The ''Turunmaa''-class fast gunboats ( Finnish: ''Turunmaa''-luokan tykkivene) was a type of vessel, previously operated by the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( , ) 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 "Finnish Navy ship", but ...

in the

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(ASW) and trade protection roles. Internationally they were labeled as

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

History

Development of the class started in 1963. Five hull designs and over thirty propulsion variants were looked at during development. At the time, the electronics of the vessels, and the propulsion system were state of the art and attracted international attention. Both vessels were built by

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

's Hietalahti shipyard in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. In 1985–86 both ships were refitted, and the entire fire-control and communications systems were updated. ''Karjala'' has been berthed since 2002 at the maritime museum ''Forum Marinum'' in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

next to Suomen Joutsen. ''Turunmaa'' was stripped of armaments and served as a floating machine shop and training ship for Satakunta Polytechnics. Currently ''Turunmaa'' is being refitted for civilian use. Neither vessel is currently owned by the Finnish Navy. The ships were ordered in 1963, launched in 1968, commissioned in 1969 and decommissioned in 2002. The lead vessel was named after the turuma

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s serving in the

Archipelago Fleet The archipelago fleet (), officially the "fleet of the army" (), was a Navy, maritime branch of the Swedish Armed Forces which existed between 1756 and 1823. Its purpose was to protect the coasts of Sweden, which was surrounded by a natural barrie ...

in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turunmaa Class Finnish Navy Corvette

Vessels of the class

* ''Turunmaa'' (03) * ''Karjala'' (04)

External links

Finnish gunship FNS Turunmaa (1968)
Photos (Flickr)
Turun Sanomat newspaper archive

The Finnish Navy's announcement of FNS Karjala's pending museum ship status

MTV3.fi's news article from 2001

Corvette Karjala
@ Forum Marinum

Current owner of Turunmaa. Includes pictures. {{Commons category, Turunmaa class corvette, position=left Ships built in Finland Museum ships in Finland Corvette classes Cold War corvettes of Finland Corvettes of the Finnish Navy 1968 ships