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Among the items sold to Finland by the United States were five 260-ton coastal minesweepers. Four are shown here after they were re-christened with Finnish names. The Allies had used the Tammenpää (on the right of the photo) in mine clearance on Omaha Beach in Normandy during the D-Day landings of June 1944. Originally these vessels were part of the Lend-Lease programme supplying material to the British before the US joined World War II. In the customs declaration, shown at right, the Tammenpää goes by its original name of B.Y.M.S. (for British Yard Mine Sweeper) 2047. When the vessels came to Finland, they were initially used as accommodation ships for students, before the Finnish Navy bought them and re-equipped them for minesweeping purposes. All were later used as naval training vessels before being sold for scrap in the late 1950s. Very sharp-eyed readers may also notice that the vessel was towed in from Falmouth, England, where it was presumably mothballed after its service in the Normandy landings.
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Photo:
KUVAT MERIVOIMIEN ESIKUNTA / KUVA-ARKISTO, ASIAKIRJAT TULLIHAL
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