Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment

Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment ( _fi. Laatokan laivasto-osasto) was a Finnish naval unit located at the Lake Ladoga between 1920-1944.

Background

The Treaty of Tartu was signed by the Russians and the Finns in 1920. The treaty included a paragraph, which limited the size of naval vessels on Ladoga to 100 tons, and the calibre of the armament to a maximum of 47 mm. When the Finns embarked on their naval rebuilding program in the early 1930-ies, some vessels were purposely designed to fit this 100 t limitation, including a small submarine. However, the Finns found more use of their few vessels in the Baltic Sea and therefore they had only a few small patrol boats in the lake. As the clouds of war began to draw closer the Finns had to improvise.

Winter War

The Winter War began on 30 November 1939 when the Soviet Union attacked Finland. The Treaty of Tartu was no longer in power. The Finns hastily gathered a small flotilla, consisting of the icebreaker "Aallokas", the improvised gunboats "Aunus", "Vulcan" and "Tarmo", as well as "Hercules", "Kiviniemi", "Yrjö", "Voima", "S I, N K af Klecker" and a number of transport vessels to protect its sea front and islands. The largest ship among this group was the icebreaker "Aallokas", whose commander Captain-Lieutenant Asikainen also commanded the gunboats. There were no major naval battles in the open waters of Lake Ladoga during 1939 - 1940, so the fleet units were tasked with fire support against the attacking Red Army, and spreading mines along the coastal areas. By January 1940 the ice became so thick that only "Aallokas" could be used, and she was also damaged in an attack by Soviet aircraft on February 2. After the peace on March 13 the Finnish vessels had to be left at Lake Ladoga, who had become a Soviet lake in its entity. Some of the vessels were later integrated in the Soviet Ladoga flotilla.