Valas-class transport
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- Hollming Oy (4 ships)
- Enso-Gutzeit (Mursu)[1]
 Valas | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders |
|
| Operators | Finnish Navy |
| Subclasses | Mursu |
| Built | 1979–1981[1] |
| Completed | 5[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Transport ship |
| Displacement | 300 t (300 long tons)[1] |
| Length | 30 m (98 ft 5 in)[1] |
| Beam | 8 m (26 ft 3 in)[1] |
| Propulsion | 1,080 kW (1,450 hp)[1] |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h)[1] |
| Capacity | 150 passengers or 30 t (30 long tons) cargo[2] |
| Armament |
|
The Valas class were ice-going transport ships operated by the Finnish Navy from the 1980s to 2010s. The Valas class (Whale) consisted of five ships that were used to transport passengers and vehicles. They had secondary duties as tugboats and were also capable of laying naval mines. One ship of the class, Mursu, was built to modified design as a diving support vessel.
The Valas class was designed in the 1970s to improve Finnish Navy transport capacity and particularly to help supply coastal forts during winter. Communications with coastal fort islands was done with liaison boats and ships while heavy equipment and vehicles were transported by Kave and Kala-class landing craft. Pellinki was the only ship able to satisfactorily operate in ice. During winter supply had to be usually done over the ice by ice roads or by ski. In spring and autumn when the ice was too thick for ships but too thin to carry, hydrocopters were sometimes the only means to reach the islands.[1][3]
