Vainamoinen Coast defense ship (FIN), 1932

Coast Defense Ship Vainamoinen, Finland, 1932
Vainamoinen 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. Vainamoinen, as well as Ilmarinen were planned to be mobile coastal fortresses for the defence of the Finnish demilitarized islands at Aland 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.
Before the war the Vainamoinen featured the following paint job: above-water parts – light gray; submerged parts – red; decking – natural wood. During the “winter” war and the WWII it was painted in camouflage with black, dark and gray clear-cut figures.