The duty commander of the Norwegian navy was found guilty of negligence after his ship sank less than 10 minutes into his shift after colliding with an oil tanker.
The Hordaland district court sentenced the unnamed officer to 60 days under condition.
On November 8, 2018, the Maltese-flagged vessel Sola TS struck the frigate KNM Helge Ingstad, according to Norwegian news agency NTB. He had been on duty for eight minutes.
Early in the morning, the 137-person crew of the navy ship had to be evacuated after a sizable hole was punched through its side, causing it to begin to sink.
Eight people were slightly injured as the sailors escaped out to the harbour of Sture, off the coast of Bergen in Norway’s south-west.
In a 2019 report, the Norwegian armed forces estimated that a replacement for the warship would cost up to £13 billion Norwegian kroner (£975 million).
The prosecution has claimed negligent navigation was the main reason for the collision.
The officer, the only person to be prosecuted over the incident, denied criminal guilt and argued that while he did not do everything right, he was not solely responsible.
Instead, he said the maritime traffic centre and the crew of the tanker had made mistakes.
His lawyer Christian Lundin told NTB: ‘He is disappointed with the outcome.’
The KNM Helge Ingstad, named after a renowned Norwegian explorer, was raised and scrapped as it was deemed too expensive to fix.
The oil tanker suffered only minor damage, and did not leak.
In February last year, the tanker’s owner Twitt Navigation agreed to pay 235 million kroner (£17.6m) to the Norwegian state in a settlement relating to the collision.