This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(April 2014) |
Scale model of FNS Tuuli | |
History | |
---|---|
Name | Tuuli |
Owner | Finnish Navy |
Ordered | 9 July 1999 |
Builder | Aker Finnyards, Rauma, Finland |
Completed | 10 June 2002 |
Commissioned | Never entered active service |
Stricken | 19 December 2003 |
Homeport | Upinniemi |
Fate | Broken up in 2013 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Hovercraft |
Displacement | 84 tons |
Length | 27.4 m (90 ft) |
Beam | 15.4 m (51 ft) |
Draught | - |
Installed power | 2 × Vericor TF40 gas turbines (6,000 kW) |
Propulsion | Two air propellers |
Speed | 50 knots (93 km/h; 58 mph) |
Complement | 10 |
Sensors and processing systems | |
Armament |
|
Tuuli was a hovercraft built for the Finnish Navy. Originally intended to be the lead vessel of a class of four combat hovercraft, she was never officially commissioned and after having been laid up for the most of her career, she was broken up in 2013.
Tuuli was built at the Aker Finnyards Rauma shipyard in Rauma, Finland. Named after a decommissioned Tuima-class (modified Soviet OSA-II) missile boat, she was intended to be the lead vessel of a class of four combat hovercraft that would form part of Squadron 2000 (Finnish : Laivue 2000), a vessel procurement program of the Finnish Navy. Before naming, the hovercraft were referred to as the T-2000 class.
The hovercraft were intended to be used as mobile missile platforms that would be able to navigate and perform surprise attacks in the fractured Finnish archipelago. It was an attack vessel, not a landing craft or transport. Since the seas around Finland usually freeze over in the winter, parts of the archipelago cannot be navigated by conventional surface combatants and are accessible only by air or with a hovercraft. The Finnish Border Guard operates patrol and search-and-rescue hovercraft in these water. However, the focus of the Finnish Navy was redefined as long-term protection of merchant marine traffic, and Hamina-class missile boats with better operational-endurance were selected in Tuuli's stead. As a result, only the prototype vessel was built and never officially commissioned.
Tuuli was completed in 2002. Her trial runs proved a success and her specified capacity and maximum speed were exceeded. On 19 December 2003, it was announced that the Tuuli class would not enter active service and the prototype vessel would be presented for sale. There was foreign interest towards purchasing Tuuli, but no further details have been given. Apparently, Tuuli ACV could have been used in the Arctic to support larger hulls. [1] The vessel was stored at the Upinniemi base.
On 10 July 2013, it was announced that Tuuli would be scrapped as no suitable buyer has been found. [2] She was broken up in October 2013.
The design of the vessel involved technology transferred from the United States. It was constructed from welded panels of thin marine aluminium sheets and extrusions connected with light-weight composite constructions. The special features of the vessel were good mobility, independence of waterways and fixed port equipment, year-around operation and a small crew of only ten owing to the advanced technology.
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces.
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 this is not used in Finnish-language contexts. The Finnish Navy also includes coastal forces and coastal artillery.
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels, such as the icebreaking boats that were once used on the canals of the United Kingdom.
The Pegasus-class hydrofoils were a series of fast attack patrol boats employed by the United States Navy. They were in service from 1977 until 1993. These hydrofoils carried the designation "PHM" for "Patrol Hydrofoil, Missile." The Pegasus-class vessels were originally intended for NATO operations in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Subsequently, participation by other NATO navies, including Germany and Italy, ceased and the U.S. Navy proceeded to procure six PHMs, which were highly successful in conducting coastal operations, such as narcotics interdiction and coastal patrol, in the Caribbean basin.
The names of commissioned ships of the United States Navy all start with USS, for United States Ship. Non-commissioned, primarily civilian-crewed vessels of the U.S. Navy under the Military Sealift Command have names that begin with USNS, standing for United States Naval Ship. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are those of states, cities, towns, important persons, important locations, famous battles, fish, and ideals. Usually, different types of ships have names originated from different types of sources.
Pohjanmaa is a former minelayer of the Finnish Navy. The sole member of her class, she was the flagship of the Finnish Navy as well as the largest naval ship in service in Finland until 2013. The ship has a Finnish-Swedish ice class 1A so she can operate all year round. During a crisis, the main task for Pohjanmaa would have been mine laying and acting as a command ship. She also acted as a school ship for the Naval Academy cadets. Part of their training includes an annual cruise abroad.
The Hamina-class missile boat is a class of fast attack craft of the Finnish Navy. They are classified as "missile fast attack craft" or ohjusvene, literally "missile boat" in Finnish. The Hamina FACs are based at Upinniemi, and form the 7th Surface Warfare Squadron, part of the Finnish Coastal Fleet, together with the minelayers MLC Hämeenmaa, Porkkala and Pyhäranta.
The Hämeenmaa-class minelayers is a two-vessel strong class of coastal minelayers, used by the Finnish Navy.
The Rauma-class missile boats are a class of missile boat in use by the Finnish Navy.
The Finnish maritime cluster is a cluster of Finnish companies in maritime industries. In 2016 the total turnover was estimated at 13 billion euros and it employed 48,000 people.
The Bora-class, Soviet designation Project 1239, hoverborne guided-missile corvette of the Russian Navy, also bears the NATO class name "Dergach", is one of the few types of military surface effect ship built solely for marine combat purposes, rather than troop landing or transport. The first vessel produced under this designation was Sivuch, which was later renamed Bora. It is one of the largest combat sea vehicles with catamaran design.
The Zubr class, Soviet designation Project 1232.2, is a class of Soviet-designed air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC). The name "Zubr" is Russian for the European bison. This class of military hovercraft is, as of 2023 the world's largest hovercraft, with a standard full load displacement of 555 tons. The hovercraft was designed to sealift amphibious assault units from equipped/non-equipped vessels to non-equipped shores, as well as to transport and plant naval mines.
The Tuima-class missile boat was a class of fast attack craft used as missile boats by the Finnish Navy.
The R-class patrol boats was a class of Finnish patrol boats, originally constructed as coastal minesweepers. They were modified into patrol boats by the end of the 1960s and transferred to the Patrol Flotilla and later to the 7th Missile Flotilla. They were then used for sea patrol and as anti-submarine warfare vessels. They were stricken from the Finnish Navy list in the 1990s. The three later vessels, Ruissalo, Raisio and Röyttä, were somewhat larger and the vessels are therefore sometimes referred to as the Rihtniemi and Ruissalo classes. However, the Finnish Navy used the designation R class for all five vessels.
The Kiisla class was a Finnish class of two patrol boats later converted to anti-submarine warfare vessels. The ships were built in 1984 and 1988 at the Hollming shipyard in Rauma, Finland for the Finnish Coast Guard. They were transferred to the Finnish Navy in 2004.
Heritage Adventurer is an ice-strengthened expedition cruise ship built in 1991 by Rauma shipyard in Finland. She was originally named Society Adventurer, but after Discoverer Reederei was unable to take delivery of the vessel due to financial troubles, the completed ship was laid up at the shipyard for almost two years. In 1993, she was acquired by Hanseatic Tours and renamed Hanseatic. In 2018, she was chartered to One Ocean Expeditions and renamed RCGS Resolute through a partnership with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. In 2021, she was acquired by Heritage Expeditions and, following an extensive refit, entered service in 2022 with her current name.
Turva is a Finnish offshore patrol vessel. Built in 2014 by STX Finland Rauma shipyard for the Finnish Border Guard, she is the largest vessel of the fleet as well as the first patrol vessel in Finland powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Rauma shipyard is a shipyard in Rauma, Finland. It was previously operated by STX Finland which is owned by the South Korean STX Corporation. Rauma shipyard is specialized in large ferries, small cruise ships, multipurpose icebreakers and small naval craft.
The Pohjanmaa class is a series of four multi-role corvettes currently under construction for the Finnish Navy as part of the Squadron 2020 project. Together with the existing four Hamina-class missile boats, the four new surface combatants will form the backbone of the Finnish Navy from the mid-2020s onwards. They will replace seven older vessels that have been or are due to be decommissioned; the minelayer Pohjanmaa, two Hämeenmaa-class minelayers and four Rauma-class missile boats.