I believe this is a screen shot of what the VTS was seeing.
I wonder what the radar screen on the Helga Ingstad looked like? They may have been getting some side-lobes off the two ships, the Sola dead ahead and the ship at the same range on the stbd side of the Sola. It’s possible the watch on the frigate confused side-lobe returns with actual returns from the ships.
If you use the ARPA, the calculation will be made from the centroid of the largest echo. If you use the AIS, you will get two distinct identification signals going quite in the same direction and speed, as the tug was most probably fast and being pulled by the tanker to save fuel. Side lobes normally appear from a target abreast.
The tug was made fast aft as he should be. He is there to assist in stopping the tanker in an emergency, or to help steering it in case of lost steerage, not to save fuel.
The ship to stbd of the Sola looks like the Silver Firda (?), I think the tug was aft.
APRA has a lot of limitations, target swapping for one, side-lobes will be seen with any target with a good return, most often abeam but not necessarily.
Anyway I don’t know what happened on the frigate, I just putting stuff out there, the assumption that bridge watch on the Helga Ingstad at the time saw the same as what we are seeing now may not be correct, in general.
When a made fast tug is not pulling to assist in stopping or turning, he just sits there being pulled free and save fuel ! 
I understood him to be saying that the tug was saving its own fuel by allowing the tanker to tow it.
That’s a very good question ! 
I wasn’t clear. My point is that “pass on stbd” (assuming that the translation to English was correct) means nothing to me. I don’t know if that means “pass towards Helga Instad’s starboard” (i.e., port-to-port) or pass on Sola’s starboard (i.e., stbd-to-stbd). A stbd-to-stbd passing in this scenario would have been extremely risky, but since the frigate was hit on the stbd side, it is possible that they were striving to achieve this.
So if I am having trouble deducing the navigator’s desired passing arrangement, isn’t it possible that those taking orders on the bridge of the frigate were just as confused?
I was also confused by this and wonder if it is an error in translation. Was the VTS clear in what it was recommending? Something on the order of “you must alter your course to starboard now!”? Take it on starboard is too ambiguous to me, but then again, turning to port in damn near any close quarters situation is never on my game plan.
There were no emergency until the collision, so of course the tug was not pulling, but with the engines running and ready. Whether the tug did anything during the actual event I don’t know, but the Pilot did call him to make sure there were communication and after the collision VTS asked him to arrange for the other tugs at Sture terminal to go to the assistance of HI. (By that time it was already under way)
Whether he was following on a slack line or being towed is immaterial for the event in any case. He played no active part and was probably not visible to the HI, by eyes or on radar.
It seems that the Helga Ingstad did not want to alter to stbd, they might have been seeing something that made them believe they should not alter to stbd.
It’s also possible that Helga Ingstad believed that VTS was asking them to alter to stbd for the Silver Fira which they in fact could see there was sufficient room.
I thought Helga Ingstad did respond on VHF by saying something like- “Everything is under control”.
If, as you say, VTS received no response from Helga Ingstad while the collision was imminent, the VTS would have considered the situation a navigational urgency and issued a stern warning to that vessel, following up immediately with a PANPAN PANPAN PANPAN radiotelephony call to warn ships and other agencies of the developing situation. VTS would not sit idle while the two ships headed for a possible head-on collision, one of them being non-responsive to VTS warnings. To all those who understand maritime situations, it is a dire emergency not only for those two ships but the fact that one of them was a loaded supertanker should ring all the alarm bells on every monitoring system in the region. I am pretty sure the VTS would have pressed every red-button in their playbook to avert the Exxon Valdez type environmental catastrophe. We only need to consider the potential consequences of the tanker’s hull being breached in the collision, allowing thousands of tons of its cargo to spill into the pristine waters of Norwegian fjords.
There were two ships overtaking the Sola TS on her Stbd. side, the Silver Firda and Vestbris. The last one was still behind and had to take a drastic turn to port when the Sola TS suddenly turned to Stbd. and into his path.
The Russian Mate on Vestbris did not understand the conversation between Fedje VTS and Sola TS and was totally unaware of the presents of the HI coming against him. (According to news reports)
But none of this occurred. The transcript has been released by VTS and an English version has appeared:
0:08 — Sola TS: Fedje VTS, this is Sola TS.
0:15 — Fedje VTS: Listening, Sola TS.
0:19 —Sola TS: I didn’t get the name, do you know which boat is coming here?
0:25 — Sola TS: I have it on port side.
0:37 — Fedje VTS: No, it’s eh… I’ve not received any information about it.
0:43 — Fedje VTS: This wasn’t reported to me.
0:45 —Sola TS: I just see it on the screen here.
0:50 — Fedje VTS: No information about it.
0:56 — Sola TS: No? OK.
0:58 — Fedje VTS: No.
1:45 — Fedje VTS: Sola this is VTS.
1:53— Fedje VTS: It’s possible that it’s Helge Ingstad.
1:53 — Fedje VTS: He came in from the north for a while ago. It’s possible that it’s coming here.
2:00 — Sola TS: Helge Ingstad, do you hear, this is Sola TS?
2:06 — Helge Ingstad: Helge Ingstad.
2:09 — Sola TS: Are you coming here now?
2:11 — Helge Ingstad: Yes, that’s right.
2:14 — Sola TS: Take starboard now! [Turn right in maritime jargon.]
2:17 — Helge Ingstad: Than we go to the nearest blocks. [Shore, reef? Here in the VG video the subtitle says “Da går vi for nærme blokkene” some other sources report it as “Da går vi for nærme båkene” båkene meaning boats, it doesn’t change the substance tough, as Helge Ingstad perceives a near obstacle on its starboard side.]
2:21—Sola TS: Turn starboard, if you’re coming.
2:34 — Helge Ingstad: I turn a few degrees starboard we’ll pass eh…
2:38 — Helge Ingstad: …pass on starboard.
2:50 — Sola TS: Helge Ingstad, you have to do something. You are getting very close.
3:05 — Sola TS: Helge Ingstad. Turn!
3:10 —Sola TS: There will be collision here then.
The frigate altered slightly to port, as if to avoid some perceived danger to stbd. False radar echos or something along the lines of a miss-aligned heading marker. Along with missed visual cues.
[quote=“ombugge, post:124, topic:49684”]
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1 whistle, Two whistles ? Slow bell ?
Clear as mud
Thank you for your input.
It makes me wonder what value the VTS is adding to the management and safety of Maritime traffic in that region. From the transcript of the communication, the VTS operator seems helpless (and somewhat clueless) as to what options are available to him to prevent or mitigate the disaster unfolding on his monitor. It also makes me wonder what should a VTS do to avert a situation like this?
Maybe someday in the near future, a phone app may be available as a better option than having an expensive VTS that does nothing meaningful to help in a situation like this. It’s just the way I feel.
Where did you study physics?
They never mentioned Archimedes, should have Taken a class in Greek philosophy
“Eureka”
