Finnish gunboat Karjala
On 7 December 1939 Karjala was sent to tow Finnish submarine Saukko along with three motor torpedo boats to Koivisto both to lay mines and to intercept the Soviet ships.[9] On 29 August Karjala together with her sister ship Turunmaa, and gunboats Hämeenmaa and Uusimaa were escorted by Riilahti and Ruotsinsalmi through the main Soviet mine barrier south of Hanko to the eastern Gulf of Finland.On 29 October Karjala which had just returned from repairs joined with Turunmaa in shelling the island of Sommers, where a Finnish landing attempt had previously been turned back.[11] Most of the war Karjala like other Finnish gunboats was tasked with guarding of the mine barriers north-east of Hogland and performing anti-submarine patrols in the same region.However, when it became apparent on 12 July 1942 that Soviet submarines had managed to bypass the mine barrier Karjala was sent to strengthen the escorts protecting the shipping between Sweden and Finland.