Photos from open sources
Navy Finland in the first half of the last century were armed with the battleship “Väinämöinen”, with a displacement of almost four thousand tons and more than a hundred meters long – the largest warship of the country.
In early October 1932, when Väinämöinen stood at the port Gurku, the watchman Pertunnen attracted by a pale blue flicker amid the waves, which all intensified and eventually loomed into the boat, and on it stood a gray-haired old man with developing hair. The fairy boat with the old man was surrounded by a blue halo. The watchman was simply numb from what he saw, especially since he was a descendant of the famous nineteenth-century Karelian narrator Arkhip Pertunnen, and therefore immediately realized that in front of him is a sorcerer and rune singer Väinämöinen. He woke up only when the boat with the sorcerer hid behind the ship.
A photo from open sources
Pertunnen recorded what he saw in the logbook, however the authorities did not pay any attention to this record, considering that the sailor was just tired and dreamed, God knows what. However after this meeting with the sorcerer, the battleship “Väinämöinen” suddenly became invulnerable to enemy attack, that is, spoken.
In 1939, when the war between Finland and the USSR began, the famous a warship immediately fell into the sight of Soviet aviation, which set the task by all means to destroy the enemy armadillo. Yes, there it was …
An enchanted armadillo does not take bombs
At first, Väinämöinen was attacked by three bombers near the base Hanko – not a single bomb reached its goal. Planes soon returned with a new supply of bombs, but then the impenetrable fog thickened, and when it scattered, as if the ship disappeared. Intelligence discovered him at the port Turku, and nineteen aircraft with the most cool Soviet pilots. Having lost two aircraft, these aces failed to hit the target. And therefore, after three days to drown enchanted finnish battleship set off thirty airplanes. However, they could not do anything – all the bombs for some reason they flew not into the target, but into the water.
A photo from open sources
This angered the Baltic Fleet Air Force commander. General Ermachenkov that he organized a new, large-scale a carefully prepared operation in which she participated twenty-eight bombers and nineteen fighters. For their the steering wheel was the color of Soviet aviation, and therefore the Finnish the ship seemed to have no chance to survive. And he is in this once came out of the water dry, none of the 56 bombs even laid down nearby with a talking armadillo.
A photo from open sources
Soon the Great Patriotic War began, during which for Soviet army destroy unsinkable enemy ship became a matter of honor. In order to destroy it was clearly organized planned (with rehearsals and numerous workouts) company, and then sent a whole armada of aircraft, which ruled one hundred thirty-two aces. Väinämöinen was reset almost thirty bombs, each weighing a ton, after which the ship, finally, could not stand it, lay on board and … went to the bottom. It was observed almost all Soviet military pilots who participated in that grandiose operation. Many of them were awarded for this feat. medals …
The enchanted battleship was never hit by a single bomb
However, soon aerial reconnaissance of the USSR reported that “Väinämöinen” remained intact, and destroyed instead was the cruiser Niobe. We must pay tribute to the perseverance of the Soviet command, which made several more attempts destroy the enchanted Finnish battleship, but it was all in vain: the ship invariably departed without the slightest damage. All this it was like science fiction, because from eyewitness accounts it followed that bombs deflected in flight, disappeared (melted) in the air, and sometimes they even went through the battleship itself, since it’s on the instant became translucent and passed them through itself. Yes and weather conditions as if specially cared for safety “Väinämöinen”, presenting some fabulous, as if taken out of nowhere, fogs at the most critical moments of the bombing the ship.
A photo from open sources
Only after the war, already in 1947, the leadership of the USSR persuaded Finland to sell them the spoken “Väinämöinen”, after which he became Soviet armadillo under the name “Vyborg”. Battleship and after that had no troubles and accidents, rose to the “deep “and was decommissioned without showing anything unusual and mysterious, although some expected this …
War Water Aircraft of the USSR �
