The ''Hamina''-class missile boat is a class of

fast attack craft A fast attack craft (FAC) is a small, fast, agile, offensive, often affordable warship armed with anti-ship missiles, gun or torpedoes. FACs are usually operated in close proximity to land as they lack both the seakeeping and all-round defensiv ...

of the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, Marinen) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short f ...

. They are classified as "missile fast attack craft" or ''ohjusvene'', literally "

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

" in Finnish. The ''Hamina'' FACs are based at Upinniemi, and form the 7th Surface Warfare Squadron, part of the Finnish Coastal Fleet, together with the minelayers MLC ''Hämeenmaa'', ''Porkkala'' and ''Pyhäranta''.

History

The vessels were built in the late 1990s, early 2000s, and are the fourth generation of Finnish missile craft. The first vessel was ordered in December 1996 and the fourth was handed over on 19 June 2006. Since the launch of the s, all fast attack craft have been named after Finnish coastal cities. The class was previously known also as ''Rauma 2000'' following its predecessor the . The four vessels form what the Finnish Navy calls ''Squadron 2000'' ( fi, Laivue 2000). Initially the Finnish Navy considered several different compositions for the new squadron, and at one point only two ''Hamina''-class vessels and four ACV were to have been built. After a strategic shift of the Finnish Navy's role, the composition of the Squadron 2000 followed suit. The ''Tuuli''-class prototype was never fully equipped, nor fitted for operational use and its three sisters were cancelled, instead two more ''Hamina''-class boats have been built; with some of the equipment intended for the ''Tuuli''s being used in the ''Hamina''s. The fourth and final ''Hamina''-class vessel was delivered in summer 2006. The squadron reached its full operational capability in 2008 and have greatly improved the surface- and air surveillance as well as air defense capability of the Finnish Navy. Their electronic surveillance suite also increases the quality of information available to military leaders. All ships were built at Rauma shipyard by

Aker Finnyards STX Finland Oy, formerly Aker Yards Oy, was a Finnish shipbuilding company operating three shipyards in Finland, in Turku, Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cit ...

in Rauma,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. The vessels have their home base at Upinniemi. In March 2014 it was announced that the ''Hamina''-class missile boats will be upgraded in the near future.

MLU (Mid-Life Update)

Modernization of the four ''Hamina''-class ships began in 2018 and was completed in April 2022, The MLU programme will enable the ''Haminas'' to continue their service into the mid 2030's. The main gun armament is being changed from 57mm to 40mm in order to save weight. The vessels were already at maximum weight and in order to introduce torpedoes this had to be changed.

Design

The vessel's hull is constructed of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

and the superstructures are constructed of reinforced

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

composite. The vessels have a very low displacement and are very maneuverable. They are equipped with

water jet Water jet may refer to: * A jet of water under pressure, like in an ornamental fountain * Pump-jet, a marine propulsion mechanism for jetskis and other types of boats * Water jet cutter, a tool for cutting and the machining of engineering material ...

s instead of propellers, which allow them to operate in very shallow waters and accelerate, slow down and turn in unconventional ways. The ''Hamina'' class are very potent vessels, boasting surveillance and firepower capacities which are usually found in ships twice the size.

Stealth technology

The ''Hamina'' class has been designed and constructed as

stealth ship A stealth ship is a ship that employs stealth technology construction techniques in an effort to make it harder to detect by one or more of radar, visual, sonar, and infrared methods. These techniques borrow from stealth aircraft technology, a ...

s with minimal magnetic, heat and radar signatures. The shape of the vessel has been designed to reduce

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

signature. Metal parts have been covered with

radar absorbent material In materials science, radiation-absorbent material, usually known as RAM, is a material which has been specially designed and shaped to absorb incident RF radiation (also known as non-ionising radiation), as effectively as possible, from as ma ...

, and the composite parts have radar absorbent material embedded in the structure. Radar transparent materials have been used where applicable. Unlike glass fiber, carbon fiber blocks radio waves. This protects ship's electronics against

electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. Depending upon the source, the origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic fi ...

. In addition, it stops any radio frequency signals generated by ships electronic devices escaping outside. Except for the bridge, the vessel has no windows that would allow the signals to escape. The vessel contains hardly any steel parts, thus generating very low magnetic field. The remaining magnetic field is actively canceled with

electromagnet An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire wound into a coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic field which is concentrated in the ...

s. Exhaust gases can be directed underwater to minimize thermal signature, or up in the air to minimize sound in submarines direction. 50 nozzles around the decks and upper structures can be used to spray seawater on the vessel to cool it. In addition, the nozzles can be used to clean the ship after chemical attack or radioactive fall-out.

Weapons

The ''Hamina'' class have the latest in surveillance and weapons technology all integrated into an intelligent command system. A Hamina class vessel can monitor about of air space and its Umkhonto surface-to-air missile system can simultaneously engage a maximum of eight aircraft, up to away, while the vessel's anti-ship missiles have a range in excess of over . The ''Hamina'' class' primary weaponry is four RBS-15 Mk.3 anti-ship missiles. The vessels are further equipped with a

Bofors 57 mm gun The Bofors 57 mm gun is a nickname or designation given to several types of guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *, a 57 mm anti tank gun for the Swedish army during WW2. * Bofors 57 mm Automatic Gun L/50, a 57 ...

against surface and aerial targets as well as the Umkhonto-IR surface-to-air missiles, MASS decoy system and two

12.7 mm This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case length. *''OAL'' refers to the overall length of the cartridge. *''Bullet'' refers to the diameter of the bullet. Some me ...

heavy machine guns. It is also possible to use the ships for mine-laying. The software of the centralized combat control system is COTS oriented, built on top of Linux running on redundant x86 rack servers, which makes maintenance and future updates and optimizations simpler. In early 2018, Finland announced the mid-life upgrade program, which will equip all four boats in the class with new Swedish lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedoes in the years 2023−2025 and extend the life of the boats to 2035.

Vessels

;FNS ''Hamina'' :Pennant number: 80 :Builder:

:Ordered: December 1996 :Commissioned: 24 August 1998 :Home base: Upinniemi :Current status: In active service. ;FNS ''Tornio'' Tornio Särkänsalmi 1

:Pennant number: 81 :Builder:

:Ordered: 15 February 2001 :Commissioned: 12 May 2003 :Home base: Upinniemi :Current status: In active service ;FNS ''Hanko'' :Pennant number: 82 :Builder:

:Ordered: 3 December 2003 :Commissioned: 22 June 2005 :Home base: Upinniemi :Current status: In active service Missile boat Pori South Harbor 1

;FNS ''Pori'' :Pennant number: 83 :Builder:

:Ordered: 15 February 2005 :Commissioned: 19 June 2006 :Home base: Upinniemi :Current status: In active service

Similar ships

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