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.
Read more about this topic: Helsinki Class Missile Boat
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“You had to face your ends when young
‘Twas wine or women, or some curse
But never made a poorer song
That you might have a heavier purse,
Nor gave loud service to a cause
That you might have a troop of friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)