Finnish coastal defence ship Väinämöinen-class 1932-1968

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

The only time Väinämöinen 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. Väinämöinen 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 Väinämöinen', which consisted of Väinämöinen, six VMV patrol boats and six motor mine sweepers, was moved east in 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 to effect as floating batteries during the siege. As a result, Väinämöinens 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 weight in trying to find and sink the Väinämöinen. Reconnaissance efforts revealed a large naval ship anchored in Kotka harbour and the Soviets subsequently launched a large-scale air attack by 132 bombers and fighters. However the target was not Väinämöinen — instead it was the German AA cruiser Niobe. The ship's heavy armament (254 mm Bofors) could fire shells of 255 kg up to 31 km. #battleship #europa #Finland #germany #navy #sea #ship #Väinämöinen #war #warship #ww2