GTS Finnjet

Finnjet approaching Helsinki in spring 2004.
History
Name:	1977–2008: Finnjet 2008: Da Vinci 2008: Kingdom
Owner:	1977–1982: Enso-Gutzeit 1982–1986: Effoa (75%), Enso-Gutzeit (25%) 1986–1989: Effoa 1989–1991: Partrederiet för GTS Finnjet 1991–1993: Effdo 1 1993–1997: Silja Line 1997–2006: Sally Ab 2006–2007: Finnjet Bermuda Ltd 2007–2008: Cruise Ship Holdings Four Ltd
Operator:	1977–1983: Finnlines 1983–1987: Finnjet Line 1987–2005: Silja Line 2005–2008: laid up
Port of registry:	1977–1993: Helsinki,  Finland 1993–2006: Mariehamn,  Åland 2006–2008: Nassau,  Bahamas 2008: Panama  Panama
Ordered:	5 December 1973
Builder:	Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard, Helsinki, Finland
Yard number:	407
Laid down:	20 May 1975
Launched:	28 March 1976
Christened:	28 April 1977
Acquired:	28 April 1977
In service:	13 May 1977
Out of service:	19 September 2005
Identification:	IMO number: 7359632
Fate:	Broken up in 2008–2009
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Cruiseferry
Tonnage:	24,605 GRT 2,825 DWT
Length:	212.96 m (698 ft 8 in)
Beam:	25.40 m (83 ft 4 in)
Draught:	6.89 m (22 ft 7 in)
Ice class:	1 A Super
Installed power:	2 × Pratt & Whitney FT 4C-1DLF gas turbines 55,000 kW (74,000 hp) (combined)
Speed:	31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)
Capacity:	1,800 passengers 1,532 passenger berths 380 cars
General characteristics (after 2004 refit)
Type:	Cruiseferry
Tonnage:	32,975 GT 2,827 DWT
Length:	214.96 m (705 ft 3 in)
Installed power:	2 × Pratt & Whitney FT 4C-1DLF gas turbines 2 × Wärtsilä-Vasa 18V32 diesel engines 66,400 kW (89,000 hp) (combined)
Speed:	33.5 knots (62.0 km/h; 38.6 mph)
Capacity:	1,781 passengers 1,631 passenger berths 325 cars 815 lanemeters
Crew:	178
Notes:	Otherwise the same as built

GTS Finnjet was a cruiseferry, built in 1977 by Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard, Finland for Finnlines traffic between Finland and Germany. At the time of her delivery, Finnjet was the fastest, longest and largest car ferry in the world, and the only one powered by gas turbines. At the point of her scrapping in 2008, she remained the fastest conventional ferry in the world, with a recorded top speed of 33.5 knots (62.0 km/h; 38.6 mph).

Finnjet had remained out of service since 2005, laid up in Baton Rouge, Freeport and Genoa. Although she was purchased by Club Cruise in November 2007 and renamed MS Da Vinci in January 2008 for rebuilding into a cruise ship, the ship was sold for scrap in May 2008. Following the sale she was renamed MS Kingdom for her final voyage to the scrapyard in Alang, India where scrapping finally started in September 2008.

Finnjet was built by Wärtsilä at the Helsinki Shipyard (now operated by Arctech) (Build-No. 407) in Helsinki, Finland and delivered to Enso-Gutzeit to serve in their subsidiary Finnlines. The ship was built specifically for the route between Helsinki in Finland and Travemünde in West Germany which Finnlines had previously trafficked with slower conventional ferries. Thanks to her gas turbine engines and top speed of 31 knots (57 km/h), a one-way crossing was planned to take only 22 hours for the ship. At the time Travemünde was the closest port to Finland in mainland Western Europe, being located in the Federal German state of Schleswig-Holstein just west of the border with East Germany.