''Turunmaa'' 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-ste ...

built in 1918. 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 f ...

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 opposing ...

. The ship was named after ''

Turuma A turuma (from the Finnish word "Turunmaa") was a type of warship built for the Swedish archipelago fleet in the late 18th century. It was specifically developed for warfare in the Archipelago Sea and along the coasts of Svealand and Finland. Th ...

'', a type of frigate designed for use in shallow waters of the archipelago and served in the Swedish

Archipelago fleet The archipelago fleet ( sv, skärgårdsflottan), officially the "fleet of the army" ( sv, arméns flotta), was a branch of the armed forces of Sweden which existed between 1756 and 1823. Its purpose was to protect the coasts of Sweden, which was su ...

in the late 18th century. The frigates had in turn been named after the region of Finland. During construction while in Russian lists (1916–1917) the ship had been named both ''Orlan'' and ''Tshirok''. ''Turunmaa'' was built in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

for 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 ...

but was taken over by Finnish troops 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 ...

. The ship was used as a training ship for Finnish sea cadets during peacetime and was nicknamed as ''Surunmaa'' (land of sorrow).

Interwar period

In the second half of 1919, ''Turunmaa'', amongst other Finnish naval vessels, was tasked with security and patrol duties in the Koivisto region where the British naval detachment was located. On 4 September 1939, ''Turunmaa'' as part of the Coastal Fleet was moved to the Sea of Åland. However, for the rest of the autumn, ''Turunmaa'' patrolled the waters from Kotka to Koivisto together with ''Karjala''.

Winter War

On 1 December 1939 ''Turunmaa'' was covering the minelaying effort by auxiliary minelayer Suomi south-east of Isosaari. ''Turunmaa'' join to the Coastal Fleet near Åland in mid December 1939. She participated in anti-submarine patrols which continued until the sea froze on 30 January.

Continuation War

''Turunmaa'' was tasked with escort duties at the start of the Continuation War. She was detached from that duty following the Soviet attack to Bengtskär and ordered to rejoin the rest of the Finnish gunboats. On 29 August ''Turunmaa'' together with , and escorted by and sailed through the main Soviet minebarrier south of Hanko to the eastern Gulf of Finland. After 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 ...

had been thought to be unmanned following the shelling of the island by on 9 October 1941 Finns prepared to occupy it. ''Turunmaa'' was escorting the landing force in its failed attempt to land on 11 October as the landing force turned back before reaching the shore when Soviets opened fire. On 29 October ''Turunmaa'' together with ''Karjala'' shelled the island. On 1942 ''Turunmaa'' like other Finnish gunboats was tasked with guarding of the minebarriers northeast 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. On 8 August ''Turunmaa'' was sortied to fend off the Soviet attack on Someri but arrived several hours after ''Hämeenmaa'' and ''Uusimaa''. ''Turunmaa'' shelled both the nearby Soviet vessels as well as positions of the Soviet landing force on the island. After the naval action had already ended ''Turunmaa'' was slightly damaged by a near-miss by a bomb and suffered some crew losses (2 dead, 8 wounded) as overheated barrels of both of the 20mm Madsen guns aboard exploded. On 2 May 1943 while guarding the mine barriers northeast of Hogland, ''Turunmaa'' was seriously damaged in an air raid and the sinking ship had to be beached to shallow water at Haapasaaret (group of islands south from

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish ...

). Crew casualties were 1 dead and 9 wounded. The ship was immediately refloated and was fully repaired by 23 October 1943. When Soviet summer offensive of 1944 started ''Turunmaa'' was first part of the flotilla evacuating the Koivisto region. And later took part in the fighting at Bay of Viborg on 4 July 1944 as part of the Battle Group Arho consisting of Finnish and German light naval units. While defending against repeated air attacks and attacks by motor torpedo boats two bombs exploded under the boilerroom of ''Turunmaa''. ''Turunmaa'' started leaking and the aft gun was jammed and the ship was temporarily unable to participate to the action. This and other damages to the ships of the Battle Group Arho led to its withdrawal from action.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turunmaa Ships built in Helsinki Ships built in the Russian Empire World War II patrol vessels of Finland Ships sunk by Soviet aircraft Patrol vessels of the Finnish Navy Maritime incidents in May 1943 Gunboats sunk by aircraft