Hamina-class missile boat

Last updated
Hanko Lippujuhlan paiva 2013 1.JPG
FNS Hanko (82)
Class overview
NameHamina
OperatorsNaval Jack of Finland.svg  Finnish Navy
Preceded by Rauma class
In commission24 August 1998 - 19 June 2006
Completed4
Active4
General characteristics
Type Fast attack craft
Displacement250 tons
Length51 m (167 ft)
Beam8.5 m (28 ft)
Draught1.7 m (5 ft 7 in)
Propulsion
SpeedOver 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range500 nmi (930 km; 580 mi)
Complement26
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Saab Ceros 200 with 9LV FCS (Saab)
  • Consilium Selesmar maritime radar
  • TRS-3D/16-ES multimode acquisition 3D radar (EADS)
  • ANCS 2000 Combat Management System (EADS)
  • MSSR 2000 I IFF (EADS)
  • EOMS (SAGEM)
  • Simrad Subsea Toadfish sonar
  • Sonac/PTA towed array sonar (Finnyards)
Electronic warfare
& decoys
Armament

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. [2] 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.

Contents

History

Hamina (80) Hamina Merivoimien vuosipaiva 2014 01.JPG
Hamina (80)

The vessels were built in the late 1990s, early 2000s, and are the fourth generation of Finnish missile craft. The first vessel was ordered in December 1996 and the fourth was handed over on 19 June 2006. Since the launch of the Helsinki-class missile boats, all fast attack craft have been named after Finnish coastal cities. The class was previously known also as Rauma 2000 following its predecessor the Rauma class.

The four vessels form what the Finnish Navy calls Squadron 2000 (Finnish : Laivue 2000). Initially the Finnish Navy considered several different compositions for the new squadron, and at one point only two Hamina-class vessels and four Tuuli-class ACV were to have been built. After a strategic shift of the Finnish Navy's role, the composition of the Squadron 2000 followed suit. The Tuuli-class prototype was never fully equipped, nor fitted for operational use and its three sisters were cancelled, instead two more Hamina-class boats have been built; with some of the equipment intended for the Tuulis being used in the Haminas. The fourth and final Hamina-class vessel was delivered in summer 2006.

The squadron reached its full operational capability in 2008 and have greatly improved the surface- and air surveillance as well as air defense capability of the Finnish Navy. Their electronic surveillance suite also increases the quality of information available to military leaders.

All ships were built at Rauma shipyard by Aker Finnyards in Rauma, Finland. The vessels have their home base at Upinniemi.

In March 2014 it was announced that the Hamina-class missile boats will be upgraded in the near future. [3]

MLU (Mid-Life Update)

Modernization of the four Hamina-class ships began in 2018 and was completed in April 2022, [4] The MLU programme will enable the Haminas to continue their service into the mid 2030's.

The main gun armament is being changed from 57mm to 40mm in order to save weight. The vessels were already at maximum weight and in order to introduce torpedoes this had to be changed.

Weaponry
OriginalAfter modernization
1 × Bofors 57 mm dual-purpose gun (transferred to Pohjanmaa class)1 × Bofors 40 Mk4 multi purpose gun
2 × 12,7mm machine guns1 × Saab Trackfire remote weapon station with a 12,7mm machine gun,

2 × 12,7mm machine guns

noneInitially Torped 45, later Torped 47
RBS15 SFIII anti-ship missile Gabriel Mk.5 anti-ship missile
Atlas ANCS 2000 combat systemSaab 9LV combat management system
noneKongsberg ST2400 towed sonar (from Rauma class)
Saab Ceros 200 radar and optronic tracking fire control directorupdated Saab Ceros 200 radar and optronic tracking fire control director
TRS-3D phased array C-band radarupdated TRS-3D phased array C-band radar

[5] [6]

Design

The vessel's hull is constructed of aluminum and the superstructures are constructed of reinforced carbon fiber composite. The vessels have a very low displacement and are very manoeuverable. They are equipped with water jets instead of propellers, which allow them to operate in very shallow waters and accelerate, slow down and turn in unconventional ways.

The Hamina class are very potent vessels, boasting surveillance and firepower capacities which are usually found in ships twice the size.

Stealth technology

Hanko, photographed in the Gulf of Finland in 2009 Hamina Class Finnish Navy.JPG
Hanko, photographed in the Gulf of Finland in 2009

The Hamina class have been designed and constructed as stealth ships, with minimal magnetic, heat, and radar signatures.

The shape of the vessel has been designed to reduce radar signature. Metal parts have been covered with radar absorbent material, and the composite parts have radar absorbent material embedded in their structure. Radar transparent materials have been used where applicable.

Unlike glass fiber, carbon fiber blocks radio waves. This protects the ship's electronics against electromagnetic pulse. In addition, it stops any radio frequency signals generated by the ship's electronic devices from escaping outside. Except for the bridge, the vessel has no windows that would allow the signals to escape.

The vessel contains hardly any steel parts, thus generating very low magnetic field. The remaining magnetic field is actively canceled with electromagnets.

Exhaust gases can be directed underwater to minimize the thermal signature, or up in the air to minimize the underwater acoustic signature. 50 nozzles around the decks and upper structures can be used to spray seawater on the vessel to cool it. In addition, the nozzles can be used to clean the ship after chemical attack or radioactive fall-out.

Weapons

The Hamina class have the latest in surveillance and weapons technology all integrated into an intelligent command system. A Hamina class vessel can monitor about 200 kilometres (120 mi) of air space and its Umkhonto surface-to-air missile system can simultaneously engage a maximum of eight aircraft, up to 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away, while the vessel's anti-ship missiles have a range in excess of 250 kilometres (160 mi).

The Hamina class' primary weaponry is four RBS-15 Mk.3 anti-ship missiles. They are further equipped with a Bofors 57 mm gun for surface and aerial targets as well as the Umkhonto-IR surface-to-air missiles, MASS decoy system and two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. It is also possible to use the ships for minelaying.

The software of the centralized combat control system is COTS oriented, built on top of Linux running on redundant x86 rack servers, which makes maintenance and future updates and optimizations simpler.

In early 2018, Finland announced the mid-life upgrade program, which will equip all four boats in the class with new Swedish lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedoes in the years 2023−2025 and extend the life of the boats to 2035. [7]

Vessels

FNS Hamina
Pennant number: 80
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: December 1996
Commissioned: 24 August 1998
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service.
FNS Tornio
Tornio (81) Tornio Sarkansalmi 1.JPG
Tornio (81)
Pennant number: 81
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: 15 February 2001
Commissioned: 12 May 2003
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service
FNS Hanko
Pennant number: 82
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: 3 December 2003
Commissioned: 22 June 2005
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service
Pori (83) Missile boat Pori South Harbor 1.JPG
Pori (83)
FNS Pori
Pennant number: 83
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: 15 February 2005
Commissioned: 19 June 2006
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service

Similar ships

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish Navy</span> Military unit

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.

<i>Skjold</i>-class corvette Light, fast, stealth missile corvettes of the Royal Norwegian Navy

Skjold-class corvettes are a class of six light, superfast, stealth missile corvettes in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy. The boats were formerly classed as MTBs but, from 2009, the Royal Norwegian Navy has described them as corvettes (korvett) because their seaworthiness is seen as comparable to corvettes, and because they do not carry torpedoes. They were built at the Umoe Mandal yard. With a maximum speed of 60 knots (110 km/h), the Skjold-class corvettes were the fastest combat ships afloat at the time of their introduction., as of 2023 beaten by the Abu Dhabi MAR WP-18 Interceptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croatian Navy</span> Military unit

The Croatian Navy is a branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1991 from what Croatian forces managed to capture from the Yugoslav Navy during the breakup of Yugoslavia and Croatian War of Independence. In addition to mobile coastal missile launchers, today it operates 30 vessels, divided into the Navy Flotilla for traditional naval duties, and the Croatian Coast Guard. Five missile boats form the Croatian fleet's main offensive capability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missile boat</span> Small warship armed with anti-ship missiles

A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They are similar in concept to the torpedo boats of World War II; in fact, the first missile boats were modified torpedo boats with the torpedo tubes replaced by missile tubes.

Finnish hovercraft <i>Tuuli</i>

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.

<i>Hämeenmaa</i>-class minelayer Minelaying ship class

The Hämeenmaa-class minelayers is a two-vessel strong class of coastal minelayers, used by the Finnish Navy.

<i>Rauma</i>-class missile boat Finnish missile boat class

The Rauma-class missile boats are a class of missile boat in use by the Finnish Navy.

<i>Helsinki</i>-class missile boat

Helsinki-class missile boat is a class of four fast attack craft built for the Finnish Navy. All the ships were constructed at the Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard, Finland, and had Pansio as their homeport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RBS 15</span> Swedish air or surface to surface missile

The RBS 15 is a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface anti-ship missile. The later version Mk. IV has the ability to attack land targets as well. The missile was developed by the Swedish company Saab Bofors Dynamics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish maritime cluster</span> Cluster of Finnish companies in maritime industries

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.

Archipelago Sea Naval Command was a Finnish Navy unit headquartered in Pansio, Turku. Its main operating area was the Archipelago Sea. Archipelago Sea Naval Command was formed in 1998 by combining the Archipelago Sea Fleet and Turku Coastal Regiment. The command was wound down at the end of 2014 and its constituent units were moved to a new command, the Coastal Fleet, which contains all vessels of the Navy.

Type 22 missile boat Ship class in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navy

The Type 22 missile boat is a ship class in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy. The first boat was launched in April 2004 by the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard at Shanghai. The boats incorporate stealth features and are based on Australian-designed wave-piercing catamaran hulls that are more stable than other fast missile craft in high sea conditions. 82 of these missile boats are currently in service with three flotillas having been produced over a span of seven years, operating in squadrons of eight vessels each.

<i>Tuima</i>-class missile boat

The Tuima-class missile boat was a class of fast attack craft used as missile boats by the Finnish Navy.

<i>Kiisla</i>-class patrol boat Finnish class of two patrol boats

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf of Finland Naval Command</span> Military unit

Gulf of Finland Naval Command was a Finnish Navy unit headquartered in Upinniemi, Kirkkonummi.

<i>Turva</i> Finnish offshore patrol vessel

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.

<i>Pohjanmaa</i>-class corvette Finnish Navy warship class

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.

Finnish minelayer <i>Pyhäranta</i> Finnish minelayer

Pyhäranta is a Finnish Pansio-class minelayer that was commissioned in 1992. The ship underwent an extensive mid-life refit in 2017, but ran aground and damaged its hull during an exercise in August 2022. At that time, it was based at Upinniemi and was a part of the 7th Surface Warfare Squadron of the Finnish Coastal Fleet along with the other minelayers Hämeenmaa and Porkkala, as well as several Hamina-class fast attack craft.

References

  1. "Gabriel-ohjukset saanut ohjusvene Hanko oli Raumalla Merivoimien vuosipäivän ykkösnyrkki | lentoposti.fi". 14 July 2022.
  2. Hamina-luokka Finnish Defence Forces (in Finnish)
  3. Ohjusveneiden viimeinen remontti. Helsingin Sanomat, 18 March 2014. Retrieved2014-03-18.
  4. "Finnish Navy completes upgrade of 4th and final Hamina-class FAC". 6 May 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-06-02.
  5. "Merivoimat jälleen torpedoaikaan – Hamina-luokan ohjusveneet peruskorjauksessa". 25 May 2018.
  6. "Finland – Evolved SEASPARROW Missiles (ESSM) | the Official Home of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency". Archived from the original on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  7. "Finland Arms Stealth Boats with New Swedish Torpedoes". 4 January 2018.

Further reading

|