Finnish submarine Vesikko

"Vesikko" was a submarine of the Finnish Navy in World War II. It was designed by Dutch Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (I.v.S) and built in 1933 by the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, Finland. It served as a direct prototype (named as "CV-707") for German Type II U-boats. Between the years 1933 and 1934 the German Navy carried out trials with the submarine in the Turku Archipelago. 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 larger Vetehinen class boats "Vetehinen", "Vesihiisi", "Iku-Turso" (named after Finnish mythology characters, see Kalevala) and the small "Saukko" (Finnish for otter). The word "vesikko" is the Finnish name for the European mink, a small predator now near extinction (already extinct within Finland).

"Vesikko" saw service during World War II. Like other submarines of the Finnish Navy, she patrolled the Gulf of Finland during the Winter War against the Soviet Baltic Fleet. On December 1 and 19 December 1939, Vesikko made attempts to attack the Soviet heavy cruiser Kirov and battleship Marat, both of which which had been damaged by Finnish coastal batteriers. [ [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/1939/12/19.htm 19 December 1939 ] ]

During the Continuation War, "Vesikko" continued her patrolling career but there were few targets of opportunity due to extensive minefields laid by Finnish and Germans forces on the eastern half of Gulf of Finland, which essentially blockaded the Soviet ships in their ports. Nonetheless, in 3 July 1941, "Vesikko" managed to torpedo one Soviet merchant ship named "Vyborg" of 3,500 tons.

After the war "Vesikko" was decommissioned because of the obligations of the Paris Peace Treaties that forbade Finland having submarines. "Vesikko" was lying as a wreck for years. It was eventually put up for sale for anyone willing to buy it. Fortunately former crew members of the submarine managed to rescue and restore it. The submarine currently lies on the island of Suomenlinna. It has served as a museum during the summers since 1973 as a part of the Military Museum of Finland. Vesikko is the last surviving Type II submarine in the world.

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References

External links

* [http://uboat.net/boats/vesikko.htm uboat.net article about Vesikko]
* [http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/export/export_ivs.htm Dutch Export Submarines - Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw]
* [http://nk.oulu.fi/enorssi/gallery/album81 pictures of Vesikko (1)]
* [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=129 pictures of Vesikko (2)]
* [http://picasaweb.google.com/CzechJoker/UBoatVesikko pictures of Vesikko (3)]
* [http://www.vesikko.fi Submarine Vesikko]