The ''Vetehinen''-class submarine was a Finnish 500-tonne

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of three vessels that was designed and built in the 1920s and early 1930s. The ''Vetehinen'' class served in 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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The class was designed by the Dutch front company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (I.v.S) (set up by Germany after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in order to maintain and develop

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know-how and to circumvent the limitations set by the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

) and built by the Finnish Crichton-Vulcan shipyard 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 ...

. The class was based on the German World War I Type UB III and Type UC III submarines and served as prototype for

Type VII Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. 704 boats were built by the end of the war. The type had several modifications. The Type VII was the most numerous U-boat type to be involved in the Battle of the Atlanti ...

submarines. The word ''vetehinen'' means a

merman A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mer ...

. ''Vetehinen''-class submarines were designed as minelaying submarines and were built with mineshafts for 20 mines. Submarines had special inner rails for two

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s to enable

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es to be used instead of the torpedoes.

Submarines of the class

* * *

References

Submarine construction details

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetehinen class submarine Submarine classes