Editing Winter War (section)

===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>