Turuma
A turuma (from the Finnish word "Turunmaa") was a type of warship built for the Swedish archipelago fleet in the late 18th century.
The turuma was designed by the prolific naval architect Fredrik Henrik af Chapman for use in an area of mostly shallow waters and groups of islands and islets that extend from Stockholm all the way to the Gulf of Finland.
The turuma had a bigger draft, was somewhat slower under oars, but offered superior accommodation for its crew, was more seaworthy and had roughly ten times the number of heavy guns.
Between 1761 and 1790, 14–15 turumas were built, including Amphion, a modified version used by King Gustav III as both a pleasure craft and command ship.
The artillery officer Augustin Ehrensvärd was the driving force behind these changes and many of the conclusions and decisions of the committee were based on his ideas for improvements.
Over two decades the archipelago fleet went through several changes caused by the competition between the Hats and the Caps, the dominant political fractions at the time, and because of rivalries between army and navy.
With the parliamentary victory of the Hats in the riksdag of 1769–70 and the coup d'état by Gustav III in 1772, the archipelago fleet's status as an independent organization within the army was secured.
The archipelago fleet attracted the social and cultural elite that enjoyed the protection and patronage of King Gustav III who had strengthened his authority as an absolute monarch in the 1772 coup.
During the Pomeranian War "gun barges" (skottpråmar), heavily armed, oar-driven, flat-bottomed broadside vessels with a shallow draft, had been tried to compensate for the lack of firepower in the galleys, but had proven far too slow to be effective.
[4] Ehrensvärd suggested that new archipelago vessels should be developed that combined sufficient firepower, maneuverability, seaworthiness and decent crew accommodations.
He started a successful collaboration with shipbuilder and naval architect Fredrik Henrik Chapman (ennobled "af Chapman" in 1772) and together they developed five new vessels: a type of gunboat with a 12-pounder gun, schooner rigging and 7–8 pairs of oars, as well four types of "archipelago frigates" (skärgårdsfregatter): turuma udema, pojama, and hemmema.
These vessels were specifically designed for use in the archipelago off the south coast of Finland and were named after the Finnish provinces of Uusimaa, Pohjanmaa (Österbotten), Turunmaa (Åboland) och Hämeenmaa (Tavastland).
[17] Though not identical to the Mediterranean-inspired vessel, the Russian navy considered turumas similar enough in function to their own "shebecks" to use this terminology when referring to Swedish prizes (captured ships).
Amphion was decorated in the more stringent version of Rococo that in Sweden is defined as "Gustavian", and was fitted with a great cabin with a skylight that was well-suited for royal audiences and conferences.
Amphion served as Gustav III's staff ship in the war of 1788–1790, but was such a poor sailer that the king and his retinue abandoned it during the dramatic escape from Vyborg Bay in 1790.
Inside an enemy galley formation, it could wreak considerable havoc, but such a maneuver was never achieved in an actual battle, leaving that tactical role untested.
[22] The second battle of Svensksund had clearly showed that the smaller and nimble gunboats and gunsloops were far more efficient in coastal warfare and had all but displaced "archipelago frigates" in the inshore squadrons by the Finnish War of 1808–09.
