''Karjala'' (ex-''Filin'') was a Finnish

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

, built in 1918 at Ab Crichton shipyard in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. She served in the

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, Marinen) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for ...

during World War II. ''Karjala'' was named after the Finnic cultural region of

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

. Like her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, she served as cadet training vessel during peacetime and was nicknamed as ''Kurjala'' (place of misery) by cadets.

Interwar period

From summer of 1919 ''Karjala'' amongst other Finnish naval vessels was tasked with security and patrol duties the Koivisto region where the British naval detachment was located. During prohibition in Finland in 1925 some illegal alcohol had been smuggled onboard ''Karjala'' by cadets. Some of the alcohol was spilled to a nearby lantern which ignited the liquid resulting in an explosion which injured several cadets. Event became known as the 'second blast of Karelia' after the Viborg blast of 1495. On 4 September 1939 ''Karjala'' as part of the Coastal Fleet was moved to the Sea of Åland. However, as ''Karjala'' was replaced by the ship sailed to Kotka already on 18 September. For the rest of the autumn ''Karjala'' patrolled the waters from Kotka to Koivisto together with ''Turunmaa''.

Winter War

On 4 December 1939 had Finnish coastal facilities at Koivisto saw lights moving in the sea. This appeared to be minesweeping effort for two days later group of Soviet destroyers sailed in to shell Finnish coastal facilities. On 7 December 1939 ''Karjala'' was sent to tow along with three motor torpedo boats to Koivisto both to lay mines and to intercept the Soviet ships. Detachment however did not succeed in either of its goals. On 4 January 1940 ''Karjala'' arrived to Åland to join with the Coastal Fleet. She participated in anti-submarine patrols which continued until the sea froze on 30 January.

Continuation War

On 29 August ''Karjala'' together with her sister ship , and gunboats ''Hämeenmaa'' and were escorted by and through the main Soviet mine barrier south of

Hanko Hanko may refer to People *August Hanko (military personnel), August Hanko, German First World War flying ace Places *Hanko, Finland, town and municipality *Hanko Peninsula, Finland *Hankø, an island in the Oslo Fjord in Norway *The asteroid ...

to the eastern Gulf of Finland. While returning with ''Uusimaa'' from escorting a troop ship on 3 September ''Karjala'' was bombed by German

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

bomber near Koivisto. Though the aircraft scored no direct hits the shocks from several near-misses forced ''Karjala'' to undergo repairs at a shipyard. On 29 October ''Karjala'' which had just returned from repairs joined with ''Turunmaa'' in shelling the island of

Sommers Sommers (russian: Соммерс, fi, Someri, sv, Sommarö) is an islet and a lighthouse in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea, just outside the Gulf of Vyborg, about 19 kilometres south of Virolahti, Finlan ...

, where a Finnish landing attempt had previously been turned back. Most of the war ''Karjala'' like other Finnish gunboats was tasked with guarding of the mine barriers north-east of

Hogland Linus Höglund (born 25 March 1997), better known as Hogland, is a Swedish music producer, DJ and songwriter. He started his career in 2015 with his first song "The Night", which placed itself in the top 3 of the Swedish Spotify Viral 50 lis ...

and performing anti-submarine patrols in the same region. However, when it became apparent on 12 July 1942 that Soviet submarines had managed to bypass the mine barrier ''Karjala'' was sent to strengthen the escorts protecting the shipping between Sweden and Finland.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karjala Ships built in Turku World War II patrol vessels of Finland Patrol vessels of the Finnish Navy