Finnish gunboat Matti Kurki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (September 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Career
Matti Kurki's sister ship, Klas Horn
Name:	Matti Kurki
Commissioned:	1892 1918 (Finnish Navy)
Fate:	Sunk as a target in 1937; raised and scrapped in 1940
General characteristics
Displacement:	420 tons
Length:	57.2 metres (188 ft)
Beam:	7 metres (23 ft)
Draft:	3.1 metres (10 ft)
Propulsion:	steam boilers, 3,600 hp
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h)
Complement:	57
Armament:	two 102 mm Canet machine guns 50 mines later two 75 mm

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.