Uutisia

Turku Repair Yard has completed preservation docking of the historic Suomen Joutsen, “The Finnish Swan”, a vessel that enters dry dock only once every ten years.

The docking focused on preserving the vessel’s more than century-old steel structure and ensuring all areas received the necessary inspection and treatment before she returned to her berth on the Aura River in Turku.

The entire external hull underwent surface preparation, blasting and painting. Particular attention was given to the vessel’s riveted steel hull. The team carefully inspected and repaired the rivets as required, and carried out ultrasonic thickness measurements on the hull plating to assess its condition. Preservation work continued inside the vessel as well. 

Because Suomen Joutsen returns to dock only once in a decade, the areas resting on the keel blocks also had to be reached. During the docking period, the vessel was refloated and repositioned in the dock, allowing the previously inaccessible sections of the bottom to be inspected and treated.

Behind the hull we are preserving is more than 120 years of maritime history. Built in France in 1902, the three-masted steel sailing ship sailed first as Laënnec and later as Oldenburg before becoming part of Finland’s maritime story.

In 1930, she was acquired by Finland and renamed Suomen Joutsen. She later served as a Finnish naval training ship, carrying generations of seafarers on international voyages and representing Finnish seamanship well beyond home waters.

Her role changed over the decades, but her connection with Finnish maritime education remained strong. In 1991, Suomen Joutsen was handed over to the City of Turku, which committed to preserving the vessel. Today, her maintenance and museum operations are managed by the Forum Marinum Foundation.

Permanently moored on the Aura River, Suomen Joutsen has become one of Turku’s most recognisable maritime landmarks.

For Turku Repair Yard, preserving a vessel of such significance was a special responsibility, one that called for a thorough understanding of how she was built, respect for her original structure, and careful execution of every stage of the work with the years ahead in mind.