The Satakundskaya Flotilla (russian: Сатакундская флотилия, Satakundskaya flotilla) was a

brown-water navy The term brown-water navy or riverine navy refers in its broadest sense to any navy, naval force capable of military operations in littoral zone waters. The term originated in the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it refer ...

unit of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

, operating on

Lake Näsijärvi A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, during the

First World War 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 ...

from spring 1916 until winter 1917. In Finnish sources, the unit is often called Satakunta Fleet ( fi, Satakunnan laivasto). The name of the unit derives from

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region is ...

, the historical province where Lake Näsijärvi was located at the time, but the Finnish version is likely a mistranslation of ''

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...

''.

Operational history

The flotilla was founded during spring 1916, as the Russian military commissioned the Finnish

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

s , and and the tugs ''Murole'' and ''Näsijärvi''. In addition, civilian motorboats were requisitioned for military use. The ships were manned by their original Finnish crew, commanded by their Finnish masters subordinated to a Russian officer. The passenger ships were armed with

naval guns A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, manned by Russian matrose. The flotilla was commanded by Captain of 2nd rank Sablin, who used the ''Tarjanne'' as his flagship. The Russian contingent of the flotilla numbered circa 100 men, housed in a storage building at Mustalahti harbor. During its existence, the flotilla carried out no combat actions and never fired its main armament. The passenger ships were not designed to act as gun platforms and their structures would likely have suffered had the guns been used. Instead, during the navigation season of 1916, the flotilla practiced troop transports on Näsijärvi. In the event of a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

of Finland, the Satakunta flotilla would probably have been able to prevent the Germans from using Näsijärvi and been able to supply and transport army units in the area of this 100 km-long waterway.Hoppu, T. Laivaston toiminta jäi lyhyeksi
University of Tampere. Retrieved 2008-02-25. On the other hand, the flotilla was confined to Lake Näsijärvi, as

Tammerkoski Tammerkoski is a channel of rapids in Tampere, Finland. The city of Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. The difference in altitude between these two is and the water flows from Näsijärvi to Pyhäjärvi through t ...

prevents all navigation downstream.

Disbandment and aftermath

During the spring 1917, the flotilla was paralyzed, as the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

negated the discipline of the Imperial Russian Army and Fleet. At the same time, the wages of the Finnish crewmembers were suspended, resulting in their leaving the flotilla. During the navigation season of 1917, the flotilla carried out no activities worth mentioning, and its Russian members moved out of Tampere in October 1917. The naval guns rigged on the passenger ships were left behind, and they saw action in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

three months later. During the winter and spring of 1918, they were first used by the

Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

, then after the

Battle of Tampere The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularl ...

, by

the White Guard ''The White Guard'' (russian: links=no, Белая гвардия) is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, first published in 1925 in literary journal ''Rossiya''. It was not reprinted in the Soviet Union until 1966. Background ''The White Guard'' fir ...

. After the Civil War, the ships returned to civilian passenger service on Lake Näsijärvi. In 1929, the ''Kuru'' sank in a storm, resulting in the loss of 138 lives. Of the three ships, the ''Tarjanne'' is still in passenger service.Ltd. Poet’s Way
Timetable for SS ''Tarjanne'' 4.6.-16.8.2008
Retrieved 2008-02-26.

References

{{reflist Grand Duchy of Finland Riverine warfare Imperial Russian Navy Tampere

Operational history

Disbandment and aftermath

See also

References