Name Matti Kurki Speed 19 knots (35 km/h) Weight 426.7 tons Beam 7 m | Draft 3.1 m (10 ft) Length 57 m Displacement 381,000 kg | |
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Commissioned 1892
1918 (Finnish Navy) Fate Sunk as a target in 1937; raised and scrapped in 1940 Propulsion steam boilers, 3,600 hp | ||
Matti Kurki (ex-Voivoda) was an escort ship for the Russian Imperial Yacht. Voivoda was built in Prussia in 1892 for the Montenegrin king Nicholas I. The ship was purchased by the Russian Czar after Nicholas' money ran out. After the Russian revolution, the ship was taken over by the Finnish Navy and renamed Matti Kurki, after a 13th-century legendary commander. She initially served as a minelayer, but was rebuilt into a gunboat in the 1920s. Matti Kurki was sunk as a gunnery practice target in the 1930s. She seems to have been lifted as some sources claim that she served as a floating anti-aircraft battery at Katajanokka, Helsinki, during the Winter War, armed with a 76 mm gun.
References
Finnish gunboat Matti Kurki Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA