This story is translated from Finnish Navy Year book 1925 [Dil25].
Torpedo boat S 2 was one of three of its class. The boats were typical turn of the century torpedo boats, long and narrow and a top-heavy look. Almost two-thirds of the boats length were machinery, boilers and coal bunkers. The boat was a 25 years old coal-burner, well kept but the structure and machinery were worn during war time service and yearly excercises. Due to tight economy maintenance and repair were not done as thoroughfully as might have been necessary and so the boat had also lost something from its sea-keeping qualities.
During the fall exercises in 1925 the boat was lost with all hands in a heavy storm off Pori, early morning 4 October. 53 men lost their lives. The ships Klas Horn, Uusimaa, Hämeenmaa, M 1, S 1 and S 2 were under command of Cmdr. Yrjö Roos. The ships had a plan to sail from Helsinki to Tornio, that is the whole lenght of southern archipelago and west coast. After a change in the plans, Uusimaa and M 1 were not with. Klas Horn, Hämeenmaa and S 2 sailed from Helsinki 2 October at 03.30. Because of an additional public relations trip S 1 had to coal and the boat sailed from Helsinki at 20.45. The ships met on 3 October at Lypertö pilot station, which is located on the northern part of Turku archipelago. Based on the morning reports all the ships had plenty of coal, twice the amount that would be required under normal weather conditions and 12 knots speed from Lypertö to Vaasa.
The fateful part of the voyage began from Lypertö on 3 October at 15.30 and the ships were supposed to be in Vaasa the following morning. The estimated time for this leg was 15 hours. Weather had been windy and rainy but when the ships sailed, it was fine. The ships sailed in a single column at 12 knots speed in the order Klas Horn, Hämeenmaa, S 1 and S 2. When the ships came to open sea, weather conditions had not changed and nothing indicated the storm that was to come. There was old swell, the wind was 3-4 Beaufort NW and sky was clear and cloudless, visibility good. At 18.10 the ships passed Relandersgrund lightship and the distance between ships was doubled to two cable lengths. After darkness the wind increased to 5 B, which is not typical at this part of the world, except the northwesterner.
The surviving torpedo boat S 1 began to have troubles in the beginning of the night. One of the foremast stays broke and after that the mast swayed all the time and was in danger to break. The ship had to take down its radio antenna and was only able to communicate with light signals. After this a stay of the after mast broke. Water pouring into the boat caused short circuits. The stern light went down and so S 2 could not follow directly in the wake and steered slightly to port side.
At 20.20, when the fleet was located at 61o 22' N, 20o 49'E, the wind had increased to 6-7 Beaufort and flag ship Klas Horn asked the torpedo boats, if they were able to maintain the speed. S 2 informed that it had no problems, but S 1 was not able to follow. Speed was then reduced to 10 knots. At 21.25 with increasing wind, the speed was reduced to 8 knots, but S 1 had troubles to keep even this. In S 1, heavy waves had caused leaks in anchor chain box and the department before it. Water began to leak from chain box to machinery storeroom. At first these could be pumped empty, but later the pumps became clogged and the departments were filled. Other departments required also pumping and this increased coal consumption. It was impossible to get coal to burn evenly and this resulted also in increased consumption.
At 21.25 the course was changed 20o closer to wind and at 23.18 the flag ship signalled by morse lights that the ships should ride the storm head to wind as good as they could. These signals were poorly constructed and not always understood. The torpedo boats lost sight of the gun boats at Sunday morning about 02.00, but they remained together. At 03.30 S 2 increased speed and left S 1, it is assumed that the boat tried to join the gun boats. At 04.00 the storm had increased to its full strength. The S 2 was only occasionally seen 5-6 nautical miles straight ahead of S 1, whose situation was becoming critical due to lack of coal. S 1 had to seek a safe haven on the Finnish coast, but change of course was impossible before dawn as waves could not be judged in the darkness. At 06.00 S 1 began its risky turn and at 06.20 it was sailing eastwards to Mäntyluoto. The course change took place at 61o 45' N, 20o 04,3' E, the wind was 10 Beaufort. At 8.30 the wind increased to 11 B and S 1 had to heave to wind. A half hour later the boat was capable to continue to east meanwhile the wind speed increased further. At 12.00 the coast was seen. The boat was finally able to define its location and had to sail southwest to reach Mäntyluoto. The machinery personnel had to operate knee-deep in water and there was only 3 tons of coal left. So close to the leeward shore the sea was heavy and a single wave could cast the boat 50 metres sideways. At 13.50 the boat turned east and began to approach Mäntyluoto harbour with hardly any coal left. When the boat was finally in harbour at 14.40 there was only two sacks of coal left, that 160 kg was good for only 12 minutes consumption.
Already there were rumours that all other ships had sunk, likewise that all the others had reached safety. Klas Horn had reached Harnösand in Sweden at 04.00 and Hämeenmaa Vaskiluoto at 11.30. The gunboat was so deep in water that the stern compartments had to be pumped before the ship could sail to Vaasa. The pilots at Reposaari station informed hat they had seen a navy vessel capsize. Even though there was some hope that part of the crew could be in safety, the sad truth was that all 53 had lost their lives.
Some of the last radio signals of S 2 on 4th October were:
| 00.52 | To Commander of Coastal Fleet: So far all is well. Sjöman. |
| 01.10 | To Commander of Coastal Fleet: Water coming in to forward compartments and from there to machinery stores. Must stop machines for pumping out water. Sjöman. |
| 04.30 | Answer to Härnösand enquiry via Commander of Coastal Fleet: Rescue ship not required yet. Sjöman. |
| 04.40 | To Commander of Coastal Fleet: Suggest reduce speed. Can not follow that fast. Sjöman. |
At 06.00 half of the radio aerials of Klas Horn were lost and maintaining radio communications became difficult.
| 07.00 | To Commander of Coastal Fleet: Where are you? Can not make speed over ground. What shall we do? Sjöman. |
| 07.22 | SOS - SOS - SOS. Here torpedo boat S2 filling lat. 61o40' long. 20o15'. Sjöman. |
Answer to this was that rescue ship Protector from Vasa (Finland) and Helios from Härnösand (Sweden) were alerted.
| 07.55 | To Vaasa radio station: Turned around at 7.40. Trying to reach a harbour on the finnish side. Sjöman. |
| 08.28 | To Vaasa radio station: Situation difficult, because foreship filled with water. |
| 09.44 | To Vaasa radio station: Here is everything upset, even fire in torpedo compartment. |
| 10.19 | To Vaasa radio station: It is really blowing here, nothing to boast about, on the contrary it is scaring. |
| 12.00 | To Commander of Coastal Fleet: Torpedo boat S2 sailing course 110 about 15 miles west from Reposaari. Situation aboard still bad and on the other ships we do not know anything, radio apparatus in poor condition. Sjöman. |
| 13.05 | Answer to Vaasa radio station enquiry: We have here such interference that nothing works. I believe we can reach harbour before assistance arrives. |
| 13.22 | Vaasa radio station calls S 2 that replies: Cannot work now. |
At 13.25 pilot Aalto in Reposaari pilot station tower saw, how a warship was thrown from wavetop to another and was covered by heavy sea. It was last seen half capsized with bottom plates gleaming in the sun after which the boat disappeared.
S 2 capsized and sank close to Outoori shallows, where short and steep waves form specially on northwestern storms. Those special wave conditions were later considered as one of the main reasons for the accident. The ship remained in bottom of the sea for eight months before it was located in June 1926. Planning for raising of the ship were started immediately after divers had checked the condition of wreck.
The ship had turned turtle. At first it was tried to raise by pumping air in the hull, but stern was so tightly in mud that it could not be lifted. The attempts were postponed. After re-planning it was decided to raise the ship by lines. A contract was given to Tolfvan company. After long preparations wires were driven under the ship. By using wires and air pumps the wreck was raised to surface and towed to Reposaari harbour. Here it was turned to right position and emptied with pumps on 6 August 1926. 23 victims found inside were put into coffins and moved to Reposaari. When the wreck was empty it was towed to Helsinki for investigations and scrapping.