British submarine flotilla in the Baltic

In 1918, the German occupation of Tallinn and the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty forced the flotilla to move to Helsinki, under the protection of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic.

The Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet had left four Russian Holland type submarines without support in Hanko.

[7] The last four E-class submarines—HMS E1, E8, E9, and E19—were scuttled outside Helsinki, south of the Harmaja Light, in 1918 to prevent capture by German troops who had landed nearby.

[5] HMS C26, C27, C32 and C35 reached Saint Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland on 9 September 1916, but due to difficulties with the batteries became fully operational only in the 1917 sealing season.

Admiral Aksel Berg also served as Liaison Officer from the Imperial Russian Navy, before going on to become the Deputy Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (1953–57).

Some Finns raised some parts of the scuttled British submarines before World War II but recognized that they were beyond feasible repair and returned them back into the sea.