Taistelualusten hankintasuunnitelmat kylmän sodan ensimmäisinä vuosina

Abstract

In the late 1940s and early 1950s Finland planned to build a navy capable of anti-landing operations and protection of maritime traffic. In the battles of the Continuation War several vessels had been destroyed. Also, the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1944 denied the use of submarines and motor torpedo boats. The armored vessel Väinämöinen had been sold to the Soviet Union in 1947. Thus, at the end of the 1940s, the Navy had no vessels capable of combat operations. The image of war of the period and the threat of attack by western countries motivated the procurement of combat vessels. However, the political reasons varied. During the first years after the war, mine clearing was used as the reason to acquire new vessels. In the 1950s, the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual assistance as well as the national employment situation were the most widely used arguments. The ship building plans from the late 1940s are, from today’s point of view, quite ambitious. After the war there were even hopes that a navy larger than that stipulated in the Paris Peace Treaty (10 000 tons) could be built. At the same time there were plans to relaunch the submarines that were denied in the Peace Treaty. The intention was to defend the country with all means possible. The ship building plans made in the first years of the Cold War did not remain drafts; some, for example the Minelayer Keihässalmi and the R-Class mineclearing vessels, were realized in the 1950s and 1960s. The full text is in Finnish. Artikkeli on suomenkielinen