Finnish coastal defence ship Väinämöinen Väinämöinen was a Finnish coastal defence ship , the sister ship of the Finnish Navy ' s flagship " Ilmarinen " and also the first ship of her class . She was built at the Crichton - Vulcan shipyard in Turku and was launched in 1932 . " Väinämöinen " , as well as " Ilmarinen " were planned to be mobile coastal fortress es for the defence of the Finnish demilitarized islands at Åland in particular . The two ships were not suited for operations on the open sea . The biggest problems were that the ships were volatile and rolled too much . The minimal depth keel , together with the high conning tower , made the ships ' movements slow and wide . It was said that the ships were uncomfortable , but harmless to their crews . The ship ' s heavy armament ( 254 mm Bofors ) could fire shells of 255 kg up to 31 km . Fire control . When it came to fire control , the two coastal ships were identical . The fire control and the lining of the gun towers were connected electrically and the values and commands could be given without spoken contact . With the aid of mechanical calculator s , the values were transferred directly to the gun towers . Operational history . The first longer cruise that the ships did together was to the fleet parade at Spithead , where they participated in the festivities for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth . The design ' s bad seagoing capabilities were markedly demonstrated south of Gotland , where she needed tug help from the bigger Swedish ship HMS " Drottning Victoria " . When they arrived at Spithead the ships were praised for their beautiful lines . Many officers who had experience from the waters of the Baltics remarked that the ships were perfect for that environment . It is said that someone commented on the looks of the ships in the following manner : " Finland must be a strong sea power , even their lightships are armed with 10 - inch guns . " Winter War . During the Winter War , the two coastal defence ships were transferred to the Åland islands to protect against invasion . When the ice cover started to become too thick in December , the ships were transferred to Turku , where their anti - aircraft artillery aided in the defence of the city . Continuation War . The only time " Väinämöinen " and " Ilmarinen " fired their heavy artillery against an enemy was at the beginning of the Continuation War , during the Soviet Red Army evacuation of their base at the Hanko Peninsula . " Väinämöinen " also participated in the distraction manoeuvre Operation Nordwind on 13 September 1941 , during the course of which her sister ship " Ilmarinen " was lost to mines . In 1943 " Detachment Väinämöinen " , which consisted of " Väinämöinen " , six VMV patrol boats and six motor mine sweepers , was moved east in to take positions along the coast between Helsinki and Kotka . She did not actively participate in many operations , since the heavier Soviet naval units never left Leningrad , where they were used to effect as floating batteries during the siege . As a result , " Väinämöinen " s primary operational duties were to patrol the Gulf of Finland between the minefields " " Seeigel " " and " " Nashorn " " , as well as protection of the German - Finnish anti - submarine net across the gulf . During the Soviet assault in the summer of 1944 , the Soviets put much weight in trying to find and sink the " Väinämöinen " . Reconnaissance efforts revealed a large naval ship anchored in Kotka harbour and the Soviets subsequently launched a large - scale air attack by 132 bombers and fighters . However the target was not " Väinämöinen " — instead it was the German AA cruiser " Niobe " . Postwar . After the end of the Continuation War it was decided to hand over the " Väinämöinen " as war reparations to the Soviet Union . The ship was handed over on 29 May 1947 to the Soviet Baltic Fleet , where it was renamed " Vyborg " . The ship served over 6 years in the Red Fleet at the Soviet base in Porkkala , Finland . The ship was called " Vanya " ( a Russian short form of the name Ivan ) by the sailors of the Baltic Fleet . The " Vyborg " was modernized during the 1950s and served for a while as a residential ship in Tallinn . Preparations to scrap the ship were begun in 1958 . During this time , there were talks to return the ship to Finland . The ship was , however , scrapped in 1966 at a Leningrad scrapyard . According to Soviet calculations , they received 2 , 700 tons of metal from the ship .