On 7 December Iku-Turso was sortied to intercept the Soviet freighter Ivan Papanin sailing from Stockholm. The submarine was informed of the departure time of the target and the likely route and so Iku-Turso patrolled in the international waters off Sandhamn and Svenska Högarne during the night. Unidentified patrol boats harassed the submarine and forced it to dive and by the time Iku-Turso was able to reach periscope depth there were no freighters in sight. Ivan Papanin had passed the area few hours earlier and likely having been warned of the presence of the Finnish submarine, it had altered its course to evade Iku-Turso.[1]
In late December 1941 Iku-Turso patrolled for a couple of days off Liepāja but did not encounter any targets the rules of engagements would have allowed the submarine to attack. In January 1941 Iku-Turso patrolled four days off Saaremaa and Hiiumaa but without any luck.[2]
On 22 June 1941 Iku-Turso laid 20 mines north of the island of Mohni/Ekholm. A further 20 mines were laid at Ruuskeri SE from Gogland on 24 June and 18 mines to south of Vaindloo on 26 June after which further minelaying operations were postponed. Iku-Turso laid 18 already loaded mines on 11 July of the coast of Estonia east of Mohni.[3]
On 30 July Iku-Turso along with Vetehinen were sortied to intercept a Soviet convoy moving to and from the besieged base of Hanko. The submarines saw the convoy but were unable to maneuver to attack position.[4]
In December 1941, after the Soviets had evacuated Hanko, Iku-Turso was docked for the winter. Though Iku-Turso had not had much chance of using its torpedoes, the experiences from other Finnish subs were that the Italian torpedoes used (Finnish designation T/40) were unreliable. During 1942, Iku-Turso was upgraded with new 12-hydrophone listening arrays and equipped with a depth charge rack capable of carrying 4 depth charges. The submarine was further modified by streamlining the tower and moving the 20mm gun up to the tower.[4]
On 27 October 1942, after unsuccessfully attacking a SovietShchuka-class submarine with the 20mm Madsen cannon in poor visibility, Iku-Turso later came across and torpedoed another Soviet Shchuka-class submarine. After the torpedo impacted, the target disappeared. On the impact site, the Finnish submarine located a large oil spill with even more oil still rising to the surface.[5] The sunken submarine's identity has later been contested as several Soviet submarines of Shchuka class were lost at that time in the area but the most likely candidates are either Shch-320 or perhaps even more likely Shch-308[6] as some Russian sources claim that Shch-320 had been sunk by a mine earlier that month and that the initial unsuccessful attack by Iku-Turso had been against Shch-307.[7]
On 30 July 1944 Iku-Turso attempted to attack a convoy targeting a tug but failed to reach firing position. On 24 August 1944 Iku-Turso ran into an obstacle — apparently an anti-submarine net - but was able to get loose. A mine which had been attached to the obstacle exploded but caused only light damage to the submarine.[8]
Notes and references
↑ Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 I[Finnish Navy 1918–1968, part I]. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. p.267.
↑ Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 I[Finnish Navy 1918–1968, part I]. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. pp.270–271.
↑ Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 II[Finnish Navy 1918–1968, part II]. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. pp.16–17.
1 2 Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 II[Finnish Navy 1918–1968, part II]. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. pp.48–51.
↑ Kijanen, Kalervo (1968). Suomen Laivasto 1918–1968 II[Finnish Navy 1918–1968, part II]. Helsinki: Meriupseeriyhdistys/Otava. pp.94–105.
Vesikko is a submarine, which was launched on 10 May 1933 at the Crichton-Vulcan dock in Turku. Until 1936 it was named by its manufacturing codename CV 707. Vesikko was ordered by a Dutch engineering company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw in 1930 as a commercial submarine prototype, being the prototype for the German Type II submarines. Purchased by the Finnish before World War II, she saw service in the Winter War and Continuation War, sinking the Soviet merchant ship Vyborg as her only victory. After the cease-fire with the Allies in 1944, Vesikko was retired. Finland was banned from operating submarines after the war and she was kept in storage until she was turned into a museum ship.
The Baltic Sea Campaigns were conducted by Axis and Allied naval forces in the Baltic Sea, its coastal regions, and the Gulf of Finland 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.
Vesihiisi was a Finnish 500-tonne Vetehinen-class submarine that was constructed in the early 1930s. The vessel served in the Finnish Navy during the second World War.
Vetehinen was a 500-tonne Vetehinen-class submarine that was constructed in the early 1930s, which served in the Finnish Navy during the Second World War. The submarine was the first ship of its class of three submarines. The name vetehinen means "merman".
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The Syöksy-class motor torpedo boats was a series of four British Thornycroft type motor torpedo boats of the Finnish Navy. The vessels were constructed in 1928 by the John Thornycroft & Co. shipyard in Woolton, UK. The vessels saw service in World War II. The Thornycroft type released its torpedoes by dropping them from rails in the aft. The ship then had to steer away from the torpedoes path, a manoeuvre that could be quite tricky in the close waters of the Gulf of Finland.
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