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Finnish Naval Patrol Craft

After World War II, the Finnish military was substantially limited by the Paris peace talks in 1947. For the Finnish Navy, this meant a limitation of no more than 10,000 tons and 4,500 men, as well as a ban on torpedoes, submarines, mines and missiles. The prohibition on the maintenance of motor-powered boats originally imposed on Italy was imposed by Greek law also to Bulgaria. Eventually, the ban was added to other states that fought with Germany.den of the peace agreements. The restrictions were eased somewhat in the 1960s and nullified by the breakup of the Soviet Union.

By 2017 the Finnish Armed Forces one remarkable feature of the coming military reshuffle in the Finnish Armed Forces was the re-introduction of anti-submarine torpedoes, for the first time since World War II. For decades, mines and missiles have made up the bulk of the navy’s capabilities. The Finnish Navy’s four Hamina-class missile-capable fast attack craft (FAC) will receive a torpedo fit as part of an overall mid-life upgrade program expected to run between 2019 and 2021, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported.

At the beginning of Finnish independence, the torpedo weapon was a focus of great interest due to the weapon's efficiency in the Great War, especially as an offensive weapon. In Finland in the 1920s, the The weapons of the motor torpedo boats were the 45 cm T/12 torpedos from Russian origin, which were naval main torpedo equipment before the Second World War. The Navy's first torpedo acquisitions in the 1930s were closely related to the Naval Act for armed submarines. The naval forces commissioned its high-tech 53.3 cm (21") Whitehead Torpedo and Italy (T/30) and England (T/33), but still before the Winter War the 45cm Torpedo (T/39) came from the same manufacturer from England.

The Finnish Navy used several different types of motor torpedo boats during World War II. Four Soviet motor torpedo boats were captured and commissioned by the Finnish Navy during the World War II. One of these was of larger D-3 class while three others belonged to G-5 class.

During the Winter War, torpedoes were acquired from Italy and England. In the Continuation War, torpedoes were acquired from Germany. There was also an attempt to develop domestic steam torpedo in the 1940s, but the project crashed at the end of the decade. From the end of the Continuation War until the mid 1970's long-range maritime defense was based on fast patrol Boats that were equipped with torpedoes in a crisis situation. These operations were complemented by heavy coastal artillery fire.

The Paris Peace agreement of 1947 banned Motor torpedo boats, but not the conventional torpedo stock on the war ships. For the naval forces remained after the war had 12 different torpedo models with a total number of approximately 200 pieces. In the 1950s, the maintenance of this fleet was experienced as important, as the torpedos were still the most offensive naval battle instrument and, on the other hand, limited appropriations did not allow for new acquisitions. It was only in the 1960 that new ones were acquired from England, but not particularly good ones.

The Finnish Navy was prepared to deliberately violate the terms of the Paris the Peace Treaty in a crisis situation since the small and fast patrol boats equipped with torpedoes were seen as the only possibility to wear down the Enemy in the open sea. Until the beginning of the 1960's the development of long-range defense consisted mostly of drafting procurement plans for vessels and torpedoes. However, there was an effort to maintain the torpedoes already in storage for wartime needs.

Despite the restrictions imposed on procurement of torpedoes in the Paris Peace Agreement, there were many such weapons in storage in Finland. Therefore, torpedoes that survived found their way to fleet units, because fast boats torpedo strikes were seen as the only opportunity for fighting the enemy navy on the high seas. Prerequisites for the development of such a weapon existed in the Navy because the technical staff had gained wide-ranging expertise in torpedo structures and maintenance during the wars and in the years preceding them.

At the end of the war there were nearly 200 torpedoes that were in the naval stores. Trial shots could not be performed, because of the lack of funding. Maintenance and storage were made more difficult by the abundant pattern variations of torpedoes. In spite of the experimental shootings begun in 1949, most torpedoes were found unacceptable for use until the mid-1950s. For example, in 1949 there were thirty almost new German T/45 heavy 53 centimeter torpedoes that could not be used. Instead the lighter Italians 45 centimeters torpedoes that were in storage were considered suitable for combat use. Their combat value was, however, assessed at the level of torpedoes developed in the 1930s because of elderly technology.

Several proposals were made for the acquisition of new torpedo boats during the 1940s. The shipbuilding engineering construction program prepared was completedin 1949. It featured the first effort to build in Åland torpedo recovery vehicles, and to protect merchant shipping escorts. It was planned that after the restrictions of the Paris Peace Accord were lifted, the general forces to be built, among other things, would include 24 motor torpedo boats, ten submarines and ten miniature submarines, with their main weaponry also torpedoes.

But the Defense Forces faced meager funding in the 1950s that was sufficient for major naval rebuilding. This was also made more difficult because the Paris Peace Treaty legal restrictions continued in force. Finland purchased two new aluminium alloy Dark-class motor torpedo boats from England in 1957, operating under the name Vasama 1 and Vasama 2. The basic procurement programme for the year 1955 shaped the Navy through the end of the decade. There were R-class "raivaajat" [Raiders] Rihtniemi and Rymättylä. Three new R-class boats were built by 1960 to ensure mine clearance capability: Ruissalo, Raisio and Röliness, more suitable for watchboat missions.

The first Soviet-oriented military defense procurement talks were made in 1954. The Arrow-class main weapon was determined in the early stages of design to be four torpedoes with enough hit probability to guarantee destroying the target. The number of torpedoes made the design task a challenge, as the weight of the weapon load was thought to drop the maximum boat speed below requirements. In order for the powerboat to operate with main weaponry, it required a lighter T/45 torpedo. From 1959 the 55-39 torpedo could not be obtained from the Soviet Union in the context of trade negotiations because it was too heavy for the Arrow-class boats. Instead, Mark 8 torpedo manufactured in the UK filled the weight requirement. But the UK Foreign Office looked on the torpedo purchases as in conflict with Paris Peace Agreement. The UK Foreign Office approved sales of torpedoes to Finland in October 1960 and torpedoes arrived in the summer 1961.

The used frigate, acquired from the United Kingdom 1961, was named after the school ship Matti Miseksi. Ship acquisition and Arrow-class motor Gunboat Squadron 1962 increased the fleet performance after the war significantly. In addition, Finland purchased for the naval forces, two Riga-class escorts - Uusimaa and Hämeenmaa - from the Soviet Union in 1964. The acquisition also included ammunition and explosive materials to the extent that the material situation began to improve.

All the torpedos in use by the naval forces up to the 1960s had been cold or hot (steam) compressed air torpedos. In this case, the naval forces began to develop a domestic electric torpedo. The Italian-made T/40 torpedo was selected as the basis. The aim was to eliminate the weaknesses observed in the use of steam torpedos, such as a visible bubbles.

The development of the battery powered-torpedo that began in 1958 ended in 1982 and the anti-ship missile became mainstream weapon system in long-range defense. Torpedo assaults conducted by fast patrol boats were no longer the only way to repel the Enemy in the open sea. The Navy launched an electric torpedo development project in the early 1960s led by the the Navy Chief Engineer, Engineer Commodore Esko Huhta-Koivisto. A related pilot activity was carried out in Isosaari in 1967, but after that all experimental work gradually moved to the new torpedo station at Upinniemi. Introduction of a missile weapon in the Navy since the 1970s gradually replaced with a motor cannon (Arrow class) the role of the heavy torpedo. The electric torpedo project was closed in the 1980s by the decision of the Navy Commander.

The development of the battery powered-torpedo that began in 1958 ended in 1982 and the anti-ship missile became mainstream weapon system in long-range defense. Torpedo assaults conducted by fast patrol boats were no longer the only way to repel the Enemy in the open sea.

The procurement of defense materiel from the Soviet Union that started in the 1960s enabled the development of long-range maritime defense. For example, the procurement of anti-ship missiles as well as engines for the Arrow-class fast patrol Boats raised the long-range maritime defence capability to a credible level with relatively small costs in the following two decades. The 1965 decision to procure anti-ship missiles started a slow but inevitable change.