Suomen Joutsen
Suomen Joutsen anchored outside Helsinki in 1932.
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Laënnec |
Namesake | René Laennec |
Owner |
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Port of registry | Saint-Nazaire, France |
Builder | Chantiers de Penhoët , Saint-Nazaire, France |
Launched | 7 August 1902 |
Maiden voyage | 23 October 1902 |
In service | 1902–1920 |
Fate | Sold to Germany in 1922 |
Weimar RepublicWeimar Republic | |
Name | Oldenburg |
Namesake | City of Oldenburg |
Owner |
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Port of registry | Bremen, Germany |
In service | 1922–1930 |
Fate | Sold to Finland in 1930 |
Finland | |
Name | Suomen Joutsen |
Namesake | Finska Svan |
Owner |
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Christened | 1 November 1931 |
Identification |
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Nickname(s) | "Ankka" (The Duck) |
Status | Museum ship in Turku, Finland |
General characteristics (as built)[1] | |
Type | Full-rigged ship |
Tonnage | |
Length | |
Beam | 12.3 m (40 ft 4 in) |
Height | 52 m (170 ft 7 in) from waterline |
Draft | 6.35 m (20 ft 10 in) |
Depth | 7.29 m (23 ft 11 in) |
Sail plan |
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Crew | 24–36 |
General characteristics (as school ship)[1][2] | |
Displacement | 2,900 tons |
Draft | 5.15 m (16 ft 11 in) |
Installed power | Two hot bulb engines (2 × 150 kW (200 hp)) |
Sail plan |
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Speed |
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Complement |
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Suomen Joutsen is a steel-hulled
History
Laënnec (1902–1922)
In 1902, the French shipping company
Laënnec was almost sunk on her maiden voyage when she collided with an English
In 1906[note 1] Laënnec was sold to a French shipping company Compagnie Plisson. She made several voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and around Kap Horn to the Pacific Ocean, and around the Cape of Good Hope to Australia under the command of Captain Achille Guriec. On her way back to Europe she carried wheat or potassium nitrate.[1]
On 12 December 1911, while unloading potassium nitrate at the port of
When the
Oldenburg (1922–1930)
In late November 1922, after having been laid up for two years, Laënnec was sold to a German shipping company H. H. Schmidt & Co. from Hamburg. After refitting she was renamed Oldenburg after the city of Oldenburg and, through an agreement with the German school ship association Deutscher Schulschiffverein, she became a school ship for the German merchant navy.[6] Among the men who received their training onboard Oldenburg over the years was the German U-boat ace Günther Prien.
In 1925, while rounding Kap Horn, Oldenburg lost her main mast in a storm and had to seek shelter due to damaged rigging. After emergency repairs in Montevideo, Uruguay, she crossed the Atlantic and headed back to Hamburg. However, due to strong easterly winds she was forced to pass the British Isles on the northern side instead of the English Channel. 78 days after leaving the Río de la Plata estuary, Oldenburg was taken into tow by a German tugboat and towed to Hamburg.[6]
In 1928 Oldenburg was sold to another German shipping company, Seefart Segelschiffs-Reederei GmbH from Bremen. In 1930, on her last voyage under the German flag, Oldenburg was almost lost when the cargo of phosphate shifted in heavy weather. After two weeks in a heavy storm, the longitudinal bulkhead gave way and the ship assumed a list of 55 degrees. Lifeboats, spare yards and the kitchen stove were lost overboard. However, the crew managed to righten the ship and sail her to Malmö, Sweden. After unloading the ship was moved to Bremerhaven to be laid up.[6]
Suomen Joutsen (1930–)
Acquisition and refitting
Although the school ship was left out from the
In April 1930, the
After having been handed over to the Finnish Navy, Oldenburg was towed to Uusikaupunki for refitting. The work, which began in late 1930 and continued until November 1931, included replacing part of the bottom plating, building an additional tweendeck, refurbishing the rigging, painting the whole ship and rebuilding her cargo holds to accommodate up to 180 men. The shipyard was responsible for the structural alterations while 62 future crew members and cadets of the Finnish Navy were responsible for the other tasks, including carrying 1,200 tons of stones to the ship as sailing ballast.[2]
On 1 November 1931, after a number of delays, Oldenburg was renamed Suomen Joutsen (Swan of Finland) after Finska Svan, a Swedish 16th century warship that took part in the naval action of 7 July 1565 between Sweden and Denmark. After launching, Suomen Joutsen broke her moorings in the strong breeze and damaged two ships, gunboat Karjala and Osmo, a laid-up full-rigged ship built in 1869, before she was brought under control. On 4 November 1931, she left the shipyard for Helsinki, under tow and escorted by minelayer M-1.[9]
School ship (1931–1939)
Due to delays during the refitting and later problems with the steam heating system, the first voyage of Suomen Joutsen was delayed until late December. Captain
The second voyage of Suomen Joutsen began on 18 October 1932, and after stopping briefly in the Canady Islands and
On her third international sailing, Suomen Joutsen left Helsinki on 1 November 1933 and headed to the
Suomen Joutsen began her fourth voyage on 30 October 1934 and arrived at her first stop, Cartagena in Spain, in late November. While sailing towards the Greek port city of Piraeus outside Sardinia on 7 December, she was overtaken by the Italian 51,000-ton ocean liner SS Rex which passed Suomen Joutsen at full speed of 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) from a distance of only 50 metres (55 yards). Although the holder of the Blue Riband was a sight to behold, seeing a full-rigged ship underway in the open seas was also becoming a rare treat. After visiting various ports in the Mediterranean, the ship returned to the Atlantic and stopped briefly at Ponta Delgada, but crossed neither the Atlantic nor the Equator. Suomen Joutsen returned to Helsinki on 3 May 1935.[13][14]
The fifth voyage of Suomen Joutsen was the longest the ship had ever done under the Finnish flag. After leaving Helsinki on 9 October 1935, the ship stopped briefly at
On her sixth voyage, the most important stop of Suomen Joutsen was
The seventh voyage of Suomen Joutsen began on 20 October 1937 and took the ship first across the Atlantic to South America. After calling Montevideo, she continued east to Cape Town, stopping at Tristan da Cunha along the way. The seventh voyage has often been called the unluckiest one as three crew members were lost before the ship arrived back in Finland on 12 May 1938. On 7 February, a seaman fell from the bow mast and was buried at sea on the following day. On the way to Cape Town, a sergeant became ill and later died in a hospital in South Africa on 10 March. On 10 May, a member of the regular crew fell to the sea while painting the hull when the ship was underway in the Baltic Sea. Many thought that the deaths were due to the crew killing three albatrosses earlier in the voyage. Finally, when Suomen Joutsen was outside Helsinki, a small airplane flew too close to the ship and crashed into the sea, but the pilots were rescued.[17][18]
Suomen Joutsen left for her eighth and last international voyage on 27 October 1938. After stopping at Copenhagen for provisions and clearing the English Channel — and almost colliding with the Polish passenger ship Piłsudski — she continued to the Bay of Biscay. However, 15-metre (49 ft) waves forced Suomen Joutsen to turn back on 23 November and head to Bordeaux to wait for the weather to clear. Captain Konkola, concerned about his ailing health, was relieved of his duty and replaced by Unto Voionmaa on 3 December 1938. Under his command, Suomen Joutsen crossed the Atlantic twice, calling the ports of Pernambuco in Brazil and San Juan in Puerto Rico. On her last stop at Rotterdam, there were already signs of a major conflict in the air, and had the war started before the ship arrived in Finland, she would have headed to the United Kingdom. Suomen Joutsen arrived in Helsinki on 22 April 1939, after which she never left the Baltic Sea again.[19]
Second World War (1939–1945)
During the summer of 1939, the rigging of Suomen Joutsen was partially dismantled and her hull was painted dark grey. She was used as a supply ship for the Finnish submarine fleet within the Finnish archipelago. When the Winter War broke out on 30 November 1939, she was stationed in Högsåra with the submarines and coastal defence ships Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen. After three Soviet scout planes flew over the ships, the fleet moved hastily to another safe location near Nagu only hours before eight four-engined enemy bombers overflew the previous anchorage. During the first weeks of the war, Suomen Joutsen was assigned to "moving supply depot" under the Archipelago Sea Fleet that consisted of the full-rigged ship and a number of barges and tugboats. She served in this task until the Winter War ended with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. During the Interim Peace she was stationed in Naantali.[20]
When the Continuation War started on 25 June 1941, Suomen Joutsen resumed her old tasks as a moving supply depot under the Archipelago Sea Fleet. Since the Finnish Navy now had a dedicated submarine tender, icebreaker Sisu, the former school ship was relegated to supply motor torpedo boats. After the war ended on 19 September 1944, Suomen Joutsen was used as an accommodation ship in Turku.[20]
During the war, around 150 men were stationed on Suomen Joutsen. The ship was lightly armed with only two machine guns and around 40 rifles.[20] She survived the war largely intact, with only minor shrapnel damage from Soviet air raids.[21]
After the war (1945–1961)
After the war, Suomen Joutsen participated in the demining of the Finnish coastal waters, for which purpose she was fitted with an engine repair shop and a sauna for the crews of the
While Suomen Joutsen served as a supply ship for the minesweeping fleet, her crew rebuilt the rigging dismantled before the war and the school ship spent a couple of days sailing in the Baltic Sea in late 1948. Although there were plans to reactivate her as a school ship for either the Finnish Navy or the Finnish Merchant Fleet, or both, there were issues with her naval ensign — as a naval school ship she would not be allowed to carry cargo or be crewed by civilians, but a civilian flag would force her to pay expensive harbour fees. There was also no longer need for a civilian full-rigged school ship. In 1949–1951, Suomen Joutsen conducted a number of short training and promotional sailings in the Baltic Sea, but never ventured further than the southern tip of Gotland.[20][22]
Although everything was ready for the first post-war school sailing,
Seamen's school (1961–1991)
In the late 1940s, the
Suomen Joutsen was rebuilt again in 1960–1961 and most of her interior was converted into classrooms, workshops and student accommodation — only the captain's salon remained in its original shape. Two new classrooms were also built on the deck, slightly altering the appearance of the vessel. The first classes were held on 1 March 1961, and on 4 May the school was officially opened. On the same day, the naval ensign was replaced with the civilian flag.[26]
Suomen Joutsen served as a seamen's school for 27 years, during which time 3,709 students received their basic training on board the full-rigged ship. In the 1980s, the facilities on board the school ship were becoming too small and increasingly obsolete, and there were talks about closing the school by the end of the decade. There was also discussion about turning Suomen Joutsen to a museum ship. The school closed its doors in 1988 and three years later Suomen Joutsen was handed over to the city of Turku.[27]
Museum ship (1991–)
Suomen Joutsen has been open to the public since 1991. She is one of the largest museum ships in Finland, slightly shorter but bigger by gross register tonnage than the four-masted barque Pommern in Mariehamn, Åland, and considerably bigger than the wooden barque Sigyn which is moored next to her. Suomen Joutsen was moved from her original location next to Forum Marinum in 2002. Her extensive renovations since the late 1990s included drydockings in 1998 and 2006.[28] Since 2009 she has hosted a permanent exhibition about her career.
On 25 July 2001, Suomen Joutsen received minor damage when the 1938-built steamer Ukkopekka collided with the museum ship. However, the damaged shell plating and frame were above the waterline, so the ship was in no danger of sinking.[29]
In 2006 Pekka Koskenkylä, the founder of Nautor, revealed that the Swan line of luxury sailing yachts was named after Suomen Joutsen.[30]
In September 2016, Suomen Joutsen was towed to Turku Repair Yard for drydocking. After inspection and maintenance of the underwater parts, which is typically done once in a decade, the museum ship should be good for another ten years.[31] The ship returned to Forum Marinum in late October.
International voyages under the Finnish flag
During her time as the school ship of the Finnish Navy, Suomen Joutsen carried out eight long sailing voyages in 1931–1939. Although her rigging was refitted for sailing after the Second World War, she was only used for short voyages in the Baltic Sea until her retirement.[3]
- First voyage (22 December 1931 – 22 May 1932)
- Helsinki, Finland - Copenhagen, Denmark - Faroe Islands - Hull, England - Las Palmas, Canary Islands - 5.5° N - Ponta Delgada, Azores - Vigo, Spain - Helsinki, Finland
- Second voyage (20 October 1932 – 3 June 1933)
- Helsinki - Las Palmas, Canary Islands - - Ponta Delgada, Azores - Helsinki, Finland
- Third voyage (1 November 1933 – 15 May 1934)
- Helsinki, Finland - Marseille, France - Alexandria, Egypt - Naples, Italy - Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands - Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Lisbon, Portugal - Helsinki, Finland
- Fourth voyage (31 October 1934 – 3 May 1935)
- Helsinki, Finland - Gravesend, England - Helsinki, Finland
- Fifth voyage (9 October 1935 – 2 July 1936)
- Helsinki, Finland - Lisbon, Portugal - - Buenos Aires, Argentine - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Ponta Delgada, Azores - Helsinki, Finland
- Sixth voyage (2 November 1936 – 1 May 1937)
- Helsinki, Finland - - Helsinki, Finland
- Seventh voyage (10 October 1937 – 12 May 1938)
- Helsinki, Finland - Funchal, Madeira - Montevideo, Uruguay - Tristan da Cunha - Cape Town, South Africa - Calais, France - Helsinki, Finland
- Eighth voyage (27 October 1938 – 23 April 1939)
- Helsinki, Finland - Bordeaux, France - Casablanca, Morocco - Recife, Brazil - San Juan, Puerto Rico - Ponta Delgada, Azores - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Helsinki, Finland
An exhibition prepared by the Finnish Export Society was carried on three voyages.
General characteristics
Suomen Joutsen is a steel-hulled full-rigged ship with three square rigged steel masts. Both main mast and bow mast have six yards, the longest ones being 27 metres (88 ft 7 in) long and weighing four tons, while the mizzenmast has five yards. The height of her main mast, which consists of three parts, is 52 metres (170 ft 7 in) from the waterline. The sail area of Suomen Joutsen is 2,200 square metres (24,000 sq ft)[note 2] and three sets of sails, each weighing three tons, were carried on training voyages. Her standing and running rigging consist of over 30 kilometres (19 mi) of manilla ropes and steel cables. The typical sailing speed of Suomen Joutsen was around 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), but once in the North Sea she reached a record speed of 16.4 knots (30.4 km/h; 18.9 mph) with only topsails and the foresail.[1][2]
The
When Suomen Joutsen was converted to a school ship for the Finnish Navy, her general arrangements were changed considerably in order to accommodate up to 180 men on long international voyages. In addition to living quarters, bathrooms and toilets, this included building kitchens and six refrigerated rooms for provisions, workshops for a carpenter, shoemaker and tailor, laundry room, hospital with ten beds and a small isolation ward, classroom, library, canteen, and more storage space for sails, ropes, paint, sand and coal. Nine freshwater tanks with a total capacity of 206 tons were also built, but in order to conserve water a traditional Finnish sauna was not provided. Instead, hot steam could be diverted into the washing rooms under the forecastle.[2]
Originally built without auxiliary propulsion, Suomen Joutsen was refitted with two
Notes
- ^ a b 1920 according to some sources.
- ^ a b 2,807 m2 (30,210 sq ft) according to original drawings (Auvinen (2002)), but otherwise always reported as 2,200 m2 (24,000 sq ft) in sources.
- ^ a b For Haudaudine. (Wreck of a French Ship. Grey River Argus, 24 February 1905)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Auvinen (2002), pages 9–14.
- ^ a b c d e f Aalste et al. (1989), pages 12–14.
- ^ a b Auvinen (1983).
- ^ Shipwreck. Colonist, 5 January 1905. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
- ^ a b c Aalste et al. (1989), pages 10–11.
- ^ a b c Auvinen (2002), pages 15–17.
- ^ a b Aalste et al. (1989), page 9.
- ^ Auvinen (2002), pages 18–19.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), page 18.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pages 27–33.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pages 34–37
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pages 38–46
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pages 47–51.
- ^ Auvinen (2002), page 101.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pp. 55–65.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pp. 66–76.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pages 77–83
- ^ Auvinen (2002), pp. 221–223.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), pages 84–90.
- ^ a b c d e f Auvinen (2002), pp. 273–276.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), p. 91.
- ^ a b Aalste et al. (1989), p. 93–94.
- ^ Auvinen (2002), pp. 277–278.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), p. 95–96.
- ISBN 951-47-6775-6.
- ^ Aalste et al. (1989), p. 99–103.
- ^ Auvinen (2002), p. 278.
- ^ Suomen Joutsen telakalle. Turun Sanomat, 6 January 2006. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
- ^ Forum Marinum -säätiön ilmoitus museoalus Suomen Joutsenen vaurioitumisesta Archived 2005-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Turun Kaupunki, 6 August 2001. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
- ^ Suomen Joutsen paljastui Swanien esikuvaksi Archived 2014-07-28 at the Wayback Machine. Turun Sanomat, 30 July 2006. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
- ^ Suomen Joutsen lähti määräaikaishuoltoon – videolla museolaivan ensimmäinen matka vuosikymmeneen. Helsingin Sanomat, 20 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
- ^ Juutilainen (1942).
Bibliography
- Auvinen, Visa (1983). Leijonalippu merellä. Pori: Satakunnan Kirjateollisuus Oy. ISBN 951-95781-1-0.
- Auvinen, Visa (2002). Suomen Joutsen – Onnekas satavuotias. TS-Yhtymä Oy. ISBN 951-9129-48-0.
- Aalste, Juhani; Aittola, Heikki; Mauno, Jukka (1989). Suomen Joutsen. Merikustannus Oy. ISBN 951-95457-2-7.
- Juutilainen, Martti (1942). Sellainen oli retkemme – Suomen Joutsenen matkat maailman merillä. Fennia.
External links