SHIP STAMP SOCIETY

Interested in Ships and Stamps? The Ship Stamp Society is an international society and publishes it’s journal, Log Book, six time a year.
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A free sample of Log Book is available on request.

For the Europa issues, Litauen issued two stamps in 2018 of 0.75 Euro, by the stamp with the Trakai Castle Bridge the Litauen Post gives.

Trakai Castle Bridge - a pedestrian bridge on Lake Galvė leading to one of the larger islands - Castle Island in Trakai. The bridge connecting the city with the castle consists of two parts, among which the Karaim or Cowan Island.

There are some medieval type vessels depict in the foreground of which I think by looking to the rigging that the small vessel on the left of the stamp is a “kurenas” see: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8754
On the right of the stamp two ships of the “maasilinn” type are depict see: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14743

Litauen 2018 0.75 Euro sg?, scott?

For the 25 Anniversary van het Ministry of Transport in 1973 Portugal issued three stamps which shows us mail transports, on the 6$00 stamp which shows us a stylized vessel which looks like a ro-ro vessel. Have not any info on the ship.

Portugal 1973 6e00 sg?, scott?

Litauen issued in 2018 two Europa stamps which shows us bridges of that country both are 0.75 Euro.
The stamp which shows us a stamp with a bridge in Klaipeda, is the Birzos Bridge, in the background is a cruise vessel of which I have not any information, the light tower is the rear leading light tower of the port.
In front of the bridge is a tall ship, which is the MERIDIANAS homeported in Klaipeda and used as a floating restaurant vessel in 2018.

Built as a wooden hulled training ship under yard No 5 by Oy Laivateollisuus Ab shipyard in Turkey, Finland for the Ministry of Fisheries in Moscow.
22 February 1947 laid down.
10 June 1948 launched as the MERIDIAN, two sisters the SEKSTANT and TROPIK.
Tonnage 322 brt, 41 nrt, 55 dwt., dim. 39.40 x 8.90 x 3.40m. (draught)
Powered with an auxiliary 2-stroke diesel engine, speed with engine 6.5 knots.
Barquentine rigged.
30 August 1948 completed.
01 October 1948 delivered to the Soviet Union.

After Finland signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union on 19 September 1944 Finland agreed war reparations under which building of vessels for the Soviet Union, one of this vessels was the MERIDIAN.
03 May 1949 the Maritime School of Klaipeda receives the training vessel, her name was then MERIDIANAS.
1954 She joins the Baltic training fleet, thereafter she was used for training voyages with trainees from Kaliningrad, Riga and Klaipeda maritime schools.
1968 In the aftermath of an accident MERIDIANAS is deleted from the list of active training ships and moved to Klaipeda.
1970 She is handed over to the Public Trust of Eateries, Restaurants and Cafés of Klaipeda.
1971 A restaurant was opened on board of the MERIDIANAS.
1994 Was she privatised.
2001 For a token of 1 Litas she was sold, and a support fund was founded for the sailing ship MERIDIANAS, a symbol of the maritime city Klaipeda, which took over the management of the ship.
Early October 2012 the then head of the Fund applies to the Government of Litauen for a permit to sink the MERIDIANAS in the territorial waters of Litauen. The reason not any money is available for the repair and restauration of the vessel.
19 October 2012 the ship was handed over to Aloyzas Kuzmarskis and Aidas Kaveckis with intention to overhaul and repair the barquentine, she was moved to the Western Shipyard (AB Klasipédos laivu remontas AB) where she docked on 10 November 2012, and repair work on her hull commenced.
09 November 2013 after repaired and restoration she was moved to her permanent location at the embankment of the Dane River behind the Birzos Bridge.
19 July 2014 her sail were hoisted again for the first time after the restoration, and she is handed back to the city of Klaipeda.
18 December 2014 management is taken over by Friedrich pazazas.
2018 She is still in Klaipeda and a restaurant and bar are operating on board.

Source: http://www.restoranasmeridianas.lt/en/h ... ackground/ and internet.
Litauen 2018 0.75 Euro sg?, scott?

This Finish stamp shows us one of the Hamina-class fast attack craft, the stamp shows not a pennant no, that one of this class of four ships is depict.

All four were built by Aker Finnyard in Rauma, Finland for the Finnish Navy.
Displacement 250 tons, dim. 51 x 8.5 x 1.7m. (draught).
Powered by two MTU 16V 538 TB93 diesel engines 5,520 kW, two Rolls Royce Kamewa 90SII waterjets. Speed over 30 knots., range 500 mile.
Armament: 1 – Bofors 57mm/70 SAK Mk3, 2 – 12.7mm M.G. 8 Umkhonto-IR SAM (Denel), 4 – RRS-15 Mk2 SSM (Saab), 1 rail for depth charges or mines (sea mine 2000)
Crew 26.

The Hamina-class missile boat is a class of fast attack craft of the Finnish Navy. They are classified as "missile fast attack craft" or ohjusvene, literally "missile boat" in Finnish.
History
The vessels were built in the late 1990s, early 2000s, and are the fourth generation of Finnish missile craft. The first vessel was ordered in December 1996 and the fourth was handed over on 19 June 2006. Since the launch of the Helsinki-class missile boats, all fast attack craft have been named after Finnish coastal cities. The class was previously known also as Rauma 2000 following its predecessor the Rauma class.
The four vessels form what the Finnish Navy calls Squadron 2000 (Finnish: Laivue 2000). Initially the Finnish Navy considered several different compositions for the new squadron, and at one point only two Hamina-class vessels and four Tuuli-class ACV were to have been built. After a strategic shift of the Finnish Navy's role, the composition of the Squadron 2000 followed suit. The Tuuli-class prototype was never fully equipped, nor fitted for operational use and its three sisters were cancelled, instead two more Hamina-class boats have been built; with some of the equipment intended for the Tuulis being used in the Haminas. The fourth and final Hamina-class vessel was delivered in summer 2006.
The squadron reached its full operational capability in 2008 and have greatly improved the surface- and air surveillance as well as air defense capability of the Finnish Navy. Their electronic surveillance suite also increases the quality of information available to military leaders.
All ships were built at Aker Finnyards in Rauma, Finland. The vessels have their home base at Upinniemi.
In March 2014 it was announced that the Hamina-class missile boats will be upgraded in the near future.
MLU (Mid-Life Update
In January 2018, it was announced that the vessels will be equipped initially With Torped 45 and later with Torped 47 torpedoes. It was also announced that new Bofors 40mm Mk.4 guns had been selected as part of the MLU upgrade.
In February it was announced that Finland intended to buy RGM-84Q-4 Harpoon Block II missiles for the Haminas.
Design
The vessel's hull is constructed of aluminum and the superstructures are constructed of re-enforced carbon fiber composite. The vessels have a very low displacement and are very maneuverable. They are equipped with water jets instead of propellers, which allow them to operate in very shallow waters and accelerate, slow down and turn in unconventional ways.
The Hamina class are very potent vessels, boasting surveillance and firepower capacities which are usually found in ships twice the size.
Stealth technology
The Hamina class has been designed and constructed as stealth ships with minimal magnetic, heat and radar signatures.
The shape of the vessel has been designed to reduce radar signature. Metal parts have been covered with radar absorbent material, and the composite parts have radar absorbent material embedded in the structure. Radar transparent materials have been used where applicable.
Unlike glass fiber, carbon fiber blocks radio waves. This protects ship's electronics against electromagnetic pulse. In addition, it stops any radio frequency signals generated by ships electronic devices escaping outside. Except for the bridge, the vessel has no windows that would allow the signals to escape.
The vessel contains hardly any steel parts, thus generating very low magnetic field. The remaining magnetic field is actively canceled with electromagnets.
Exhaust gases can be directed underwater to minimize thermal signature, or up in the air to minimize sound in submarines direction. 50 nozzles around the decks and upper structures can be used to spray seawater on the vessel to cool it. In addition, the nozzles can be used to clean the ship after chemical attack or radioactive fall-out.
Weapons
The Hamina class have the latest in surveillance and weapons technology all integrated into an intelligent command system. A Hamina class vessel can monitor about 200 kilometres (120 mi) of air space and its Umkhonto surface-to-air missile system can simultaneously engage a maximum of eight aircraft, up to 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away, while the vessel's anti-ship missiles have a range in excess of over 250 kilometres (160 mi).
The Hamina class' primary weaponry is four RBS-15 Mk.3 anti-ship missiles. The vessels are further equipped with a Bofors 57 mm gun against surface and aerial targets as well as the Umkhonto-IR surface-to-air missiles, MASS decoy system and two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. It is also possible to use the ships for mine-laying.
The software of the centralized combat control system is COTS oriented, built on top of Linux running on redundant x86 rack servers, which makes maintenance and future updates and optimizations simpler.
In early 2018, Finland announced the mid-life upgrade program, which will equip all four boats in the class with new Swedish lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedoes in the years 2023-2025 and extend the life of the boats to 2035

Vessels
FNS HAMINA
Pennant number: 80
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: December 1996
Commissioned: 24 August 1998
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service.
FNS TORNIO
Pennant number: 81
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: 15 February 2001
Commissioned: 12 May 2003
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service
FNS HANKO
Pennant number: 82
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: 3 December 2003
Commissioned: 22 June 2005
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service
FNS PORI
Pennant number: 83
Builder: Aker Finnyards
Ordered: 15 February 2005
Commissioned: 19 June 2006
Home base: Upinniemi
Current status: In active service

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamina-class_missile_boat

Finland 2018 sg?, scott

The Finish navy did have two coastal defence ships before World War II and one of this is depict on this stamp. The submarine in the foreground is the VESIKKO see viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16336

Both were built on the Ab Crichton-Vulcan Oy in Turkey for the Finish Navy.
The VÄINÄMÕINEN was ordered in 1927 the ILMARINEN in1929.
29 April 1932 launched as the VÄINÄMÕINEN.
Displacement 3,900 ton, dim. 93.0 x 16.8 x 5.0m. (draught)
Powered diesel electric by four Krupp engines each 1,173 hp each,two shafts,speed 14.5 knots.

Range 700 mile by 14.5 knots.

Armament: 2 – 254 mm Bofors, 4 – 105mm Bofors, 4 – 40mm Vickers and 2 – 20mm Madsens when built, four 20mm Madsens added in 1944.
Crew 410.
28 December 1932 commissioned.

VÄINÄMÕINEN was a Finnish coastal defence ship, the sister ship of the Finnish Navy's flagship ILMARINEN and also the first ship of her class. She was built at the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku and was launched in 1932. Following the end of the Continuation War, VÄINÄMÕINEN was handed over to the Soviet Union as war reparations and renamed Vyborg.[i] The ship remained in Soviet hands until her scrapping in 1966.
Design
VÄINÄMÕINEN and ILMARINEN were planned to be mobile coastal fortresses for the defence of the Finnish demilitarized islands at Åland in particular. The two ships were not well suited for the open seas due to a design with emphasis on operations in the shallow waters of the archipelago: it has been said that they were volatile and rolled too much. The minimal depth keel, together with the high conning tower, made the ships' movements slow and wide. It was said that the ships were uncomfortable, but harmless to their crews.
The ship's heavy armament of 254-millimetre (10 in) Bofors guns could fire shells of 255 kilograms (562 lb) up to 31 kilometres (19 mi).
Fire control
In fire control, the two coastal ships were identical. The fire control centre and the gun towers were connected electrically so that ranging and orders could be given without spoken contact. With the aid of mechanical calculators, the values were transferred directly to the gun towers.
Operational history
Winter War
During the Winter War, the two coastal defence ships were transferred to the Åland islands to protect against invasion. When the ice cover started to become too thick in December, the ships were transferred to Turku, where their anti-aircraft artillery aided in the defence of the city.
Continuation War
The only time VÄINÄMÕINEN and ILMARINEN fired their heavy artillery against an enemy was at the beginning of the Continuation War, during the Soviet Red Army evacuation of their base at the Hanko Peninsula. VÄINÄMÕINEN also participated in the distraction manoeuvre Operation Nordwind on 13 September 1941, during the course of which her sister ship ILMARINEN was lost to mines.
In 1943 "Detachment VÄINÄMÕINEN", which consisted of VÄINÄMÕINEN, six VMV patrol boats and six motor minesweepers, was moved east to take positions along the coast between Helsinki and Kotka. She did not actively participate in many operations, since the heavier Soviet naval units never left Leningrad, where they were used as floating batteries during the siege. As a result, VÄINÄMÕINEN's primary operational duties were to patrol the Gulf of Finland between the minefields "Seeigel" and "Nashorn", as well as protection of the German-Finnish anti-submarine net across the gulf.
During the Soviet assault in the summer of 1944, the Soviets put much effort into trying to find and sink VÄINÄMÕINEN. Reconnaissance efforts revealed a large warship anchored in Kotka harbour and the Soviets launched an air attack of 132 bombers and fighters. However the target was not VÄINÄMÕINEN — instead it was the German anti-aircraft cruiser NIOBE .
Postwar
After the end of the Continuation War VÄINÄMÕINEN was handed over as war reparations to the Soviet Union. The ship was handed over on 29 May 1947 to the Soviet Baltic Fleet, where she was renamed VYBORG. The ship served over 6 years in the Red Fleet at the Soviet base in Porkkala, Finland. The ship was called Vanya (a Russian short form of the name Ivan) by the sailors of the Baltic Fleet.
VYBORG was modernized during the 1950s and served for a while as an accommodation ship in Tallinn. Preparations to scrap the ship were begun in 1958. During this time, there were talks to return the ship to Finland. The ship was, however, scrapped in 1966 at a Leningrad scrapyard. According to Soviet calculations, 2,700 tons of metal were recovered.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4in ... fence_ship

The ILMARINEN was also ordered in September 1929.
09 July 1932 laid down.
09 September 1933 launched as ILMARINEN.
She has the same details as her sister.
17 April 1934 completed.

ILMARINEN was a Finnish Navy Panssarilaiva ("Armored ship"; a coastal defence ship by British classification). The unit was constructed at the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, Finland, and named after the mythological hero ILMARINEN from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. ILMARINEN was the flagship of the Navy from 1 May 1933 until her demise on 13 September 1941.
During the early inter-war period the Finnish Navy consisted of some 30 ex-Russian vessels, most of them taken as war-trophies following the civil war. Never ideal types for the navy's needs, they were generally old and in poor condition. In 1925, a tragic incident highlighted the sorry state of the navy. An old torpedo boat was lost in a fierce storm, taking with her the entire crew of 53. A heated debate started, and intensive lobbying led to the adoption of a new Finnish Navy Act in 1927.
Prior to World War II, the fleet renewal program led to the acquisition or construction of five submarines, four torpedo boats, and two coastal defense ships. Among the last of their kind, VÄINNÄNÖINEN and ILMARINEN were two of the most concentrated naval artillery units ever built. They were designed by the Dutch company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (a front for German interests circumventing the Treaty of Versailles), and were optimized for operations in the archipelagos of the Baltic Sea. Their open sea performance was de-emphasized in order to give the vessels their shallow draft and super-compact design.
Coastal defence ships were particularly popular in the Nordic countries, and began serving in the navies of Denmark, Sweden and Norway early in the 20th century. These vessels typically had heavy armament and good armor protection, but were relatively slow. Their sizes were around 4,000 tons, main armament consisted of guns between 210 and 240 mm (8 and 9 in), the armor corresponded to that of armoured cruisers, and speeds were between 15 and 18 knots (28 and 33 km/h; 17 and 21 mph). A coastal defence ship was somewhere between a cruiser and a monitor: slower than a cruiser but better armed, faster than a monitor, but with smaller guns. The coastal defence ships also varied among themselves; some of them were closer to cruisers, and others, such as the Finnish ones, were closer to monitors.
Being the second of her class, ILMARINEN was launched at the Turku shipyard on 9 September 1933. The ship went through its finishing trials and was handed over to the Finnish Navy on 17 April 1934. Her sister ship Väinämöinen had preceded her by two years.
The vessels had a compact design, with a high mast and large turrets for main and secondary artillery. Foreign comments on their design ranged from puns to praise. Not truly designed for open sea operations, the ships had a tendency to roll slowly and widely even in moderate seas. Travel on them was unpleasant, but deemed safe. Additional keels were later fitted, which improved the situation...

Ancient Chinese texts tell the story of Hsu Fu, a navigator and explorer sent by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, in 218 BC into the "Eastern Ocean" in search of life-prolonging drugs. Hsu Fu completed the voyage on a bamboo raft, which some believe took him to America and back.

Tim Severin set out to prove that such a voyage really could have been made. On the beach at Sam Son, Vietnam, he oversaw the construction of a 60-foot (18.3 m) long, 15-foot (4.6 m) wide raft built of 220 bamboos and rattan cording, and driven by an 800 square foot (74 square metre), junk-rigged sail. After leaving Asia in May 1993, Severin and his crew faced monsoons, pirates, and typhoons before the rattan began rotting and the raft began falling apart in the mid-Pacific. After travelling 5,500 miles (8,850 km) in 105 days, they were forced to abandon the raft about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) short of their destination.

Although the Hsu Fu, as the craft was named, did not complete the trip, Severin believed the voyage had accomplished its purpose. In The China Voyage, published in 1994, he wrote that the expedition had proved that a bamboo raft of the second century BC could, indeed, have made a voyage across the Pacific, just as Hsu Fu's account recorded.

More on the voyage you can find on: http://www.personal.psu.edu/pjc12/From% ... dition.htm

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Sever ... oyage_(May–November_1993)
Surinam 2018 SRD 19.00 sg?, scott?