenax, which had just left its berth, Helge Ingstad believed the vessel calling them to be one of the oncoming vessels they were tracking on radar.
On 29 November 2018 the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) published their preliminary accident report together with two interim safety recommendations. It recommended that the Norwegian military authorities investigate the findings of the preliminary report with a view to implementing any necessary safety measures, and that the shipbuilder Navantia investigate relevant aspects of the design of the frigate and whether other ships might be similarly affected. On 14 May 2019 it was reported the cost of repairing Helge Ingstad would exceed US$1.4 billion, according to the Forsvaret, nearly three times the original cost to build her.
