The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg - the second largest city of Russia - to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn. The eastern parts of the gulf belong to Russia, and some of Russia's most important oil harbors are located there, including Primorsk. As the seaway to Saint Petersburg, the gulf is of considerable strategic importance to Russia. Some of the environmental problems affecting the Baltic Sea are at their most pronounced in the shallow gulf. Proposals for an undersea Helsinki–Tallinn Tunnel through the gulf have been made.
Harju County, is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla County to the south, and Lääne County to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Estonia, Tallinn, is situated in Harju County. Harju is the largest county in Estonia in terms of population, as almost half (45%) of Estonia's population lives in Harju County.
Kronstadt is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, 30 km (19 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, near the head of the Gulf of Finland. It is linked to the former Russian capital by a combination levee-causeway-seagate, the St Petersburg Dam, part of the city's flood defences, which also acts as road access to Kotlin island from the mainland.
Kruzenshtern or Krusenstern is a four-masted barque that was built in 1926 at Geestemünde in Bremerhaven, Germany as Padua. She was surrendered to the USSR in 1946 as war reparation and renamed after the early 19th-century Baltic German explorer in Russian service, Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1770–1846). She is now a Russian sail training ship.
The Baltic Sea campaigns were conducted by Axis and Allied naval forces in the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the connected lakes Ladoga and Onega on the Eastern Front of World War II. After early fighting between Polish and German forces, the main combatants were the Kriegsmarine and the Soviet Navy, with Finland supporting the Germans until 1944 and the Soviets thereafter. The Swedish Navy and merchant fleet played important roles, and the British Royal Navy planned Operation Catherine for control of the Baltic Sea and its exit choke point into the North Sea.
The British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was Operation Red Trek. The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia. It failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.
The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn, also called Juminda mine battle, Tallinn disaster or Russian Dunkirk, was a Soviet operation to evacuate the 190 ships of the Baltic Fleet, units of the Red Army, and Soviet civilians from the fleet's encircled main base of Tallinn in Soviet-occupied Estonia during August 1941. Near Juminda peninsula Soviet fleet ran into minefield that had been laid by the Finnish and German navies, and were repeatedly attacked by aircraft and torpedo boats, incurring major losses.
Prangli is an Estonian island in the Gulf of Finland.
The cruiserBogatyr, launched 1901, was the lead ship of the Bogatyr class of four protected cruisers built between 1898 and 1907 for the Imperial Russian Navy.
Suur Tõll is an Estonian steam-powered icebreaker preserved in the Estonian Maritime Museum in Tallinn. She was originally built for the Russian Empire in 1914 by AG Vulcan in Stettin, Germany, as Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich. In 1917, she was taken over by the Bolsheviks and renamed Volynets. However, in 1918 she was captured by Finland and served as Wäinämöinen until 1922, when she was handed over to Estonia according to the Treaty of Tartu and renamed Suur Tõll. When Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, the icebreaker rejoined the Soviet fleet and was again named Volynets. She remained in service until 1985.
A/S Merilaid & Co. was an Estonian shipping company. The firm was founded in Tallinn, Estonia on 18 February 1930. There were seven founding shareholders, most of whom were related by blood or marriage as descendants of Peeter All. Of the 7 founders, 6 were ship captains and 5 had worked in the Far East, in Vladivostok and/or Shanghai, for many years, and had avoided the turmoil of the Bolshevik or Communist Revolution, prior to returning home to a free Estonia. Estonia had been part of the Russian Empire since 1721 when Russia defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War. After World War I, and concurrent with the Russian Civil War, Estonia defeated Russia in the 1918–1920 War of Independence and became an autonomous nation after almost 200 years of Russian rule.
Stepan Maximovich Petrichenko was a Russian revolutionary, an anarcho-syndicalist politician, the head of the self-styled "Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Nargen" and in 1921, de facto leader of the Kronstadt Commune, and the leader of the revolutionary committee which led the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921.
SS Manoa was an American freight and passenger steamship that sailed for the Matson Line from San Francisco to Hawaii. Unusual for her time, her engines and funnel were aft, minimizing vibration felt by the passengers and soot on deck. The aft design was considered ugly by passenger ship purists.
Boris Cirandi Nelke was an Estonian sea captain. He is most notable for taking part in the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn during World War II, where he helped thousands of Estonian conscripts to revolt against Soviet troops aboard the SS Eestirand and flee to safety.
Leningrad was the lead ship of her class of six destroyer flotilla leaders built for the Soviet Navy during the 1930s, one of the three Project 1 variants. Completed in 1936, the ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and played a minor role in the Winter War against Finland in 1939–1940. After the start of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Leningrad covered minelaying operations, laid mines herself, and provided naval gunfire support to Soviet units. She escorted ships during the evacuation of Tallinn, Estonia, in August and then bombarded German troops during the Siege of Leningrad. The ship was assigned to evacuate Soviet troops from their enclave in Hanko, Finland, in November, but was badly damaged by mines en route and forced to return to Leningrad for repairs. After they were completed, Leningrad resumed shelling German positions and continued to do so until the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive drove them away from the city in January 1944.
Gordy was one of 29 Gnevny-class destroyers built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1938, she was assigned to the Baltic Fleet. The ship was covering a minelaying operation after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 when she entered a German minefield. One of her sister ships had her bow blown off and Gordy rescued the survivors. The ship provided naval gunfire support for Soviet ground forces over the next several months, although she was badly damaged by a mine during the evacuation of Tallinn, Estonia, in August. After repairs, Gordy was assigned to evacuate Soviet troops from their enclave in Hanko, Finland, in November, but struck several mines en route and sank with heavy loss of life.
Surovy was one of 18 Storozhevoy-class destroyers built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Although she began construction as a Project 7 Gnevny-class destroyer, Surovy was completed in 1941 to the modified Project 7U design.
Slavny was one of 18 Storozhevoy-class destroyers built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Although she began construction as a Project 7 Gnevny-class destroyer, Slavny was completed in 1941 to the modified Project 7U design.
Yuri Fedorovich Rall was an officer of the Imperial Russian and Soviet Navies. He saw action during the First and Second World Wars, and rose to the rank of vice-admiral.
Azard was one of eight Orfey-class destroyers built for the Russian Imperial Navy during World War I. Completed in 1916, she served with the Baltic Fleet and joined the Bolshevik Red Fleet after the October Revolution of 1918. She was active during the Russian Civil War, taking part in several engagements against British ships during the British campaign in the Baltic. The destroyer was renamed Zinoviev in 1922 and Artem in 1928. She remained in service with the Soviet Baltic Fleet when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, and was sunk by a mine on 28 August.
