Finnish Navy

The Finnish Navy is one of the braches of the Finnish Defence Forces.

The Navy employs 2350 people and about 5000 conscripts are trained each year.

Organisation

The navy is organised into two naval command and one coastal district. The navy also includes the Uusimaa brigade where coastal jaegers are trained. The Uusimaa brigade is also the only Swedish language unit in the country.

• Gulf of Finland Naval Command
• Archipelago Sea Naval Command
• Kotka Coastal District
• Uusimaa Brigade

Equipment

Ships

• 4 Rauma class missile boats
• 2 Hamina (Rauma 2000) class missile boats
• 4 Helsinki class missile boats
• 2 Hämeenmaa class minelayers
• Pohjanmaa minelayer
• 3 Pansio class coastal minelayers
• Several large nonmilitary transport vehicles

Coastal artillery

• 100 mm cannons
• 130 mm cannons
• MTO-85 coastal missiles (SAAB RBS-15SF)

History

The first ships of the Finnish Navy were old ships left behind by the Russians during the Finnish Civil War. These included gunboats, motor torpedo boats and minesweepers. In 1927 the Eduskunta approved a plan to build two armoured coastal vessels (Panssarilaiva in Finnish) and four submarines. Four motor torpedo boats were also ordered from Britain. More ships were purchased during the 1930s, and in the autumn of 1939 the Finnish Navy consisted of:

• 2 armoured coastal vessels (Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen)
• 5 submarines (Vesihiisi, Iku-Turso, Vetehinen, Vesikko and Saukko)
• 4 gunboats (Turunmaa, Karjala, Uusimaa and Hämeenmaa)
• 7 motor torpedo boats
• 1 mineship
• 6 minesweepers

When the situation worsened the Navy was expanded with civilian boats, ice-breakers and patrol boats from the Coast Guard.

Winter War

When the Winter War broke out the Finnish Navy moved to occupy the de-militarized Åland Islands and to protect merchant shipping. In the first month of the war battles between Soviet ships and finnish coastal batteries were fought at Hanko, Finland, Utö and Koivisto.

In December 1939 the ice became so thick that only the ice-breakers could still move. The two armoured coastal vessels were moved to the harbour in Turku where they were used to stiffen the air-defences of the city. They remained there for the rest of the war.

Continuation War

Before the Continuation War five more topedo boats were ordered from Italy. The base that the Soviets had acquired in the Winter War at Hanko Peninsula divided the areas where the Finnish Navy would operate in two. Large mine fields were laid down in cooperation with the German Kriegsmarine when the war began. The two armoured coastal vessels bombarded the base at Hanko during the summer until the Soviets evacuated Hanko in December 1941.

The greatest loss of the Finnish Navy occurred on September 13, 1941 when the Ilmarinen ran on a mine and sank. 271 sailors lost their lives and only 132 were rescued.

In 1942 the main focus of the war at sea was on the Finnish submarines which fought against over 30 Soviet submarines that tried to attack shipping in the Baltic Sea. The Soviet subs sank 18 ships, seven of which were Finnish. 12 Soviet submarines were also sunk.

In July 1942 the Soviets made an attempt to occupy the small island of Someri in the Gulf of Finland. The Soviets lost 16 boats and 128 men. 102 Soviet soldiers were taken prisoner. During 1943 the Navy received 14 new torpedo boats which were used to replace the old pre-war ones.

In 1944 the Soviets put in their main offensive against Finland. The Navy fought in the Gulf of Vyborg and sustained heavy casualties. In the end the ships were forced to pull out.

Lapland war

On September, 1944 the operations against Germany started. The main focus was in the north, the Lapland War, but the Germans also tried to capture Suursaari (Operation Tanne Ost), but the attack was repulsed.

The last action of the Finnish Navy was during the amphibious landing of troops from Oulu in Tornio.