History
The Pohjanmaa was built in 1978 at the Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard, Finland.
The Pohjanmaa first served as a school ship for the Naval Academy until 1992 when she was transferred to the Gulf of Finland Navy (Now called Gulf of Finland Naval Command). When she was completed it replaced the minelayer Ruotsinsalmi and as a school ship the Matti Kurki. On 10 May 1982, she was given the traditional shield of ocean faring vessels previously held by Suomen Joutsen, so in effect the Pohjanmaa continues the tradition of the three ships. The ship underwent a heavy modernization program in 1996-1998, which included a replacing her 120 mm main gun with a more modern Bofors 57 mm fully automatic antiaircraft gun.
The annual training cruise for the cadets has taken the ship as far as Belém, Brazil. The accommodation capacity of the vessel for the long range cruises can be increased with accommodation containers.
On 28 June 2005, as part of their cruise, the Pohjanmaa participated in the International Fleet Review which is a part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations.
In 2007, the ship was refitted together with the Hämeenmaa class minelayers and her colour scheme changed from camouflage to light grey. Her second aft gun was also removed from the aft deck due to narrow shooting sectors, which were even further narrowed due to a new bigger hydraulic crane of a new seaboat.
In 2010, it was decided that the Pohjanmaa will participate in Operation Atalanta.
On 6 April 2011, Pohjanmaa captured a vessel suspected as pirate mothership along with two speedboats. The search onboard revealed assault rifles, RPGs and other weapons. Eighteen of the suspected pirates were incarcerated onboard Pohjanmaa. Since the Prosecutor General of Finland decided not to prosecute, the pirates were transferred to the jurisdiction of Operation Atalanta, which later released the pirates. The pirate ship and the speedboats were scuttled at sea.
Read more about this topic: Finnish Minelayer Pohjanmaa
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