The Nuoli-class motor gunboats ( en, Arrow) was a series of thirteen

fast attack craft A fast attack craft (FAC) is a small, fast, agile, offensive, often affordable warship armed with anti-ship missiles, gun or torpedoes. FACs are usually operated in close proximity to land as they lack both the seakeeping and all-round defensive ...

of the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, 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 ...

. The ships were constructed in 1961 by Oy Laivateollisuus Ab in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, and modernized in 1979. The Nuoli motor gunboats played a very important role in naval training and were in service until the early 90s. There are two distinctive versions, 1-10 and 11-13. The former could be distinguished by having a higher superstructure. All were equipped with three Soviet-made Zvezda M50 F V-12 four stroke, water cooled

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s displacing 62.4 litres. They had a mechanical

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

and a compressed air starter, developing 1200 hp at 1850 rpm max. There was no separate cruise engine, except from a small auxiliary engine that produced electricity. The vessels were first equipped with large screws, but later changed to smaller, albeit equally effective screws, manufactured by FinnScrew. The main armament of the Nuoli class was a

Bofors 40 mm Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

gun mounted aft. It was later planned to be equipped with an electrically-controlled Bofors 40/70-system, but limitations of the auxiliary engine prevented this. The forward armament was a Madsen 20/60. For a brief period these were replaced with Breda 12.7 mm heavy machine-gun which came from WW II-period

Fiat G.50 The Fiat G.50 ''Freccia'' ("Arrow") was a World War II Italian fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by aviation company Fiat. Upon entering service, the type became Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane that had an enclosed co ...

fighters formerly used by e.g. No. 26 Squadron of the

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; fi, Ilmavoimat, , Air forces; sv, Flygvapnet, , Air weapon) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of Finnis ...

; the change back to Madsen was done in 1981. Finland was forbidden to have torpedo boats after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but the Nuoli class could quickly be converted into such, if need arose. in 1982 Nuoli-6 was transferred and ferried to the Upinniemi (Swedish: Obbnäs) torpedo test station in southern Finland to be used as test vessel for a new Finnish-origin torpedo system, which failed. The trip to Obbnäs was made in heavy weather - the waves were so hard that they damaged the wooden support structure of the bow. Nuoli-6 was driven aground in Obbnäs 1983 (summer/autumn) and was stricken. Nuoli 8 20 mm Madsen Forum Marinum

As a service vessel these boats gave one a true feeling of being a sailor. Constructed of wood, they leaked "a bit" and so the atmosphere was rather moist. Living quarters were limited - even those of the commanding officer. There was no privacy at all - on a Nuoli everyone was a true member of the crew. The vessels are today spread all over Finland, and one is in Germany (Nuoli 12). Nuoli 8 is preserved at the Turku marine museum ''Forum Marinum''.

Vessels of the class

;Nuoli 1: (Pennant number: 31) ;Nuoli 2: (Pennant number: 32) ;Nuoli 3: (Pennant number: 33) ;Nuoli 4: (Pennant number: 34) Scrapped in 1979 ;Nuoli 5: (Pennant number: 35) ;Nuoli 6: (Pennant number: 36) ;Nuoli 7: (Pennant number: 37) ;Nuoli 8: (Pennant number: 38) On display at the maritime museum Forum Marinum ;Nuoli 9: (Pennant number: 39) Scrapped in 1980 ;Nuoli 10: (Pennant number: 40) In Private ownership berther in Helsinki, Finland. The Helsinki - geograph

;Nuoli 11: (Pennant number: 41) – In private ownership by Servo Engineering Ltd, berthed on the Exeter Ship Canal, UK. A team travelled to Finland to prepare Nuolli 11 for her journey to Exeter. "This involved stripping her hull, filling and repainting, overhauling her main generator for 3-phase power to warm the main engines; these were intact but required all the support systems to be installed including oil tanks, exhaust and fuel systems." The route back to the UK included passing down the Swedish and Danish coasts to enter the Kiel canal. They rested in Germany for a few weeks until the weather had improved in the North Sea, then headed overnight to

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

. Then she passed through the English Channel and across to

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

, finally entering the Exeter canal (pictures at top of page). Sunk at berth and raised, February 2017, awaiting repairs on dockside with serious structural damage to the port side. ;Nuoli 12:(Pennant number: 42) built in 1964, now in use as "Traditional Boat" in Germany, rebuilt near to origin state, non-profit association "Traditionsschiff NUOLI 12 e.V." scrapped in Denmark in 2016 ;Nuoli 13: (Pennant number: 43) – In private ownership in

Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikkel ...

, Finland

References

{{Reflist

External links

Will it start? V12 Diesel, Russian ZVEZDA M50 V12
on Youtube
Nuoli 11 berthed at Exeter
on Flickr Ships of the Finnish Navy Fast attack craft