Finnish coastal defence ship Ilmarinen

Template:Naval ship Ilmarinen was a Finnish Navy Panssarilaiva ("Armored ship"), a coastal defence ship by British classification. Ilmarinen was the flagship of the Navy. It was built at the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, Finland, and named after the mythological hero Ilmarinen from the Kalevala.

Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen were two of the most concentrated naval artillery units ever built. They were designed by the Dutch company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw, and were optimized for operations in the archipelago areas of the Baltic Sea. Their shallow draft and super-compact design however gave the ships poor performance in open sea.

Coastal defence ships were particularly popular in the Nordic countries. These vessels had typically heavy armament, rather good armor protection, but generally slow speed. The story of this type of ships began in Denmark, Sweden and Norway at the beginning of the 20th century. Their size was around 4,000 tons, main armament 210 or 240 mm, armor corresponding to that of armoured cruisers and speed about 15 to 18 knots. A coastal defence ship was something 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 had different types, some of them were close to cruisers and others, such as the Finnish ones, were closer to monitors.

105 mm guns of Ilmarinen class coastal defence ship

The Finnish Navy Act of 1927 allowed construction of two vessels. They were 3,900 ton ships with maximum length of 93 metres and draught of 4.50 metres. The main armament was four 254 mm guns and secondary armament eight 105 mm guns. Their maximum speed was only 14.5 knots. The vessels looked clumsy, a high mast and large turrets for main and secondary artillery. It is claimed that in Spithead 1937 someone said: "Finland is a mighty naval power. Even their lightships have 10 inch guns". The sea-keeping qualities of coast defence ships were not too good, and they rolled too much. The rolling was slow and wide. Because of the large beam and shallow draft the ships were unpleasant, but not unsafe.

The purpose of coast defence ships was to prevent landing operations. Finland had a rather good chain of coastal artillery batteries along its southern coast and mine fields would be laid when necessary. The purpose of Navy was to buy time for ground forces to deploy. In the confined archipelago coast defence ships with 254 mm main artillery would have been a tough opponent for any ship excluding battleships.

Operational history

Ilmarinen and her sister ship Väinämöinen took part in the Winter War. At the beginning of war, ships protected Åland Islands against possible invasions. During winter the ships were anchored at Turku harbour where they provided anti-aircraft support for the city.

During the Continuation War the two ships shelled the Soviet base at Hanko Peninsula.

254 mm guns of Ilmarinen class coastal defence ship

They took part in Operation Nordwind on September 13 1941 in which German forces were to take the Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. A group of ships were to be used to deceive the Soviets. When returning from the mission, Ilmarinen was hit by mines. Two sea mines had got entangled on the paravane cable; when the ship turned, the mines hit the ship and were set off. The ship sunk in seven minutes. Only 132 men of the crew survived and 271 were lost. The survivors were later known as Ilmarisen uimaseura (Ilmarinen's Swimming Team). Amongst them was Lieutenant Viljo Revell, later a famous architect.

The loss of Ilmarinen is the greatest single loss of the Finnish Navy to date.

See also

• Väinämöinen, the sister ship of Ilmarinen
• Torpedo boat S2, the second worst Finnish Navy disaster

External links

• "Väinämöinen" Class Photo Gallery on www.warship.get.net.pl
• "Väinämöinen" Class Armament Gallery www.warship.get.net.pl
• Coastal Defence Ships of the Finnish Navy: Loss of Ilmarinen