American radar caused damage
SHIPPING: The US Navy acknowledges that radiation damage has been caused on board a Norwegian coastguard vessel during the exercise Northern Eagle in August. During the exercise, the crew aboard the Norwegian coastguard vessel Nordkapp was exposed to harmful radar radiation
"It was a radar on the American vessel that was turned on and personnel on Nordkapp were exposed to radiation damage. All naval vessels have the radar to protect themselves. But there are indications that the radar should not have been turned on, as the vessels approached each other," said Major Ivar Moen from the Norwegian Defence Joint Operational Command to Ingenøren.
Most of the 66 crew members on board the Norwegian coastguard vessel Nordkapp were exposed to radiation from the American frigate USS Farragut during the Norwegian-American-Russian military exercise Northern Eagle in August.
A Norwegian Commission of Inquiry report concludes that personnel aboard the Coast Guard vessel were likely to have been exposed to electromagnetic radiation of a radar operating in the frequency range of 3-4 GHz.
The accident happened on 24th August. It took 11 days for the crew to receive treatment by doctors in Tromsø. According to the report it was also radiation from the radar which caused instruments on Nordkapp to go out of service.
Source: Ingenøren
