Apu was a Finnish state-owned steam-powered icebreaker built by Howaldtswerke in Kiel, Germany, in 1899. Initially owned by a private shipping company founded by shipowners from the Finnish city of Turku and known as Avance, she was later purchased by the Finnish Board of Navigation and her name was translated into Finnish. Apu remained in service until 1959, when she was replaced by the new diesel-electric Murtaja. Construction When the winter navigation committee appointed by the Senate of Finland in 1895 decided that the state-owned icebreakers would assist merchant ships only to the port of Hanko during the winter, the shipowners from Turku did not lose their faith in year-round traffic to their hometown. In 1898 they founded a joint shipping company, Isbrytare Aktiebolaget Avance (Icebreaker Company Avance), to order and maintain an icebreaker that would be used to maintain year-round traffic to the port of Turku. The new company was partially funded by the city and also received a long-term interest-free loan from the state. With total assets of 650,000 Finnish markkas (FIM) the company ordered a new icebreaker, designed by Swedish engineer C. Bagge, from the Howaldtswerke shipyard in Kiel, Germany. The total cost of the new vessel, christened Avance, was FIM 616,000 and in many respects she resembled the first state-owned icebreaker, Murtaja. She was completed and delivered to owners in February 1899. Career The main task of Avance was to assist ships between Turku and Stockholm although scheduled year-round shipping service to the German city of Lübeck was launched during her first year in operation and she was often needed also in the southern shipping lane passing the island of Utö. She was found out to be suitable for icebreaking in the sheltered waters within the archipelago, but her wheelhouse had to be made higher shortly after entering service to improve visibility astern. Avance was offered to the city of Stockholm in 1907, but the Swedish buyers decided that she was too expensive and broke off the deal. Maintaining the icebreaker turned out to be more expensive than what was anticipated, and in 1909 the city of Turku purchased the majority of the shipping company's shares. In August 1914 Russia joined the First World War and the Finnish icebreakers were placed under the command of the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. Avance was confiscated and used to transport troops and supplies to coastal forts