Finnish torpedo boat S2

"S2" (ex-"Prozorlivy" and ex-"Gagara" in Russian service) was a Finnish torpedo boat. The Russian "Sokol" class ship had been seized by the Finns after the Finnish Civil War 1918. It sank during a fierce storm on October 4 1925 taking with her the whole crew of 53.

Background

The 25 Russian torpedo boats that made up the "Sokol" class (Сокол, Russian for "Falcon") were built between 1900 and 1908 for the Russian Baltic Fleet. The fourth ship of this class, "Gagara" (Гагара, Russian for "Loon"), was built at the Newa shipyard in Saint Petersburg and carried the construction number 102. On March 9, 1902 the ship was renamed "Prozorlivy" (Прозорливый, Russian for "sharp" or "awake"). She was used as a a trawler in 1911, but when World War I ignited she was taken into service as a minesweeper. [http://navsource.narod.ru/03.html nr 102.]

The Finnish Civil War began in 1918. The Russian fleet in Helsinki panicked when the fighting turned against the "reds", and the Germans landed in Hanko. Through a separate agreement with Germany, the bigger units of the Russian fleet were able to withdraw back to Russia, but they had to leave the smaller units behind due to the harsh ice conditions in the Gulf of Finland. These smaller ships were then seized by the "whites" and the German troops. On April 13, "Prozorlivy" was conquered by the "whites" and she was transferred to the Finnish navy, along with her five sisterships ("Ryany" (later "S1"), "Poslishny" ("S3"), "Rezvy" ("S4"), "Podvizhny" ("S5") and "No 212" ("S6")).

"Prozorlivy" served over seven years in the Finnish navy. During her first years, she supported British operations against the Bolshevik navy. In accordance with the Treaty of Tartu of 1920, three of the "Sokol" class ships were given back to the Soviet Union in 1922. It was also planned that "Prozorlivy" would have been handed over, but the ageing ship was sold to Finland, where she was included in the Finnish navy. "Prozorlivy" was renamed "S2" in 1922 and she continued to serve the fleet until October 4, 1925, when she was lost at sea with all hands. The loss of "S2" is the worst peace-time accident in the Finnish navy and it shocked both the navy and the country. The disaster was partially the cause of the renewal program of the Finnish fleet.

The last journey of the torpedo boat "S2"

The four ships from the Finnish coastal fleet, the gun ships "Klas Horn" and "Hämeenmaa", as well as the torpedo boats "S1" and "S2" were on their annual visit and training cruise into the Gulf of Bothnia. The plan was to visit all the coastal cities up to Tornio. The group began the journey from Uusikaupunki to Vaasa on October 3 1925. They traveled in line formation with one "kabellängd" (1/10 nautical mile) internal distance and a speed of 12 knots. "S2" was traveling furthest back in the formation. The journey went well in the beginning, all went according to plans. The wind was however picking up and later developed into a fierce storm, which was creating difficulties for the ships. The crew had to increase the internal distance between the ships and to lower the speed.

The storm finally dispersed the formation when they reached the Pori parallel. "Klas Horn", which was the lead ship of the formation, turned against the wind, towards the Swedish coast and "Hämeenmaa" followed. The torpedo boats tried to follow the bigger vessels but were lacking behind due to the high waves. In the middle of the night, the wind speed reached hurricane force 48-55 m/s (16 on the Beaufort scale). [http://www.sotaveteraaniliitto.fi/lehdet/Sotvet_0505.pdf page 20]

The stormy sea created big problems for the torpedo boats when their propellers were lifted too close to the surface. This reduced their efficiency and what worsened the situation was the fact that the "S2"'s bearings were worn out, which caused a lot of vibrations in the ship and threatened to open up a leak where the shaft went through the hull. Both of the torpedo boats began taking in water in the high seas. This was mainly due to the construction of the superstructure. The coal was also slowly running out since the crew had to feed more into the boilers than usual, due to the high seas. The lead ship "Klas Horn", sent out a distress call for the torpedo boats. The rescue ship "Protector", which was located in Vaasa, received the distress call through the Finnish headquarters in Helsinki, and the message was also received by the Swedish rescue vessel "Helios". Both promised that they would come to the rescue. The ships of the formation were soon given orders to go on their own to the closest available harbor. The gun boat "Klas Horn" went to the Swedish coast, the gun boat "Hämeenmaa" came to Vaasa and the torpedo boat "S1" barely made it to Mäntyluoto outside Pori. She had only a few pieces of coal left when arriving there. "S2" also tried to get there, but would fail. The machines and the pumps could not function fully and the leaking worsened. It also seemed like rescue was too far away. Land was in sight and the radio operator of "S2" was in contact with the radio station in Vaasa almost until the moment of disaster. The last message from the ship arrived at 1.23 pm, barely two minutes before she sank. The answer from the radio operator on "S2" on the call from Vaasa was short: "I can not work now".

The accident

The pilot station at Reposaari observed the struggle of the ship in the waters between Outoori and the Säppi lighthouse. The high waves made the ship roll violently until a breaker rolled the ship over. The pilot station saw the ship for a short while (when it probably had rolled over) but it disappeared from view at 1.25 pm. Later the pilots learned that it had been the torpedo boat "S2" that they had observed. The torpedo boat's crew of 53 were lost in the disaster.

The loss of "S2" created an intense debate about the underlying reasons. At the place of the disaster, the sea level rises sharply, and creates sharp breakers, especially when the wind is coming from west or northwest. This was later considered to be the main cause of the disaster. Further, the sea-going qualities had not fully been researched in the old Russian ships. There were, for example, no stabilization tables or ballast calculations for the type.

The investigation also found that the crew had not obtained updated weather data, although it was available. The investigators especially criticized the leadership of the commander of the formation, Yrjö Roos. Roos had a reputation of being very stubborn, he probably tried to get all the ships to Vaasa, where they were expected the following day. The order to leave the formation was given very late, and when given, it was very unclear. All the different ships' captains interpreted it in different ways. In the publics' opinion, Roos was to be the scapegoat for the loss of "S2".

Commander Roos was one year later on a routine trip with one of the navy's A-boats to Örö. Roos was then found dead in his cabin upon arrival. The investigation revealed that he had died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty exhaust pipe. This incident came however to spark different conspiracy theories. [ [http://www.kaslib.fi/MARE/HIST/s2_roos.htm S-2 : Yrjö Roos : Kaskö Tidning ] ]

The salvaging of the vessel

The ship was found in June 1926 and the Defense ministry immediately began planning a salvage operation. "S2" was lying on only 15 meters (50 feet) depth and it was believed that the operation would not be too difficult. The salvagers first tried to lift the ship, which was lying bottom up, by pumping air into the hull. This lifted the fore section to the surface, but the aft section was stuck in the bottom mud and they didn't even manage to loosen it with high pressure water beams.

The money soon ran out and the Defense ministry gave the job to a private company. They too pumped air into the hull to lift it and pulled wires under the ship to lift it. After ten days, on August 5 1926, the ship surfaced and floated with the aid of pontoons.

The vessel was transported to the Reposaari harbor in Pori, where it was turned on its keel, emptied on water and initially investigated. They found the bodies of 23 crew members inside the hull and these were taken ashore. "S2" was then transported to Helsinki where a more thorough investigation was conducted. Thereafter the ship was scrapped.

The influence of the disaster

The loss of "S2" created big headlines at its time and it upset both the general population, the personnel of the Finnish navy, as well as Finnish sailors. The accident and the publicity thereafter led to the creation of the Finnish Navy Association in 1926 (today the Finnish Maritime Society). This organization ran the new fleet program question in the Finnish society. It had a great influence on the decision on the new Fleet Law that was established in 1927 and the requisition of the coastal armoured ships "Väinämöinen" and "Ilmarinen", the submarine fleet and the purchase of new torpedo boats in the 1930s. [ [http://www.meriliitto.fi/?l=en&p=1 Finnish Maritime Society :: History ] ]

The 23 bodies that were found inside the ship were buried at the Reposaari burial ground in a joint grave, on August 15 1926. A statue over the dead sailors was raised at the Reposaari church one year later. The statue was made by the sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen. The Finnish navy also remembers the victims every year.

hips of the class in the Finnish navy

Miscellany

On November 27 1917 the Russian torpedo boat "Bditelny" (Бдительный) of "Inzjener-mechanik Zverev" -class (Инженер-механик Зверев) ran on a German mine at almost the same place. The torpedo boat was part of a 4 ship convoy and the mine was one of many, laid by the German sub "UC-78" earlier during the summer. About 50 men died in the accident, among them 2 Finnish pilots. The ship was found in 1919 and the weaponry and some other equipment were salvaged from the ship. The ship itself was too badly damaged since the whole bottom had been blown away. In 1922 several tons of valuable metals (brass and copper) were recovered, and the salvagers noted that the ship had moved far from its original position. The ship was then forgotten until it was found again in 1990. [ [http://www.hylyt.net/hylky.jsp?id=bditelnyj_1917 hylyt.net ] ] [http://flot.parus.ru/pic00165.htm (picture)]

References

ources

* "Torpedbåten S2:s minne." Årsbok för Finlands flotta 2. Schildts 1925.
* [http://www.kaslib.fi/MARE/HIST/s2_1.htm Torpedovene S2:n tuho 4.10.1925]
* [http://www.sotaveteraaniliitto.fi/lehdet/Sotvet_0505.pdf The Finnish war veterans association's magazine, 5/2005, p 20.]
* [http://www.hylyt.net Finnish page about wrecks.]