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Pohjanmaa Mine Warfare / Training

When completed in 1979, the mine ship Pohjanmaan [aka Ostrobothnia] was undoubtedly the most advanced mine mine in the world. The ship's effective control, command, and weapon systems, combined with excellent seaworthiness and icebreaking capabilities, made it possible to use the ship as both a minesweeper and a school ship. After the renovation, the vessel was also used for international exercises and crisis management.

The mine ship Ostrobothnia was built in 1979 at the Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki. The ship served as a naval school school until 1992, after which it was transferred to Upinniemi in the Gulf of Finland Navy (now the Gulf of Finland Marine Defense Area). When completed, Ostrobothnia replaced the glorious mine ship Ruotsinsalmi and the school ship Matti Kurje. In addition, the ship was handed over the Finnish Swan Ocean sailboat tradition plate on May 10, 1982, so the mine ship Ostrobothnia continued the tradition of three well-known naval ships.

The ship has been baptized by Mrs. Aili Haapkylä. The name Ostrobothnia is inherited from the 1770s archipelago fleet, which was built four times. The prototype was Pojoma Gamla. The other three Ostrobothnian class vessels were Fröja, Disa and Brynhilda. Mine ship Ostrobothnia's sponsored city is Vaasa. The main tasks of the ship during the crisis are the mining tasks and acting as a leader ship.

After the mine ship Ostrobothnia was completed in 1980s planning was started to safeguard the naval mining capability. Vessel-based battle command systems were able to provide a real-time tactical snapshot within the battle unit. After the preparation of the Mineship Ostrobothnia, the design of the naval forces in order to safeguard the capacity of the Navy was launched during the 1980, in accordance with the operational capability requirement of two simultaneous operations.

During the Cold War, naval defense was based on tactics and methods built around mine, missile, and coastal artillery systems. The concept was, to put it simply: mines were used to make battle space advantageous for the defender and to raise the attack threshold. As the opponent's landing begins, masses of missiles are fired to consume the attacker at sea. Near the target area, control responsibility shifts to coastal artillery, which defendes against landings in the archipelago and along the coastline. The miner warfare units had to deal with their task alone, as defensive missile boats could not be endangered in offshore operations. They had to survive to the point of shooting, what preceded the migration to the archipelago of a decentralized grouping. These tactics maintained deterrence, avoided enemy control, and avoided being targeted. The tactics were simple and everyone had their own task.

The Navy expected to continue to need two offshore and ice-capable mine ships. Originally, the ordering authority was to acquire one modern mine-ship designed for the Baltic Sea conditions, Hämeenmaa, completed in 1991. The subsidies granted to domestic shipyards also enabled the launch of another similar mine ship a year later. The Navy thus had three high-performance mine ships, though the mine mine Ostrobothnia, introduced in the late 1970s, was already approaching its renovation age.

The Navy trains approximately 3,200 new conscripts each year, and retrains 1,700 reservists to the Coast and Navy. The Navy trains approximately 3,200 new conscripts each year, and retrains 1,700 reservists to the Coast and Navy. The annual six-week training is an important part of training marine cadets. The 2005 Sailing trained the Navy School's 72nd Marine Cadet Course cadets from the Navy and the Technical Line Management System and Machine Studies courses and the 74th Marine Cadet Course from the Navy and Technical Line Machine and Weapons Studies courses. In addition to the cadets, military personnel and conscripts employed by the mine ship Ostrobothnia also receive training.

Training sailing is divided into four training periods. Before sailing, participants will be introduced to, among other things, ship's equipment and general ship service. Sailing is practicing offshore sailing, seafaring skills and tasks in different branches of training, and getting used to being at sea for a long time.

In 1979, the training sail was on the North Sea, during which the ship orbited the Shetland Islands. On the return voyage, the ship participated in the Nordic Sea Cadet Days from 2 to 6 August 1979 in Frederikshaven, Denmark. 1980 Training Sailing in the North Sea and Atlantic. During the 1981 trip in the Mediterranean, the ship rescued a 21-man crew of EL Monsour Dabh, a Moroccan, who was in a lifeboat and was transported to Almeira, Spain. The Commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, General Lauri Sutela, awarded the ship with a Gold Medal of Merit.

The total length of the 1982 trip was about 11,000 mpk. The voyage was led by the Commander of the Naval School, Commodore Erik Wihtol, and Commander Risto Villikari as Commander. On the way, the ship took refueling at Burn Delgada in the Azores. The return journey was via the Kiel Canal. In Kiel, the ship participated in the Kieler Woche 100th Anniversary Celebration, Kieler Woche Rowing Competition. The total length of the 1983 trip was 10,500 mpk. The captain of the ship, Commander Risto Villikari, was in charge of the voyage. On the way back from Greece, the ship sailed through the Corinth Canal. During this voyage, the vessel had the longest continuous period (12 days) at sea.

In 1988 in Philadelphia, the ship attended the 350th anniversary celebration of the first Finnish immigrants to America and the opening of the Sea Finland exhibition. The total length of the trip was about 14000 mpk. In 1998 In Philadelphia, the ship attended the 350th anniversary celebration of the first Finnish immigrants to America and the opening of the Sea Finland exhibition. The total length of the trip was about 14000 mpk.

In 2004 the vessel participated in the Nordic Marine Cadet Days in Stavanger, the FOST evaluation in Plymouth and the 85th anniversary of the Latvian Navy in Riga. At the end of the voyage, the ship anchored at Suomenlinna Matti-Kurje quay. The Navy School Training Sailing 2005 was conducted on a mine ship in Ostrobothnia from 22 May to 4 July. Visiting ports for training sailing are Cork in Ireland, Baltimore in the United States and Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. Commander Simo Laine, commander of the mine ship Ostrobothnia, was in charge of the voyage.

The ship was completely refurbished between 1996 and 1998, including the replacement of an old 120 mm bow cannon with a 57 mm automatic cannon. The ship's shipping systems were among the most modern in the world. They seamlessly combined naval radars and ECDIS and AIS systems to support navigation, providing a comprehensive marine picture.

Ostrobothnia was put up for sale and decommissioned in 2015. Initially, according to Naval Counter-Admiral Veli-Jukka Pennala , if a suitable buyer was not found, it would either be scrapped or museums. The ship was already planned for scrapping when no suitable buyer was first found, but eventually the state-owned Meritaito Oy , which is used for its maritime surveying tasks, was found to be the buyer. Alfons Håkans , a marine service company in Turku, would also have been willing to buy it, but the offer was not accepted because the company could not say the exact purpose. Nor did they want to museum it, because the cost of museums would have been too expensive. In summer 2016, Meritaito Oy painted the ship in civilian colors at the Teijo shipyard in Perniö. The vessel was also fitted with measuring equipment and renamed the North Sea . Previously, cannons and other military material had been unloaded at Upinniemi.