Vesikko

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Image:Vesikko suomenlinnassa talvella.jpg In World War II, Vesikko was a submarine of the Finnish Navy. It was designed by Dutch Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (I.v.S) and built in 1933 by the Chrichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, Finland. It served as a direct prototype (named as CV-707) for German Class IIA submarines. During the sailing-seasons 1933 and 1934 the German Navy carried out trials in the Achipelago of Turku. In 1936, the Finnish Navy bought it and named it as Vesikko.

Vesikko was one of five submarines to serve the Finnish navy. The other four were the three "Vetehinen class" boats Vetehinen, Vesihiisi and Iku-Turso (named after Finnish mythology characters, see Kalevala) and the small Saukko (Finnish for otter).

During World War II Vesikko patrolled the Gulf of Finland and in 1941 managed to torpedo one Soviet merchant vessel called Vyborg.

After the war it was decommissioned because of the obligations of the Paris Peace Treaties that forbade submarines. The treaty obligations ended when the the Soviet Union collapsed. Vesikko was lying as a wreck for years. It was eventually put up for sale for anyone willing to buy it. Fortunately submarine veterans managed to rescue it and restored it. The submarine currently lies on the island of Suomenlinna and serves as a museum during the summer.

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Technical specifications

  • Dimensions
    • Length: 40.9 m
    • Width: 4.1 m
    • Height: 4.2 m
  • Operational details
    • Speed: 13/8 knots (24/15 km/h)
    • Range: 1500 miles (2,400 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) or 150 hours on the surface; submerged 50 miles (80 km) at 4 knots (7 km/h) or 13 hours.
    • Crew: 18 to 20
    • Maximum depth: 100 m.
    • Crash dive: 45 seconds to 9.3 m.
  • Armaments
    • 5 torpedoes of 535 mm diameter.
    • One 20 mm Anti-Aircraft gun
    • One 12.7 mm Anti-Aircraft machine gun
  • Other equipment
    • 2 MWM diesel engines of 700 horsepower (520 kW)
    • 2 Siemens electric motors of 360 horsepower (270 kW)
    • Atlas Werke 2x6 microphones as Asdic. listening devices.
  • Supplies
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