Финский флот: история и современность.

The Finnish Navy (, Marinen) 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.

The current Commander of the Navy is rear admiral Tuomas Tiilikainen. Between 1941 and 1945 some 69,779 mines and mine sweeping obstacles were laid in the Gulf of Finland by Finnish, Soviet and German naval forces. The Soviet Navy laid 16,179 mines and 2,441 mine sweeping obstacles, the Finnish navy 6,382 mines, and the German navy's vessels, submarines and aircraft laid some 45,000 mines, of which 3,000 were magnetic mines. The last mine sweeping season was held in 1957, but the mine danger continued for some 10 more years, and there are still hundreds of World War II era mines in the Baltic Sea. The greatest loss of the Finnish Navy occurred on 13 September 1941 when Finnish coastal defence ship Ilmarinen ran into a mine and sank. 271 sailors died and only 132 were rescued. Most of the survivors later served in the Lake Onega flotilla, using old captured ships, including a steam engined paddlewheeler. In 1942 the main focus of the war at sea was on anti submarine warfare. Finnish and German naval forces tried to prevent Soviet submarines from gaining access to the Baltic Sea. However, the mine barrier had proven to be insufficient to completely stop Soviet submarines activities. The Soviet subs sank 18 ships, seven of which were Finnish. 12 Soviet submarines were also sunk three by Finnish submarines. The next step in submarine warfare was to completely block the Gulf of Finland with anti submarine nets between Naissaar and Porkkala. This was done immediately after the ice cover melted on the sea. That barrier with its accompanying minefields effectively contained Soviet Naval vessels to the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland until the autumn of 1944, when the Soviets were able to use Finnish coastal seaways to circumvent the barrier. In spring 1942 Finnish forces captured the island of Gogland. In July 1942 the Soviets made an attempt to occupy the small island of Sommers in the Gulf of Finland. The Soviets lost several smaller vessels (patrol and torpedo boats) together with 128 men. One hundred and two Soviet soldiers were taken prisoner. During 1943 the navy received 14 new motor torpedo boats which were used to replace the old pre war ones. In 1944 the Soviets launched a major offensive against Finland, during which the navy fought in support of Finnish land forces the Gulf of Vyborg. In the end the ships were forced to pull out.

In September 1944, the military operations against Germany started. The main focus was in the north, the Lapland War, but the Germans also tried to capture Suursaari in an operation named Tanne Ost. The attack was repulsed. During the battle, Finnish motor torpedo boats sank several German vessels. The last action of the Finnish Navy was during the amphibious landing of troops from Oulu in Tornio. The Finnish gunboats successfully shelled German batteries, which had posed serious threat for the transport ships, while their anti aircraft batteries defended the convoy from German air attacks. The navy also hunted German U boats in the Baltic, laying its last mines of the war while doing this. After the Finnish Soviet armistice, the Finnish Navy was ordered to participate in the demanding mine clearance operation. The operation lasted until 1950. There were many casualties among the clearance crews.

The war time fleet was replaced in the 1950s and 1960s. Due to Finland's neutrality she tried to balance her purchases of equipment between the two blocs and also tried to produce its own vessels. A (Matti Kurki) for training purposes, two fast patrol boats (Vasama 1 and Vasama 2) and four s were bought from the UK, two s (Finnish frigate Hämeenmaa and Finnish frigate Uusimaa) and four Osa II class fast attack craft (s) were obtained from the Soviet Union. Some of the vessels, such as two s (Finnish corvette Turunmaa and Finnish corvette Karjala) and the Nuoli class fast attack craft were produced domestically. The Paris peace talks in 1947 resulted in a treaty that limited the offensive capability of the Finnish military. For the navy, this meant a limitation to a fleet of no more than 10,000 tons and 4,500 personnel. As for the weaponry, torpedoes, submarines, mines and missiles were forbidden. The restrictions were eased in the 1960s and missiles and mines were allowed. The torpedo restriction was not either fully exercised as the Riga class frigates were equipped with torpedoes and a number of torpedo boats were manufactured as gunboats that could quickly be converted to carry torpedoes. Torpedoes were re introduced in 2018. The Cold War limitations are no longer in place (they were nullified with the breakup of the Soviet Union), but the size of the navy has still remained roughly the same size (with the exception of tonnage).

In the late 1990s, the Finnish Navy was developing a new missile squadron called Laivue 2000 At first it was supposed to consist of two Hamina class missile boats (already built at this date) and four hovercraft. The Navy experimented with one prototype hovercraft, but announced in 2003 that the Tuuli class would not enter active operations and that no more of them would be built. Instead two new Hamina class missile boats were built, and the extra weaponry from the hovercraft were installed on the Hämeenmaa class minelayers. The cable layer Finnish cable layer Putsaari and pollution control vessel Finnish pollution control vessel Hylje were replaced in 2011 by a new multipurpose vessel built by the Uudenkaupungin Työvene shipyard. A new icebreaking oil spill response vessel was named Finnish pollution control vessel Louhi on 8 March 2011. The 1979 built minelayer Finnish minelayer Pohjanmaa was decommissioned in 2013, after which the minelayer Hämeenmaa took over the role of flagship of the Finnish Navy. In February 2015, it was reported that fatigue damage had been discovered in the hulls of the recently refitted Rauma class missile boats and that the vessels would be removed from active duty to prevent further damage until its cause has been found. However, while peacetime use is now limited, the missile boats can be taken back into full service if needed. In 2018 Finnish Navy announced procurement of IAI's Gabriel 5 naval strike missile system. The system will replace the current maritime anti ship missile 85M (SAAB RBS15) system, which will reach the end of its life cycle in the 2020s. The new PTO2020 missiles will be installed on Hamina and Pohjanmaa class ships and vehicle platforms. The planned life cycle of the system extends to the 2050s. As the Finnish Defence Forces are building multi branch joint strike capability and Gabriel 5 is capable of strikes to both naval and land domain, the new missile was given designation of PTO2020, (Pinta Torjunta Ohjus 2020 or Surface Strike Missile 2020) instead of old designation(Anti Ship Missile).

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

The rank insignia of non commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.