Kalevala (corvette)

Kalevala, a.k.a. "Calevala" (Russian: Калевала), was a propeller-operated corvette of the Finnish navy. The construction of it was completed in 1858 at Turku Old Shipyard, Finland. From 1860 to 1865, the corvette served in the Pacific Fleet of Russia. At the time, Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland (1809-1917), a part of the Russian Empire.

The corvette was designed by the ship designer Jörgensen, under the auspices of the Finnish Vice Admiral Johan Eberhard von Schantz (1802-1880), who was promoted to admiral in 1866. The construction of the vessel was funded by the Senate of Finland. The total cost of the ship's construction was 342'804 Russian silver rubles (the Finnish Markka became the currency of Finland from 1860 onward). The corvette had 15 cannons. The displacement of the vessel was 1500 tons. The ship was set afloat on July 2, 1858. In December, 1858, the Military Commissary of Finland hired machinists and boiler-men to work on the ship. In March, 1859, offers of food supplies for the crew were solicited. In the early summer of 1859, the steam engines of the vessel were tested at the Baltic Sea waters near Kronstadt. From the start, Finnish Baron Otto Carpelan operated as the captain of the ship. Finnish Paul Karl Toppelius (later promoted to rear admiral) became the head of the officers serving on the ship. Still during the springtime of 1860, machinists were hired for the ship's sailing season of 1860.

With the 1858 Peace Treaty of Aigun and the 1860 Peace Treaty of Peking, Russia extended its territories in the Far East. Unexpectedly, in 1860 Kalevala was pointed in the service of the Pacific Fleet of Russia, with new home port in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East. Baron Otto Carpelan remained the captain of Kalevala on the sail of the vessel from Kronstadt at the Baltic Sea to the vessel's new home port on the Russian coast of the Pacific Ocean. The long journey started from Kronstadt on October 18, 1860. In addition to Kalevala, the squadron heading to the Far East consisted of two other corvettes, Bogatyr and Rynda, as well as two clippers, Finnish-built Abrek (built in Pori in 1860) and its model vessel Gaidamak, which had been obtained from England.

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