Two officers

I captured a photo of two officers at the conscript oath ceremony at the Coastal Navy's Upinniemi base. I used the rule of thirds as a composition guide. Little info: The Finnish Navy (Finnish: Merivoimat, Swedish: 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.

Organization

The current Commander of the Navy is rear admiral Tuomas Tiilikainen. The navy is organized into the Navy Command, three Brigade-level units, and the Naval Academy. Since 1998 the navy also includes the Nyland Brigade in Dragsvik, where Finnish Marines or Coastal Jaegers are trained. Nyland Brigade is also the only Swedish language unit in the country and it carries on the traditions and battle-honours of the Nyland (Uusimaa) Regiment of the Swedish Army.

Locations

Navy Command headquarters: (Heikkilä, Turku)
Naval depot: Pansio and Kimito
Naval research depot: Espoo

Bases

Coastal Brigade: (Upinniemi, Kirkkonummi)
Coastal Fleet: (Pansio, Turku)
Commander
Headquarters (Pansio)
4th Mine Countermeasures Squadron (Pansio)
MHCs Katanpää, Purunpää and Vahterpää
Home Defence Troops' Mine Sweeping Group Sääksi (Kuha and Kiiski classes)
6th Surface Warfare Squadron (Pansio)
2nd Mine Unit (MLC Uusimaa, MLI Pansio)
2nd Missile Unit (Rauma class)
7th Surface Warfare Squadron (Upinniemi)
MLC Hämeenmaa
1st Missile Unit (Hamina class)
1st Mine Unit (MLI Porkkala, MLI Pyhäranta)
8th Service Support Squadron (Pansio and Upinniemi)
1st Transport Unit
2nd Transport Unit
Support Company (Military police platoon, Support Platoon, Harbour and transport centre, Materiel Centre, NCO Course)
Home Defence Troops' Protection Company
Nyland Brigade: (Dragsvik, Ekenäs)
Naval Academy: (Suomenlinna, Helsinki)

Mobilization strength

Total of 31,500 personnel

History

During the Swedish era, the Finnish Gulf saw many battles between the Swedish and Russian fleets. Many of the Swedish naval bases were located in present-day Finland and many sailors came from Finland (see Archipelago Fleet).

During the Russian rule (1809–1917) an entirely Finnish Navy unit, named Suomen Meriekipaasi was defending the Finnish coast, alongside the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. The Meriekipaasi participated in the Crimean War, albeit mostly with on-shore duties. The Meriekipaasi also manned the coastal batteries at the Santahamina Island during the siege of fortress Viapori in Helsinki. The ships the Meriekipaasi operated included the steam frigates Rurik and Kalevala, named after the Finnish national epic. These ships later served in the Russian Pacific Fleet.

Independent Finland

The first ships that the independent Finnish Navy obtained were a mix of obsolete vessels left behind by the Russians during the Finnish Civil War and vessels that had not been able to make the winter voyage to Kronstadt as the Russian Navy retreated from German forces. Thus, the Finnish Navy of the late 1910s and early 1920s consisted of a few gunboats (Klas Horn, Matti Kurki, Turunmaa, and Karjala), six S-class torpedo boats, eight C-class torpedo boats, one minelayer (Louhi), several minesweepers, and five T-class minelaying boats. In addition to the warships, the Russians also left behind numerous other types of vessels.

Additionally, the Germans handed over two netlayers (Hämeenmaa and Uusimaa) to the Finnish Navy, and these two ships formed the core of the Finnish Navy until the coastal defence ships were commissioned. With the Treaty of Tartu, Finland had to return some of the equipment they had operated earlier. This equipment included three S-class torpedo boats (S3, S4 and S6), the minesweepers Altair, Mikula, MP 7, MP 11, Ahvola, T 12, fifteen tugs, four smaller transports and 54 motorboats. Finland lost three more ships (the torpedo boats C1, C2 and C3) in supporting the British campaign in the Baltic Sea. The three vessels remained in the Baltic even when winter froze over the sea, and the expanding ice damaged the vessels beyond repair, and they were all scuttled. The last remaining C-class torpedo boats were placed in reserve after this incident.

In 1927, after years of wrangling with various plans for how to modernize the navy, and partly due to the loss of the torpedo boat S2 in heavy seas in October 1925, the Parliament of Finland approved a plan to build two coastal defence ships (Panssarilaiva in Finnish), as well as four submarines. Motor torpedo boats were also acquired both from Britain, as well as from domestic sources. New minesweepers were also constructed. The training ship Suomen Joutsen was also acquired.
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