Sisu (1938 icebreaker)
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| History | |
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.svg){kind=small} Finland
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| Name: | Sisu |
| Namesake: | Sisu |
| Owner: | Finnish Board of Navigation |
| Port of registry: |
Helsinki,  Finland
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| Builder: | Wärtsilä Hietalahti Shipyard, Helsinki |
| Cost: | FIM 39 million |
| Yard number: | 272 |
| Laid down: | March 1937 |
| Launched: | 24 September 1938 |
| Sponsored by: | Walborg Jokinen |
| Christened: | 24 August 1938 |
| Completed: | 12 March 1939 |
| In service: | 1939–1974 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 5330371 Call sign: OHLL |
| Fate: | Handed over to the Finnish Navy in 1975 |
 Finland
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| Name: | Louhi |
| Namesake: | Louhi |
| Owner: | Finnish Navy |
| In service: | 1975–1986 |
| Identification: | Hull number: 90 |
| Fate: | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Icebreaker |
| Displacement: | 2,075 tonnes |
| Length: | 65.3 m (214 ft) |
| Beam: | 14.4 m (47 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.1 m (17 ft) |
| Installed power: | Three Atlas Polar diesel engines |
| Propulsion: | Diesel-electric (DC/DC) Three shafts (3 × 1,335 hp) |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Crew: | 51 (as icebreaker) Accommodation for 100 |
| Armament: | Armed during the war |
Sisu was a Finnish state-owned icebreaker. Built in 1939 at Wärtsilä Hietalahti Shipyard in Helsinki, she was one of the world's first diesel-electric icebreakers. In addition to icebreaking duties, she served as a submarine tender for the Finnish Navy during the summer months until the end of the Continuation War.
In 1975, Sisu was handed over to the Finnish Navy and renamed Louhi. She was decommissioned in 1986 and sold for scrap.
While the economic growth stagnated in Finland in the early 1930s following the Great Depression, international trade began to recover relatively soon and in particular the export of forest products from the ports in the Bothnian Bay was growing. Already in 1932, a delegation from Northern Ostrobothnia submitted a proposal for the construction of a new state-owned icebreaker. In 1935, another large delegation of politicians and representatives from coastal cities proposed expanding the state-owned icebreaker fleet. They were also strongly supported by the growing Finnish forest industry.
At the time, Finland had a fleet of six steam-powered icebreakers to keep trade routes open through the winter months. Following the commissioning of Jääkarhu in 1926, the Finnish Board of Navigation had planned to replace the smallest vessels of the state-owned fleet, the 1890-built Murtaja and the 1899-built Apu, with a new medium-sized icebreaker. These icebreakers represented the first generation of icebreaker design in the Baltic Sea and were considered obsolete because they had no bow propeller. However, the plans were shelved due to the recession.
In June 1935, a small expert committee led by Captain Ilmari Jokinen, the director of the Finnish Board of Navigation, began investigating the feasibility of a dual-use vessel that could be used as an icebreaker during the winter and as a submarine tender for the Finnish Navy during the summer months. The committee found the idea feasible and, in addition, recommended replacing traditional reciprocating steam engines with a diesel-electric power plant pioneered by the Swedish icebreaker Ymer in 1933. While a second expert committee, formed from experienced Finnish naval architects and icebreaker captains in March 1936, proposed purchasing two new icebreakers, the Parliament of Finland allocated FIM 36 million for ordering one medium-sized icebreaker.
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