During the Crimean War, fought between 1853 and 1856, the naval port in Viapori was transferred from the fortress to the point of Katajanokka, which itself is a point jutting out of the Helsinki headland, initially on a temporary basis. As this order was never reversed, Katajanokka was transferred to Russian possession. In the early 1900s, Katajanokka became an important port for the Baltic Fleet in which the Russian navy concentrated their torpedo boat and minelayer squadrons. At the outset of the First World War, major warships were also stationed at Katajanokka.

 

”Portu”

 

”Portu”

The port and dockyard built by the Swedes for the Swedish archipelago fleet were transferred to Russian possession in May 1808. While the open water area between Kruununvuori – a section of the island of Laajasalo – and the headland of Helsinki remained as an anchorage, or road, for vessels about to enter the port, increasingly larger ships needed more space. Such space was found in wooded and sparsely populated Katajanokka. On its northern shore, harbour structures were built and given the designation of the Viapori naval port. In Katajanokka, barracks for seamen and officers were built, drawn by C.L. Engel –a German-born architect who drew all of the empire style buildings in the centre of Helsinki – in which “Suomen Ensimmäinen Meriekipaasi” (“The First Finnish Naval Crew”), consisting of enlisted Finnish seamen, was quartered in the 1830s. The Governor-General of Finland thought that the damp climate of the Katajanokka barracks area was unhealthy for Russian soldiers, ordering the building to be assigned to Finns. During the Crimean War, “Toinen Meriekipaasi” (“The Second Naval Crew”) was established to supplement “Ensimmäinen Meriekipaasi”. At the same time, “Ensimmäinen Meriekipaasi” was reduced in size, and units of the Imperial Baltic Fleet were stationed in Katajanokka. Enlisted Finns, along with Russian seamen, were stationed in Merikasarmi (“Marine Barracks”) until the 1880s, the year in which Ekipaasi was disbanded and the Katajanokka area was left to the Russians.

 

In technical terms, the Viapori dockyard was outdated. Shipbuilding, repairs and the maintenance and equipment of vessels was transferred to Katajanokka by 1895. Repair dockyards of torpedo boats, torpedo storages, machine shops, various workshops, naphtha tanks and coal depots were located in the area. In 1913, before the outset of the First World War, Katajanokka was classified as a naval port of the second category, with torpedo boats of various sizes making up the backbone of the fleet stationed there. The residents in Helsinki referred to it using the Russian word “portu”, or a port.

 

Viapori’s fortification district is expanded

 

The area of the Viapori fortification area was fine-tuned following the completion of a map on it 1893. Discussion fluctuated between abandoning Viapori as a naval port and expanding it significantly by building more batteries on islands off the fortress in support of St. Petersburg’s defense. The Viapori fortification district was expanded, with its inner area extending from Santahamina to Lauttasaari.