Finnish gunboats Oulu and Kotka, purchased by Croatia for EUR 8m, will be presented to the public on Croatia’s Navy Day Nacional has learned from sources close to the negotiating team that last week, Croatia’s Defence Ministry held a meeting with a Finnish negotiating team in Zagreb, to wrap up the technical details in the purchase of two used Finnish rocket gunboats for the Croatian Navy. Both ships are in the Helsinki class and just over twenty years old. These are the rocket gunboats FNS Kotka 63 and FNS Oulu 62 written off by the Finnish navy some time ago, despite their good condition, due to a need for new vessels.

The signing of the contract worth EUR 8 million for both ships is expected in just under a month, following Finnish Navy Commander, Vice-Admiral Hans Holmström’s official visit to Croatia in early May. The two ships will be presented to the Croatian public on 18 September 2008, the Croatian Navy Day, while in the meantime, Croatian officers and non-commissioned officers will receive a short training programme on the ships during the summer months. The acquisition of the Finnish ships has not only strengthened the Croatian military fleet, but the Croatian Navy can now declare its new capacities within its vying for NATO membership.

Both Finnish warships are capable of engaging in anti-submarine combat. Each is equipped with two submarine seeking sonar devices and each has the capacity to release deep-sea bombs to destroy submarines. This means that with its capacity to engage in anti-submarine combat, Croatia is sure to receive the opportunity to participate in NATO’s maritime operations in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. Such an active engagement by Croatian military vessels in NATO operations could replace the participation of several units of Croatian infantry troops in NATO land-based operations, which is not negligible given the higher risk of casualties for Croatian troops in land-based operations. Vice-Admiral Hans Holmström, commander of the Finnish Navy

With regards to the current technical state of vessels in the Croatian Navy, it must be said that due to their obsoleteness and lack of finances for overhaul, the vessels spend more time at dock than at sail. The most significant problem the Navy faces today is that its three rocket gunboats are tied to the overhaul of the RBS-15 anti-ship rocket which has not been carried out, the overhaul of the German MTU engine on the Croatian gunboat RTOP-21 Šibenik or the Russian engines on the rocket gunboats RTOP-11 and RTOP-12. Furthermore, the navy is lacking is proper anti-air defence. Though both Finnish rocket gunboats are a little over twenty years old, they are in very good condition. This was confirmed for Nacional by a high-ranking officer of the Croatian Navy who recently attended a test run of one of the ships. The six German MTU engines on board, with three on each ship, are in such condition that both ships can sail for several years before requiring any overhaul.

Included the EUR 8m price is an entire series of spare parts, including two spare used MTU engines that have been overhauled and conserved, and auxiliary engines for starting the gunboats. It could also be noted that the two spare MTU engines could immediately be put to use in place of the old engines of the same type on Croatia’s oldest navy gunboat, the RTOP-21 Šibenik, that was launched in 1977. This would put the Šibenik back in order and, with the arrival of the two Finnish gunboats, would strengthen the navy’s ability to sail and training intensity, something that has not been overly active in recent years due to the poor condition of Croatian military vessels.

If one were to compare the total price of the two Finnish gunboats of EUR 8m, including spare parts, with the price of the luxurious yachts recently purchased by Croatian businessmen and athletes, ringing in at more than EUR 10m, then there should be no doubt that this purchase was the best deal for the Croatian Navy in the transition period until new vessels are acquired. The rocket gunboats are fast assault ships, with the possibility of rocket attack against another vessel to distances of up to several dozen kilometres, but cannot play the role of the outer-coastal patrol ships that Croatian needs. However, members of the Croatian navy will now have the opportunity to sail regularly and train together with members of the NATO maritime forces.

Anti-ship rocket RBS-15 fires at targets up to 80 km away

Since Croatia will not even receive the prototype of the Croatian outer-coastal patrol ship, this deal is a welcome one. The Poles made a similar deal, buying written-off military ships from the US. Not only was the price tag on those ships reasonable, but the entire construction, design and technology of the ships is well known to members of the Croatian Navy, which makes their handling and sailing much easier, especially in the case of defensive systems such as the anti-air gun Boforc 57 mm with fire management control, the RBS-15 rocket, the two 23 mm double-barrel guns and the like. The length, width, speed and number of crew members on the Finnish rocket gunboats are identical to those of the Croatian rocket gunboat RTOP-21 Šibenik, while Croatia’s two other gunboats are somewhat longer than the Finnish ships. This means that the Croatian Navy offices will not require a long training period to operate the ships.

With this acquisition, Defence Minister Branko Vukelic has done more for the Croatian Navy than all his predecessors

The Finnish Navy is equivalent in size to that of Croatia. Nacional has learned off the record that the main objective of the upcoming visit by the Finnish Vice-Admiral in early May is to work out details on closer cooperation between the two navies, particularly since Finnish waters are under ice for up to half the year, leaving its members without training opportunities year round. The compatibility and similarity of the Croatian and Finnish vessels will certainly allow for Finnish Navy members to train in Croatia, if necessary.

The purchase of the rocket gunboats was more than necessary, following the complete marginalization of the Croatian Navy, which virtually has no ships capable of sailing in open seas. This is the result of several circumstances, but primarily the fact that for the past decade, no Defence Ministry officials have had any consideration or understanding for the significance of the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean in the security of the European continent, and for Croatia’s future positioning as a maritime country. The main premise all these years has been that upon receiving NATO membership, there would not be any threats from the sea, and so such investments in high military technology were unnecessary. Little thought was given to Croatia’s crucial role in patrolling the Adriatic.

The Adriatic Sea and its control are of strategic importance of the EU, as this is the nearest maritime route from the Far East to Europe. Controlling all the events in the Adriatic Sea is still in the hands of the US and its navy, and it is no secret that the French want European maritime forces to have a greater influence on the Mediterranean. Issues of illegal immigrants, human trafficking, arms smuggling and terrorism are increasingly present on maritime routes and much more serious thought should be given to the Croatian maritime forces than has been the case to date.

First prototype of the corvette in 2011 Commander of the Croatian Navy Ante Urlic with Chief of the General Staff Josip Lucic and Vice-Admiral Zdravko Kardum to sign the purchase deal with the Finns in one month’s time The Croatian Navy has earmarked HRK 795 million for the long-term procurement of equipment to 2015, and a further HRK 270 million to modernize the existing resources, including engine overhauls and modernization of the RTOP-11 and 12 rocket gunboats, RBS-15 rocket, final equipping of the RTOP-12 and modernization of anti-air defences on the gunboats. These figures alone indicate that Croatia could buy just about nothing on the world market with these funds, considering that a new and fully equipped Gowind corvette costs about EUR 200 million, or more than twice the funds allocated to 2015.

The RTOP 11 Petar Krešimir IV rocket gunboat has been in poor condition for some time, as one of the M-503 Russian engines is not in working order, and the remaining two are in overhaul due to their number of working hours. Since Croatia’s independence, this ship has never been in function with all three working engines for any length of time. The Swedish-made electronic ship-ship rocket guidance system RBS 15-SAM has been out of order for a long time, and the ship is therefore incompetent for combat.

The RTOP-21 with German MTU engines and Rolls-Royce gas turbine has not been in full combat use since 1991 due to the malfunctioning of those turbines. With the acquisition of the used rocket gunboats, this will partially bridge the problem under the arrival of new military corvettes for the Croatian navy, not expected until 2011.