Ten days after it was announced that the logistics ship KNM Maud was moored in England with technical problems, the ship must be in good enough condition to resume its mission for NATO’s standing maritime force, SNMG1.

– After a period of technical improvements and testing, KNM Maud has now set its sights on reunification with NATO’s maritime force, reports the army in a Press release.

Necessary interruption

‘Maud’ left Haakonsvern in early September, but on 1 November it emerged that the ship had had to cancel the mission and was docked in Portsmouth.

According to the armed forces, this was due to an instability of the ship’s technical system IPMS (Integrated Platform Management System), which facilitates the automation, control and monitoring of the ship’s equipment.

– The shutdown was necessary for safe operation. The crew, defense materiel and British supplier IPMS have worked intensively for a few weeks, and we now have sufficient basis for the safe operation of the vessel and therefore resume operation, said Flag Commander Trond Gimmingsrud, Commanding Officer of the navy, in the press release.

He also indicates that there are still improvements to the system that the FMA will follow, but that work can be done later.

Fuel reserve

KNM Maud’s role in SNMG1 is as a so-called “fleet oiler” – to supply the Canadian frigate HMCS Fredericton, the Dutch frigate Zr.Ms. Van Amstel and the Portuguese frigate NRP Corte-Real with fuel.

The ship, which according to the contract should have been delivered more than five years ago, experienced a very problematic commissioning.

In February of this year, however, an important milestone was achieved when the ship conducted a so-called RAS operation for the first time as part of the TG-21-1 exercise, called “Replenishment at Sea”, that is i.e. re-supply on the high seas under speed.

Originally the plan was for the final step towards clearing operations to take place by conducting what is known as “Fleet Operational Sea Training” (FOST) at the UK Royal Navy this Spring/Summer, but there was no time for that.

Instead, a safety muster was carried out under its own auspices, by the Navy Weapons School KNM Tordenskjold, Teknisk Ukeblad was advised by the Navy in September.