A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.
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.
Suomen Joutsen is a steel-hulled full-rigged ship with three square rigged masts. Built in 1902 by Chantiers de Penhoët in St. Nazaire, France, as Laënnec, the ship served two French owners before she was sold to German interest in 1922 and renamed Oldenburg. In 1930, she was acquired by the Government of Finland, refitted to serve as a school ship for the Finnish Navy and given her current name. Suomen Joutsen made eight long international voyages before the Second World War and later served in various support and supply roles during the war. From 1961 on she served as a stationary seamen's school for the Finnish Merchant Navy. In 1991, Suomen Joutsen was donated to the city of Turku and became a museum ship moored next to Forum Marinum.
The Turunmaa-class fast gunboats was a type of vessel, previously operated by the Finnish Navy in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and trade protection roles. Internationally they were labeled as corvettes.
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.
MS Bore is a combination museum and hotel ship docked permanently in Turku, Finland. She was originally built in 1960 by Oskarshamn shipyard, Oskarshamn, Sweden as the car/passenger ferry SS Bore for Steamship Company Bore, Finland, then the last commercial steam ship built in Scandinavia and the first ferry on the route between Finland and Sweden where cars could drive aboard. She was later known as SS Borea, before being rebuilt as a cruise ship in 1988. 1988 to 2010 she was owned by the Finnish shipping company Kristina Cruises and known as MS Kristina Regina until she was retired because she did not comply with new safety regulations.
The Thulin LA was a Swedish two-seat, single-engine biplane designed by Enoch Thulin in 1917 and made by his company AB Thulinverken in Landskrona. It was based on the earlier Thulin L and E aircraft, with a new engine, fuselage and empennage. The L and E types were in turn based on the German Albatros B.II aircraft, like the NAB Albatros. The Thulin LA was used in Sweden, the Netherlands (10) and Finland (1). This type also made the first passenger transport flights between Sweden and Denmark in 1919. Altogether there were 15 Thulin LAs built.
Crichton-Vulcan is an abandoned shipyard in Turku, Finland, that once formed the cornerstone of the Finnish shipbuilding industry. The shipyard is best known for the World War II coastal defence ships and submarines it produced.
The Taisto-class motor torpedo boats or T class was a series of motor torpedo boats, which saw service with the Finnish Navy during World War II. Following the war, the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947 prohibited the Finnish Navy from employing torpedo-carrying vessels of any kind and the Taisto class were converted into motor gunboats. By 1964, all vessels of the class had been removed from service.
The Nuoli-class motor gunboats was a series of thirteen fast attack craft of the Finnish Navy. The ships were constructed in 1961 by Oy Laivateollisuus Ab in Turku, and modernized in 1979. The Nuoli motor gunboats played a very important role in naval training and were in service until the early 90s.
The Syöksy-class motor torpedo boats was a series of four British Thornycroft type motor torpedo boats of the Finnish Navy. The vessels were constructed in 1928 by the John Thornycroft & Co. shipyard in Woolton, UK. The vessels saw service in World War II. The Thornycroft type released its torpedoes by dropping them from rails in the aft. The ship then had to steer away from the torpedoes path, a manoeuvre that could be quite tricky in the close waters of the Gulf of Finland.
Keihässalmi was a minelayer of the Finnish Navy. She was commissioned in 1957 and remained in service until 1994, after which she was turned into a museum ship in Turku. The vessel was named after the strait of Keihässalmi, which is located in Sipoo. Keihässalmi was the first Finnish minelayer to be constructed after World War II.
Sigyn, built in Gothenburg 1887, now museum ship in Turku, is the last remaining wooden barque used for trade across the oceans. At the time she was built there were thousands of similar vessels, but she was one of the last ones built. She was quite small even for her time, considering she was built for long-distance trade, but well built and considered fast and beautiful.
The Cultural History Museum of Åland and Åland Islands Art Museum are two museums under the same roof in Mariehamn in Åland (Finland). The building houses even other collections and staff of Ålands Museum, which was formerly the name of the Cultural History Museum, nowadays a wider roof organization for several museums - see www.museum.ax. The building is located in the eastern part of the town, about 200 metres from the harbour. Along with Åland Maritime Museum it is the most important museum in the islands. The art museum is referred to in the Swedish language as the "Konstmuseum" and in Swedish, the Cultural History Museum is often shortened to "Kulturhistoriska".
Haudaudine was a French full-rigged ship owned by Société Anonyme des Armateurs Nantais. Built by Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire in 1902 and named after Pierre Haudaudine, she ran aground off New Caledonia on 3 January 1905 and sank shortly after the crew had abandoned the ship.
Wilhelm Carpelan is a former Von Fersen-class transport boat. Built in 1915 for the Imperial Russian Navy, she was used as a transport boat and later a minesweeper by the Finnish Navy until 1977. After decommissioning, she was sold to private ownership and used as a pleasure boat. In 2013, Wilhelm Carpelan was donated to the collections of Forum Marinum, the maritime museum in Turku, Finland.
Oy Andrée & Rosenqvist Ab was a boat building yard and engineering works in Turku, Finland in 1906–1939. The company was known for its fast and high-quality boats and also marine engines, which were also applied in stationary use.
W:m Crichton & C:o Ab is a former engineering and shipbuilding company that operated in Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland in 1842–1913. The company also had another shipyard in Okhta, Saint Petersburg.
