Finnish escort Aura II
{{Short description|Finnish escort vessel}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2022}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Seagull_laiva.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Finland |Ship flag=Image:Military Flag of Finland.svg |Ship class= |Ship name=Aura II |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Motala Verkstad, Lindholmens Verkstads AB, Gothenburg |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service=*1884
|Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate=Sunk by own depth charge on 13 January 1940 |Ship homeport= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship displacement=466 tons |Ship tons burthen= |Ship length={{convert|51.50|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|7.80|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|3.20|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship propulsion=Two twin-cylinder compound steam engines |Ship speed=12 |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=41 officers and men |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1 × 75 mm
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Aura II (formerly known as SS Halland, Bore II, SS Seagull and SS Aura) was a Finnish escort vessel, and a former presidential yacht, operated by the Finnish Navy between 1939 and 1940. The ship participated in the Winter War.
The ship was originally constructed as the passenger vessel SS Halland by the Swedish shipyard Lindholmens. She was renamed Bore II during a sejour with another shipping company. She was bought in 1930 by the Finnish businessman Hans von Rettig, who rebuilt the ship into a luxurious yacht, and renamed her SS Seagull. He donated the ship to the Finnish state in 1936, to be used as a presidential yacht. She was then given the name SS Aura. She was taken over by the Finnish Navy when the Winter War erupted in 1939, and since the name Aura already was taken by another vessel, she was given a new name, SS Aura II.
The last mission
On 13 January 1940, Aura II was escorting a convoy across the Sea of Åland. The small convoy consisted of the cargo vessels SS Anneberg, SS Hebe and the passenger vessel SS Bore I. When they passed Märket Island, the escort vessel Tursas noticed torpedo tracks in the water. Soon thereafter a submarine surfaced 300 m on the port side. Tursas sounded the alarm and tried to ram the Soviet submarine. Aura II followed and dropped three depth charges, and soon an oil slick was seen on the water surface. It was the Soviet submarine ShCh-324, which had been trying to sink the largest of the transport vessels Anneberg.{{Cite book |last1=Rohwer |first1=Jürgen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnWwAAAAIAAJ&q=Finnish+ship+Aura+II+13+January+1940 |title=Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945 |last2=Hümmelchen |first2=Gerhard |publisher=Allan |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-7110-0277-7 |volume=2: 1939-1942 |location=London |pages=15 |language=en}} However, the torpedo went between Anneberg and Hebe. Seeing the oil slick, Aura II decided to finish off the submarine. Two more depth charges were fired, but a third depth charge exploded in its thrower.{{Cite book |last1=Bertke |first1=Donald A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Em32AgAAQBAJ&dq=Finnish+ship+Aura+II+13+January+1940&pg=PA335 |title=World War II Sea War |last2=Smith |first2=Gordon |last3=Kindell |first3=Don |publisher=Bertke Publications |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-578-02941-2 |volume=1: The Nazis Strike First. Day-to-day naval actions from August 1939 through March 1940 |location=Dayton, OH |pages=335 |language=en}} The 135 kg trotyl charge completely tearing the wooden ship apart. 26 men died and 15 were saved. The ship's commander, Lieutenant Esra Terä, was mortally wounded, but managed to utter some last words: "Let us sing, boys". The Soviet submarine managed to return to its home base.
The wreck of Aura II is located at the Finnish-Swedish border, north of Märket Island, at 60° 23' N, 19° 10' E.
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References
{{January 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aura II}}
Category:Maritime incidents in January 1940
Category:Royal and presidential yachts
Category:Ships built in Gothenburg