“Coastal Warfare: Protecting the Coast with Fortifications and Fleets” programme
26th of February 2026 venue: Estonian Maritime Museum, Seaplane Harbour (Vesilennuki 6), Tallinn
- 17.00-18.00 Opportunity to visit the Estonian Maritime Museum, Seaplane Hangar exhibition
- 18.00-20.00 Dinner
27th of February 2026 venue: Kultuurikatel (Kursi 3), Creative Hub, Courtyard Tower, Tallinn
- 9.00-9.30 Registration and coffee
- 9.30-9.40 Opening speeches (Urmas Dresen, Member of the Board, Arto Oll (PhD), Researcher at the Estonian Maritime Museum)
- 9.40-10.00 Opening the Conference
- 10.00-10.30 Mateusz Polakowski, PhD (Senior Project Officer at MSDS Marine Ltd)- “Ancient Roman Warships and how to find them: The Battle of the Egadi Islands (241 BC) – From debris to battlefield”
- 10.30-11.00 Dr. Jakob Seerup (Curator at the Bornholms Museum) – “Bornholm as a fortified island”
- 11.00-11.30 Commander Taavi Urb, MA (Lecturer in Maritime Operations at the Baltic Defence College) – “Coastal Defence in the Framework of Maritime Strategy”
- 11.30-12.00 Prof. Ian Speller (Professor at Maynooth University, National University of Ireland Maynooth) – “Coastal defence: learning lessons from the past for a contested future”
- 12.00-12.30 Coffee break
- 12.30-13.00 Prof. Søren Nørby (Assistant professor at the Department of Strategy and War Studies at the Forsvarsakademiet (Royal Danish Defence College) – “Seaward defense of Copenhagen 1880-1918”
- 13.00-13.30 Andreas Linderoth, PhD (Research Coordinator, The Cultural Heritage Unit, Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums) – “The introduction of new technology and Swedish coastal defense 1880-1925”
- 13.30-14.00 Heiko Herold, PhD (Institute for Security at Kiel University) – ”German coastal defense in World War I“
- 14.00-14.30 Prof. Andrew Lambert (Professor of Naval History at the King`s College) – “Strategic asymmetry – containing Russia from the sea”
- 14.30-15.30 Lunch
- 15.30-16.00 Arto Oll, PhD (Researcher at the Estonian Maritime Museum) – “Coastal Fortresses of the Estonian Navy, 1918-1940”
- 16.00-16.30 Commander (US Navy, retired) Paul Richardson Austin (Chair of Leadership and Pedagogy, Lecturer of Leadership, Estonian Military Academy) – “The Multi-Dimensional Fight: Challenges of Operating Surface Warfare Combatants in the Littoral Zone”
- 16.30-17.00 Mikko Meronen, MA (Researcher at the Forum Marinum) – “Turret guns and anti-ship missiles. Finnish Coastal Artillery’s preparation for countering landings in the 1960s-1970s”
- 17.00-17.30 Fregattenkapitän Christian Jentzsch, PhD (Research Associate in the Operational History Project Area at the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr) – “The federal German Navy and the defence of the Baltic Sea in the 1980s”
- 17.30-18.00 Closing remarks
- 18.00-19.00 Coffee and refreshments
*The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the programme if necessary.
*The conference will be held in English