Uusimaa was a

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 ...

that 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was built in 1917. As the ship had changed hands many times during the turbulent last years of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she had been renamed many times: In Russian service, she was called ''Golub'', later, in German service, her name was ''Beo''. Finally the Germans handed her over to the Finns in 1920, who renamed her ''Uusimaa''. After World War II, she served as a trawler in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. She was scrapped in 1953.

Interwar period

On 4 September 1939, ''Uusimaa'' sailed as part of the Finnish Coastal Fleet to the vicinity of Åland and later patrolled the northern Baltic Sea and the Sea of Åland together with her sister ship .

Winter War

''Uusimaa'' escorted minelayer on 1 December 1939 when she laid mines to the seaways near

Kökar Kökar () is an island municipality to the south-east of the Åland archipelago, Finland. It is also one of the municipalities of Åland. It is reachable by boat from Långnäs on Åland or from Galtby with access to mainland Finland. The munic ...

and Utö. When following minelaying attempt on 3 December by ''Louhi'' failed and the minelayer was damaged ''Uusimaa'' laid part of the mines on 4 December. ''Hämeenmaa'' and ''Uusimaa'' were detached from the Coastal Fleet on 6 January 1940 to provide escorts for shipping in the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...

after several submarine sightings had been made north of Åland.

Interwar period

Winter War

Continuation War

See also

Citations

Bibliography