Helsinki-class missile boat

The Helsinki class missile boats (Helsinki-luokan ohjusvene) are a type of vessel which were operated by the Finnish Navy. They were the predecessors of the Rauma class missile boats. All the ships were constructed at the Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard, Finland, and had Pansio as their homeport.

The vessels were designed as fast attack crafts, but designated "missile boats" in the Finnish Navy, as to tone down their offensive capabilities. They were armed with up to eight RBS-15 SSMs, one dual-purpose Bofors 57 mm gun, 2 × 23 mm double-barreled anti-aircraft guns and two depth charge racks.

As planned during the late 1990s, the class was due to undergo a mid-life upgrade through 2006–2008 but this was rejected because of budget restrains. The ships were decommissioned from Finnish service, and Helsinki and Turku were used for testing purposes before they were scrapped in 2011.

In Croatian service
Two of the vessels were sold to the Croatian Navy for a symbolic price of €9 million (65 million kuna) as a part of an off-set deal for to the previous Croatian purchase of 126 Patria AMV vehicles.

The ships arrived in Croatia on 2 November 2008. They underwent a basic refit and repainting, and entered service in January 2009. Although well maintained, under consideration by navy officials is an air-defence upgrade. The existing Sako 23 mm/87 may be augmented or replaced by a short-range system such as French-built Mistral SAMs or Croatian-built S-10CRO-M (itself a modernized version of SA-13). According to current plans the ships are scheduled to stay active until 2020–2022.

Vessels

 * FNS Helsinki
 * Pennant number: 60.
 * Builder: Wärtsilä.
 * Ordered: 5 November 1980.
 * Commissioned: 1 September 1981.
 * Current state: Decommissioned in 2002; scrapped


 * FNS Turku
 * Pennant number: 61.
 * Builder: Wärtsilä.
 * Ordered: 13 January 1983.
 * Commissioned: 3 June 1985.
 * Current state: Decommissioned in 2002; scrapped