About a month ago I visited Suomenlinna, a 'Scandinavian Gibraltar'. There is among other things, last Finnish submarine, Vesikko. She was prototype to German Type II U-boats. Now some pics of her (Thanks to Ricky for uploading and resizing them and thanks to Chollie for providing us free space for pics). Vesikko from portside. Note how small she looks: And some from starboard (taken from M/S Viking Rosella): Some pics about the bow: Few closeups from torpedo tubes: She was armed with 3 TT's, as you can see. And same tubes from inside: That airconditioner isn't original equipment... Torpedo closeup:
Unfortunatelly I didn't take any pics bethween torpedo room and conning tower area. Conning tower from below: Some equipment below conning tower: Periscope (sorry, bad picture): Silenced radioroom (apparently sonarlistener was stationed here too): Galley: Yes, galley was about 3 feet long. Engine room: Unfortunatelly some fat tourist managed to get in those pics. Engine room dials and equipment: "Sleeping" quarters behind engineroom: Apparently that was used more like a brick. Heat, noise and vibration prevented anyone from sleeping there. Photos taken from stern: And my dear and trusted photographer: All pics can be found from here: http://tanksww2f.chollie.co.uk/files/Notmi/
From inside, she was wider than I thought but short! Really, it was something like 10 steps from engine room to torpedo room. Note that sheet on bunk on one of torpedo room photos: Same kind of sheet was shown on movie 'Das Boot'. What makes this hilarous is the fact that Finnish Defence Forces still uses that same kind of sheet, with same pattern. It was really bitch to make bunk and get that pattern straight.
That sheet almost looks like it's from Hästens beds! http://www.hastens.com/ Expensive stuff! Great pics Notmi!!!
Sure...very interesting as it's Dutch Submarine design at it's best Vesikko was designed by Dutch Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (I.v.S) and built in 1933 by the Chrichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, Finland. It served as a direct prototype (named CV-707) for German Class IIA submarines. During the sailing-seasons 1933 and 1934 the German Navy carried out trials in the Achipelago of Turku. In 1934, the Finnish Navy took it over and named it Vesikko. The boat was decommissioned in 1945 and has served as a museum ship in the island fortress of Suomenlinna since 1973. From the above site : Vesikko Submarine Building B 79 Summer 2003 marked the 30th anniversary of the docking of Vesikko at Suomenlinna. A veteran of the Second World War, the submarine is one of Suomenlinna’s most popular sights. Launched in Turku in 1933, it was originally commissioned by the German Navy, who took the vessel for test runs in Airisto off Turku. The Finnish Navy purchased the submarine in 1936 and named it Vesikko. During the Winter War and Continuation War, Vesikko saw action in convoys and on protection and patrol duty in the Gulf of Finland. The submarine base was located in the shipyard section of Suomenlinna. The Treaty of Paris (1947) forbade Finland from having military submarines, and the fleet was decommissioned and sold for scrap with the exception of Vesikko, which was put in dry dock. Tel. (09) 1814 6238. Technical specifications Dimensions Length: 40.9 m Width: 4.1 m Height: 4.2 m Operational details Speed: 13/8 knots (24/15 km/h) Range: 1500 miles (2,400 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) or 150 hours on the surface; submerged 50 miles (80 km) at 4 knots (7 km/h) or 13 hours. Crew: 18 to 20 Maximum depth: 100 m. Crash dive: 45 seconds to 9.3 m. Armaments 5 torpedoes of 535 mm diameter. One 20 mm Anti-Aircraft gun One 12.7 mm Anti-Aircraft machine gun Other equipment 2 MWM diesel engines of 700 horsepower (520 kW) 2 Siemens electric motors of 360 horsepower (270 kW) Atlas Werke 2x6 microphones as Asdic. listening devices. Supplies 9.6 tons diesel oil. 1.2 tons fresh water.fi:Vesikko (sukellusvene) http://uboat.net/boats/vesikko.htm http://vesikko.quickseek.com/ http://users.tkk.fi/~jaromaa/Navygaller ... ubgal1.htm http://users.tkk.fi/~jaromaa/Navygaller ... tm#vesikko http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures ... esikko.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesikko Only problem is ...is the Dutch Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (I.v.S) a real Dutch company :roll: Sources are not completly sure about that one....
