Vaeltaja wrote:As for the coastal defense ships... There are some claims that (personal information) not all of the Navy were thrilled of those ships. As it lead to not having much else there either. Some claims were that the ships were the sort of a boasting effort (pullistelua) towards Sweden and the new Swedish coastal defense ships - that is if Swedes had some of those then Finns (government) felt they needed 'better' and therefore allowed the financing of coastal defense ships (& subs) even when other parts of the military budged were being minimized. Not sure how credible that claim is however.
Could add to the last the Niklander thought that coastal defense ships were a real threat to Soviet landing supported only by a cruiser sized ship (Kirov) but would have been outclassed by more than 1 cruiser or if enemy would have had even 1 battleship present in the engagement. And all of this assuming that torpedo equipped escorts of the cruiser(s) (and/or battleships) would have stood idle in the battle.Vaeltaja wrote:Had Soviets been seriously bent on landing on Ahvenanmaa then two slow and thinly armored coastal defense ships with ten inch guns would not have prevented them. There are quite good comparisons in "Meidän Panssarilaivamme" ("Our Armoured Ships") by Tauno Niklander where it is nicely represented that assuming rough parity in accuracy and without amazing flukes like with Bismark when firing at Hood both coastal defense ships would have been sunk in an encounter with heavy element (they did have two battleships) of the Soviet Baltic Fleet which would have suffered only minor to moderate damage - though it wouldn't certainly have been a free ride without risks.Steady wrote:Had it been a summer war, coastal defense ships would have been invaluable in defending Ahvenanmaa from a seaborne assault. Had Soviets taken Ahvenanmaa, Finland's lifelines to the Europe would have been largely cut.
Also as a blunder - assuming what i have read is true - i could place the whole 'Naval Detachment K & Einsatzstab Fähre Ost' episode - both how it came to be and on what it achieved.