Soviet monitor Vyborg - A Finnish hero in Soviet service

McPuff · January 27, 2025, 2:18am

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Vyborg via defside

History
Vyborg was originally laid down in 1929 at the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard as the Finnish coastal defence ship Väinämöinen. Väinämöinen was built to a design provided by the German-Dutch company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw and was fitted with primary and secondary armament sourced from Bofors. Being commissioned in 1932, Väinämöinen served with the Finnish Navy throughout both the Winter War and Continuation War.

The peace treaty signed by Finland and the Soviet Union in 1947 prohibited Finland from operating large warships. As such, Finland was left with the option of either selling or scrapping Väinämöinen. She was sold to the Soviet Union and was accepted in March 1947. Väinämöinen was fitted with a large number of Madsen 20 mm guns by the end of the Continuation War but she only appears to have retained two of these at most in Soviet service, although it is unclear whether they were removed while under Finnish or Soviet ownership. Her name was changed to Vyborg in April and she was later reclassified as a monitor in 1949. Vyborg subsequently spent the rest of her life in the Gulf of Finland. She initially operated from the Soviet Porkkala Naval Base outside of Helsinki. She was transferred to the Kronstadt Naval Fortress in February 1949, and to the Leningrad Naval Base in December 1955. Vyborg was put in for an overhaul in 1952 which would only be completed in 1957. As part of this overhaul, Vyborg had her Krupp Germania 39/42P diesel engines replaced by similar 46ab engines, new radio equipment, the navigation radar Neptun was installed, and the steel propellers were replaced by ones made of brass. She was mothballed in 1959 before being decommissioned in 1966 and scrapped.

Khronstadt mid-50s

Specifications

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Displacement: 3900 t standard

dimensions: 93.0 x 16.9 x 5.0 m

Crew: 329

Armament:

4 x 254/45-B2 (Bofors 25,4 cm marinkanon M/29) (2 x twin)

Shell weight: 225 kg
Muzzle velocity: 850 m/s
Elevation: +45/-10 degrees

8 x 105/50-B2 (10,5 cm dubbel luftvärnskanon M/32Fi) dual purpose guns (4 x twin)

Shell weight: 16 kg
Muzzle velocity: 800 m/s
Elevation: +85/-10 degrees
Automatic rammers

4 x 40 ItK/38 (Bofors 40 mm) anti-aircraft guns (2 x single + 1 x twin)

2 x 20 ltK/40-M (Madsen 20 mm) anti-aircraft guns (2 x single)

Propulsion:

Top speed: 14.5-16 knots

Machinery: 4 x Krupp Diesels

Power output: 4700-6000 hp

Type: Diesel-electric

Shafts: Two

Armor:

Belt: 55-50 mm

Deck: 30-20 mm

Bulkheads: 30 mm

Conning tower: 120-100 mm

Primary turret front: 100 mm

Primary turret sides: 75 mm

Primary turret roof: 50 mm

Secondary turret shield: 15 mm

In War Thunder

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Adding Vyborg would be a good way of indirectly representing the Finnish Navy in War Thunder, allowing a very unique Finnish ship to be played under a different flag before more Finnish vessels are added. The Soviet Navy in War Thunder already features ships transferred following the various peace treaties of World War II, namely in the form of ships like Letuchiy and Novorossiysk. One potential issue with adding Vyborg would be due to Gaijin’s current rule of only representing a single ship in one form. Hopefully adding Vyborg would not mean that the Finnish Navy would have to do without Väinämöinen if added, and as seen before, the rules for additions to War Thunder have changed before.

Vyborg would be somewhat of a glass cannon in-game, being slow and relatively poorly protected but featuring heavy armament. She would likely be best played by keeping distance from the enemy, although closing the distance would likely not be much of an option considering her limited speed. While she was built for coastal operations, she would likely receive a bluewater spawn and given her armament, she could do well fighting early cruisers.

Photos

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