''Helsinki''-class missile boat ( fi, Helsinki-luokan ohjusvene) is a class of four fast attack craft built for 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 for ...

. All the ships were constructed at the

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

Helsinki Shipyard Helsinki Shipyard Oy is a Finnish shipbuilding company based at Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland. The company was established in 2019 to continue the shipbuilding activities of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in Finland. History Helsinki S ...

, Finland, and had Pansio as their homeport.

Service

The vessels were designed as

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 defensive ...

s, but designated "missile boats" in the Finnish Navy, as to tone down their offensive capabilities. They were armed with up to eight

RBS-15 The RBS 15 (Robotsystem 15) is a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface anti-ship missile. The later version Mk. III has the ability to attack land targets as well. The missile was developed by the Swedish company Saab ...

SSMs, one dual-purpose Bofors 57 mm gun, two SAKO 23 mm double-barreled anti-aircraft guns and two

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

racks. During the late 1990s, the class was due to undergo a mid-life upgrade through 2006–2008 but this was rejected because of budget constraints. The ships were decommissioned from Finnish service, and ''Helsinki'' and ''Turku'' were used for testing purposes before they were scrapped in 2011. Two of the vessels were sold to the

Croatian Navy , image = Seal of Croatian Navy.png , caption = Emblem of the Croatian Navy , start_date = 1991 , country = , allegiance = , branch = , type = Navy , role = , size = 1,36330 vessels , command_structure = Armed Forces of Croatia , gar ...

for a symbolic price of €9 million (65 million

kuna Kuna may refer to: Places * Kuna, Idaho, a town in the United States ** Kuna Caves, a lava tube in Idaho * Kuna Peak, a mountain in California * , a village in the Orebić municipality, Croatia * , a village in the Konavle municipality, Croatia ...

) as a part of an off-set deal for the previous

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n purchase of 126 Patria AMV vehicles. The ships arrived in Croatia on 2 November 2008. They underwent a basic refit and repainting, and entered service in January 2009. According to current plans the ships are scheduled to stay active until 2020–2022.

Ships

References

External links

* Missile boat classes Ships built in Finland Missile boats of the Finnish Navy Missile boats of the Croatian Navy {{Finland-mil-ship-stub