Finnish gunboat Klas Horn

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Career

Type:	Gunboat
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:
Commissioned:	1892 1918 (Finnish Navy) 1941 (Finnish Navy)
Fate:	Served in the Finnish Navy 1918-1937, 1941-1957 Burned and scrapped 1962
General Characteristics
Displacement:	420 tons
Length:	57.2 m
Beam:	7.0 m
Draught:	3.1 m
Propulsion:	Steam boilers 3,600 hp
Speed:	19 knots
Range:
Complement:	5 + 52
Armament:	2× 102 mm Canet Machine guns 50x mines later 2× 75 mm

Klas Horn (ex-Posadnik), was the flagship and an escort ship for the Russian Czar's yacht. Posadnik 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 Klas Horn, after a 16th century admiral. She initially served as a minelayer, but was rebuilt into a gunboat in the 1920s. Klas Horn ended her Finnish navy service in the 1930s and served as a mothership for sea surveying.

The Klas Horn was a strange mix of a civilian and warship. The front end looked like a warship, but since she also had been the escortship for the czar, her superstructures were low and gracious.

The Finns mounted a large 102 mm gun on her, but it proved too big for the ship. During sea travel, the gun had to be tied, so it wouldn't make the ship unstable. The old ship's sea going qualities were also bad.

Klas Horn returned to the Finnish Navy in 1941 and served until 1957. Thereafter she was rebuilt into a floating hotel and restaurant. She suffered a fire in 1963 and was scrapped the following year.