Former Finnish Navy Flagship Pohjanmaa Up for Sale

The Pohjanmaa, once the proud flagship of the Finnish Navy and now operating as Arctia's icebreaker and survey vessel Pohjanmeri, is on the market. Arctia, a state-owned company specializing in special tasks including maritime surveying, announced that further details regarding the sale would be released next week. The ship is currently stationed off Teijo, awaiting a potential buyer.

Rumors of the ship's scrapping have circulated, but Arctia has confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat that no demolition permit has been issued yet. The company decided to divest the Pohjanmeri as it has reached the end of its operational lifecycle. This decision was also influenced by Arctia being selected as the operating company for the research vessel Aranda this year, a vessel better suited for maritime surveying tasks than the Pohjanmaa, which was originally designed as a minelayer.

The fate of the Pohjanmeri is expected to be decided this summer. Arctia has engaged in sales negotiations, but finding a buyer is challenging due to the vessel's history as a warship, which restricts who it can be sold to. The possibility of preserving it as a museum piece also appears unlikely at this time.

Originally built by Wärtsilä in 1979 as the minelayer Pohjanmaa, it was the largest ship in the Navy and served as its flagship. Besides mines, its main armament was a 57mm cannon. The ship, crewed by about 80 personnel, was known by nicknames such as "Old Lady" and "Booze Ship Puuhamaa." It also served as a training vessel, undertaking extensive voyages globally.

After being decommissioned in the early 2010s, the ship was slated for scrapping in 2016. However, it was eventually converted into the maritime survey vessel Pohjanmeri for Meritaito Oy, now Arctia. The conversion for civilian use cost €2.2 million, with over €700,000 allocated for maritime survey equipment, including a hull-mounted sonar system. Efforts by the Ministry of Defence to find a museum to house the Pohjanmaa proved too costly, and attempts to sell it abroad, including preliminary discussions with Estonia and Croatia, were unsuccessful. The ship gained significant public attention in 2011 for its role in the EU's anti-piracy Operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia, protecting World Food Programme shipments.