''Jehu''-class landing craft (also referred to as U-700 class) are a class of military transport vessels used by 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 ...

. Manufactured by

Marine Alutech Marine Alutech is a leading designer and manufacturer of metal and composite boats in Finland. The company specializes in 5–20 meters boats and vessels for navies, coast guards, government agencies and port authorities. Marine Alutech has its ...

under the designation Watercat M18 AMC, the boats can perform a multitude of tasks ranging from troop transport and landing operations to patrolling and escort tasks as well as combat and battle support operations. The ''Jehu''-class boats are considerably larger and better armed that the preceding ''Jurmo''-class landing craft.

History

The new class of landing craft was ordered in October 2012 to supplement the existing ''Uisko'' and ''Jurmo'' classes as part of a project to improve the performance and equipment of the coastal troops. The cost for the first batch of 12 boats was about 34 million euro. U701 operated from the dock of HMS ''Albion'' during exercises in May 2021.

General characteristics

''Jehu''-class boats are long and wide, and have a draught of . Their displacement at full load is 32 tons. The boats are powered by two

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skå ...

DI16 007 diesel engines, each with an output of , driving two

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated ...

40A3 water jets. This gives the boats a maximum speed in excess of and a cruising speed of at full load. The boats have an aluminium hull and a superstructure made of composite materials, and offer a ballistic protection which is at same level or even exceeds that of the

Patria Pasi The Patria Pasi (earlier known as the Sisu Pasi) is a Finnish-made six-wheeled armoured personnel carrier (APC) originally designed for Finnish Defence Forces. The first variant was produced in 1983 and serial production began in 1984. It was des ...

APC.Watercat M18 AMC
Marine Alutech. Served by a crew of six (two professional officers and four conscripts), the ''Jehu''-class boats are designed to transport 25 troops in the enclosed cabin. In addition to landing and combat operations, the boats can be quickly converted for medical and evacuation tasks as well as act as command launches. The onboard amenities for the crew include a microwave oven, water boiler and a water toilet as well as heating and air conditioning systems. For combat operations, the ''Jehu''-class boats are armed with a Saab Trackfire

Remote Weapon Station A remote controlled weapon station (RCWS), or remote weapon station (RWS), also known as a remote weapon system (RWS), is a remotely operated weaponized system often equipped with fire-control system for light and medium-caliber weapons which can ...

fitted with either 12.7mm

NSV machine gun The NSV (Russian НСВ Никитина-Соколова-Волкова), also known as the «Utyos» (Project: ''Lonely Cliff''), is a 12.7mm caliber heavy machine gun of Soviet origin, named after the designers, G. I. Nikitin (Г. И. Ник ...

or a 40mm

Heckler & Koch GMG The GMG (''Granatmaschinengewehr'' or "grenade machine gun") is an automatic grenade launcher developed by Heckler & Koch for the German Army. It is also often referred to as GMW or GraMaWa (''Granatmaschinenwaffe''). Design details The GMG fir ...

grenade machine gun, and a coaxial 7.62mm

PKM machine gun The PK (russian: Пулемёт Калашникова, transliterated as ''Pulemyot Kalashnikova'', or "Kalashnikov's machine gun"), is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun, chambered for the 7.62×54mmR rimmed cartridge. Designed in the So ...

.Trackfire RWS Hits the Mark for the Finnish Amphibious Market
Saab Group, 21 December 2012. In addition, the boats have pedestals for two crew-operated NSV machine guns. In future, the modular construction allows fitting of

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...

rails or a light

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...

system.Merivoimat esitteli uudet taisteluveneensä – tällaisia alukset ovat
Helsingin Sanomat, 3 June 2015.

References

{{Active ships of the Finnish Navy Ships of the Finnish Navy Ships built in Finland Landing craft Military boats

History

General characteristics

See also

References