Matti Kurki Frigate Finnish Navy Suomen Merivoimat

Finnish Navy - Suomen Merivoimat
Matti Kurki (ex UK Bay class) Frigate

matti kurki frigate finnish navy suomen merivoimat uk bay 02

05/24

Ship's data:

Builder: Charles Hill & Sons, Bristol, UK

Royal Navy:
K 650 HMS Porlock Bay
Laid down: November 22, 1944
Launched: June 14, 1945
Commissioned: February 14, 1946
Decommissioned: January 1949
Fate: sold to Finland in 1962

Finnish Navy:
Acquired: March 19, 1962
Commissioned: 1964
Decommissioned: 1974
Fate: scrapped in 1975

Namesake:
Matti Kurki (Swedish: Matts Kurck) was a legendary Finnish chieftain of the birkarls

Specifications:

Displacement: 2570 tons
Length: 93.65 meters (307 feet 3 in)
Beam: 11.7 m (38 ft 6 in)
Draft: 3.9 m (12 ft 9 in)
Speed: 19.5 knots (36 km/h)
Range: 9500 NMI (17600 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement: 157

Propulsion:
2 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers
4-cylinder vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines (5,500 hp / 4,100 kW)
2 shafts / 2 propellers

Armament (as built):
4 x QF 4 inch Mark XVI guns on 2 twin mounting HA/LA Mk.XIX
4 x 40 mm Bofors A/A on 2 twin mounts Mk.V
4 x 20 mm Oerlikon A/A on 2 twin mounts Mk.V
1 x Hedgehog 24 barrel A/S projector
2 x depth-charge rails / 4 x throwers for 50 depth charges

Systems (as built):
Type 285 fire control radar
Type 291 air warning radar
Type 276 target indication radar
High Frequency Direction Finder (HF/DF)

Aviation:
none

K 650 HMS Porlock Bay was a Bay class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1946, she served on the American and West Indies Station and as a Fisheries Protection Vessel before being put into reserve in 1949.

On 19 March 1962 she was sold to the Finnish Navy as the training ship Matti Kurki, named for the Finnish medieval military hero Matti Kurki (Mats Kurck). Matti Kurki made seven global circumnavigations. It is estimated some 1,500 Finnish cadets and conscripts served on board her during her service in the Finnish Navy. She was permanently anchored at Upinniemi after being decommissioned in 1974.

She was scrapped in Pohja, Finland, in 1975.

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