Participants of the "Voices of Lost Ships" expedition discovered the steamer "Vyborg" at a depth of 54 m in the Gulf of Finland, which sank in 1941. The ship was en route to the port of Tallinn to evacuate the military garrison but sustained a breach when it was attacked by a Finnish submarine.
This was the last major wartime vessel located in Russian territorial waters. Diver Mikhail Ivanov said that the captain of the "Vyborg", Ilya Gavrilov, actively maneuvered during the encounter with the enemy submarine. However, he could not evade the Finnish torpedo.
We inspected the rudder blade, it is turned to the maximum left position, the engine telegraph is "full ahead", meaning the captain was drawing figure eights, trying to evade the torpedoes.
The expedition participants raised the ship's bell Cairo from the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. It will be included in the memorial exposition dedicated to the steamer "Vyborg", which will be opened in the "Patriot" park in Kronstadt.
The Soviet steamer sank on July 3, 1941. All crew members, except for boatswain Dmitry Denisov, managed to escape.