Editing Winter War (section)

==Naval warfare==
{{Main|Naval warfare in the Winter War}}

===Naval activity===
There was little naval activity during the Winter War. The [[Baltic Sea]] began to freeze over by the end of December, impeding the movement of [[warship]]s; by mid-winter, only [[ice breaker]]s and [[submarine]]s could still move. The other reason for low naval activity was the nature of [[Soviet Navy]] forces in the area. The [[Baltic Fleet]] was a coastal defence force which did not have the training, logistical structure, or [[landing craft]] to undertake large-scale operations. The Baltic Fleet possessed two [[battleship]]s, one [[heavy cruiser]], almost 20 [[destroyer]]s, 50 [[motor torpedo boat]]s, 52 submarines, and other miscellaneous vessels. The Soviets used naval bases in [[Paldiski]], [[Tallinn]] and [[Liepāja]] for their operations.<ref name="Elfv1999_681">[[#Elfv1999|Elfvegren (1999)]], p. 681</ref>

The [[Finnish Navy]] was a coastal defence force with two [[coastal defence ship]]s, five submarines, four [[gunboat]]s, seven motor torpedo boats, one [[minelayer]] and six [[Minesweeper (ship)|minesweepers]] and at least 5 [[Icebreakers|icebreaker]]s. The two coastal defence ships, {{Ship|Finnish coastal defence ship|Ilmarinen||2}} and {{Ship|Finnish coastal defence ship|Väinämöinen||2}}, were moved to harbour in [[Turku]] where they were used to bolster the air defence. Their anti-aircraft guns shot down one or two planes over the city, and the ships remained there for the rest of the war.<ref name="Trotter_48-51"/> At 18 January, Finnish armed icebreaker [[Tarmo (1907 icebreaker)|''Tarmo'']] was severely damaged at [[Kotka]], received 2 bombs from a Soviet bomber with 39 Finnish troops killed in action. As well as coastal defence, the Finnish Navy protected the Ålandish and Finnish [[merchant vessel]]s in the Baltic Sea.<ref name="Elfv1999_678">[[#Elfv1999|Elfvegren (1999)]], p. 678</ref>

Soviet aircraft bombed Finnish vessels and harbours and dropped [[Naval mine|mines]] into Finnish [[sea lane|seaways]]. Still, only five merchant ships were lost to Soviet action. World War II, which had started before the Winter War, proved more costly for the Finnish merchant vessels, with 26 lost due to hostile action in 1939 and 1940.<ref name="Elfv1999_692">[[#Elfv1999|Elfvegren (1999)]], p. 692</ref>

===Coastal artillery===
Finnish coastal artillery batteries defended important harbours and naval bases. Most batteries were left over from the Imperial Russian period, with {{convert|152|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} guns being the most numerous. Finland attempted to modernise its old guns and installed a number of new batteries, the largest of which featured a {{convert|305|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} gun battery on the island of [[Kuivasaari]] in front of Helsinki, originally intended to block the Gulf of Finland to Soviet ships with the help of batteries on the Estonian side.<ref name="Lesk1999_130">[[#Lesk1999|Leskinen (1999)]], p. 130</ref>

The first naval battle occurred in the Gulf of Finland on 1 December, near the island of [[Russarö]], {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Hanko, Finland|Hanko]]. That day, the weather was fair and visibility was excellent. The Finns spotted the Soviet cruiser {{Ship|Soviet cruiser|Kirov||2}} and two destroyers. When the ships were at a range of {{convert|24|km|nmi mi|abbr=on}}, the Finns opened fire with four {{convert|234|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} coastal guns. After five minutes of firing by the coastal guns, the cruiser had been damaged by near misses and retreated. The destroyers remained undamaged, but the ''Kirov'' suffered 17 dead and 30 wounded. The Soviets already knew the locations of the Finnish coastal batteries, but were surprised by their range.<ref name="Silvast">[[#Silvast|Silvast (1999)]], pp. 694–696</ref>

Coastal artillery had a greater effect on land by reinforcing defence in conjunction with army artillery. Two sets of fortress artillery made significant contributions to the early battles on the Karelian Isthmus and in Ladoga Karelia. These were located at [[Kaarnajoki]] on the Eastern Isthmus and at [[Mantsinsaari Island|Mantsi]] on the northeastern shore of Lake Ladoga. The fortress of [[Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast|Koivisto]] provided similar support from the southwestern coast of the Isthmus.<ref name="Tillo1993_152-153">[[#Tillotson1993|Tillotson (1993)]], pp. 152–153</ref>