Under the Polish flag at sea

	Under the Polish flag at sea 1939-1945

In May 1939, during the Polish - British staff talks that took place in Warsaw, it was determined that even before the outbreak of war with Germany, 3 Polish destroyers were to sail to Great Britain. From there they were to assist the convoys with military equipment for Poland, dispatched to the Romanian port of Galati. The vessels (ORP "Błyskawica", "Burza" and "Grom") left the port of Gdynia-Oksywie on 30th August and two days later arrived to the Scottish port of Leith. They were soon joined by two submarines: ORP "Wilk" (20 September) and "Orzeł" (14 October) - after a brave passage through the Baltic straits, patrolled by the Kriegsmarine's boats. They carried out their first attack, after reaching British bases, as early as 7 September, near the island of Minch (Hebrides).

On 18 November 1939 an accord was signed in London which fixed the terms and conditions associated with the activities of Polish vessels in the United Kingdom. A protocol was also signed, specifying the organizational and technical details, which were the consequence of the subordination to the British Admiralty. As early as 29 December the Naval Command moved from Paris to London to be headed by Jerzy Świrski (from 1941, Vice-Admiral).
 

From the beginning of the war Polish warships were taking part in combat patrols, and constituted an escort for the convoys. The first definite success was an accomplishment of ORP submarine "Orzeł" (commander: Commodore 2nd cl. Jan Grudziński). On 8 April 1940 it sank a German freighter "Rio de Janeiro", which was carrying German invasion troops to Norway. "Orzeł" was lost exactly two months later, during a North Atlantic patrol.

On 3rd May the British authorities handed a destroyer over to the Polish Navy. Later as ORP "Garland" it commenced patrol duty in the Mediterranean. All in all during the 2nd World War the Polish Navy received from the British: 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 3 submarines and many small units (e.g. chasers, torpedo boats, escort vessels, submarine chasers).
 

In view of the unfavourable military situation in France in 1940, British command took the decision to evacuate their forces from the Dunkirk area. Both vessels of the Polish Navy and ships belonging to the commercial fleet took part in the process of carrying the troops to the United Kingdom.

ORP "Burza", alongside British destroyers "Wessex" and "Vimiera", was shelling German troops west of Calais. During that action the Polish vessel was damaged by an enemy aircraft. ORP "Błyskawica" took the heavily damaged British destroyer "Greyhound" in tow, bringing her to the port of Dover. Polish sailors also rescued the crew of the torpedoed French destroyer "Sirocco".

Poles also participated in the action to destroy a German battleship "Bismarck". On the night of 26/27 May 1941 ORP "Piorun" (in a formation of 4 destroyers under the command of Counteradmiral Philippe Vian) carried out an exchange of fire with a powerful enemy ship, delaying its retreat to the Brest port. It contributed to the completion of the blockade and to the final victory: "Bismarck" was sunk on 27 May.

ORP destroyer "Garland", while taking part in the PQ-16 convoy to Murmansk and Archangielsk, waged a battle with enemy aircraft which lasted the entire day. As a consequence, the vessel was seriously damaged, 26 sailors died, another 30 were wounded (out of a crew numbering less than 150 men). Despite the losses, sailors did not stop firing at the Luftwaffe's planes, and the damaged vessel managed to reach the Soviet port of Murmansk.

During the allied sea landing in France near Dieppe (17th/18th August 1942), the landing troops were supported by the fire of ORP destroyer "Ślązak" whose crew shot down 4 enemy planes. Furthermore, ORP "Błyskawica" from 6th November took part in securing of the British - American landing in North Africa, amongst others in the Bougie port in eastern Algeria. The Polish vessel was damaged during an air raid (11 November), and consequently had to sail back to Gibraltar.

Vessels of the Polish Navy also participated in the Battle of the Atlantic.

In the Mediterranean (and also in the Egyptian and Adriatic seas) many succesful operations were carried out by the twin submarines ORP "Dzik" and ORP "Sokół", which attacked German and Italian transport and military ships. Amongst the British they gained the nickname "the Terrible Twins". During the combat operations the commander of the ORP "Dzik", Capt. Bolesław Romanowski, used a new method of attacking landing ships, which also became adopted by the Royal Navy.

On 6 June 1944 the allied invasion of Normandy commenced. The Polish vessels taking part in it operated in two groups: the cruiser ORP "Dragon", destroyers ORP "Ślązak" and ORP "Krakowiak" - on the eastern stretch of the landing operation, while the destroyers ORP "Błyskawica" and ORP "Piorun" secured the sea landing from the west.

The Poles attacked coastal artillery of the enemy, supporting the infantry fighting on land. On 8 June the cruiser "Dragon" destroyed at least 6 tanks in the Varaville area. On 7 July the cruiser was hit by a "live torpedo" ("Neger" submarine.) 37 sailors died and 14 were wounded. Severely damaged ORP "Dragon" soon settled on the bottom of the sea as an element of an artificial wavebreaker for the provisional harbour. On the previous day the crew of the ORP "Ślązak" took an operator of one of the "live torpedoes" as a prisoner of war.

In the place of the destroyed "Dragon" British authorities handed over the cruiser HMS "Danae" which was renamed ORP "Conrad".

At the same time the other ships, ORP "Błyskawica" and ORP "Piorun" enjoyed significant successes.

On the night of 8/9 June a combined British - Canadian - Polish group clashed with 4 enemy destroyers (off the coast of Bretogne, near Ushant), of which two were sunk (one jointly by "Błyskawica" and a British vessel).

After midnight on 13/14 June) the destroyers ORP "Piorun" and HMS "Ashanti" carried out a combat action against a group of 7 German minesweepers near the island of Jersey. In that clash the allied destroyers sank 3 enemy ships and damaged another three.

On 15 July ORP "Błyskawica", alongside British destroyer HMS "Tartar" and the Canadian "Haida", disbanded an enemy convoy near Ile de Croix, sinking 2 ships and 1 escort vessel. Later, the Polish vessel delivered armament and supplies for the French resistance movement.

The last victorious sea battle was conducted on the night of 25/26 March 1945, near the Dutch coast, by the destroyer ORP "Krakowiak". In the course of a joint operation with the Norwegian destroyer "Arendal" and the British frigate "Rion" it disbanded a group of German chasers that were attempting to launch an attack against an allied convoy. As a result, the Kriegsmarine lost 2 chasers.

After end of the war, the destroyers ORP "Błyskawica", "Piorun" and "Krakowiak" took part in the destruction of the German submarines, constituting an allied war trophy ("Operation Deadlight").

Polish vessels operating from British bases covered a total distance of 1,213,000 sea miles, destroyed (confirmed) 7 surface vessels and 2 submarines as well as 39 enemy cargo ships and shot down 20 aircraft. In the course of these actions 460 sailors were killed.

As one British historian noted, and was cited by a Polish maritime historian Jerzy Pertek: "Out of all the navies of the United Nations, no one was fighting better in the most difficult operational conditions, than the Polish Navy".

V-ce Admiral Jerzy Włodzimierz Świrski (1882-1959) A former officer of the Russian Navy, he took part in the Battle of Tsushima (1905). After the 1st World War he served in the Polish Navy. From 1925 until the end of the 2nd World War and demobilization he commanded the Polish Navy. In 1941 he received the rank of Vice Admiral. After the end of the war he lived in London, where he died on 12 June 1959. He was decorated with the British Order of Bath - 2nd class, and the French Honorable League - 2nd class.

 

Polish Navy 1939-1945 Inventory as of 1st Sept. 1939: - 4 destroyers, - 1 minelayer, - 5 submarines, - 6 minesweepers, - 2 gunboats, - 7 auxiliary vessels (displacement over 100 BRT). Inventory as of 8th May 1945: - 1 cruiser, - 6 destroyers, - 6 submarines (incl. 3 interned in Sweden). Losses 1939-1945: 1 cruiser, 4 destroyers, 1 minelayer, 2 submarines, 6 minesweepers, 2 gunboats, 6 auxiliary vessels. The number of sailors who died or were killed in combat in the Polish Navy (in the west) during the war: - 460. The vessels of the Polish Navy, operating from British bases, covered a total distance of 1,213,000 sea miles, took part in escorting 787 convoys, conducted 40 fights with enemy surface vessels and 176 with submarines, as well as with "live torpedoes", (These "Negers" being midget submarines with torpedoes detachable before reaching the target), over 50 with coastal artillery and over 400 with aircraft. Polish crews destroyed (confirmed): - 7 surface ships, - 2 submarines, - 39 transport ships, - shot down 20 enemy planes. Unconfirmed destroyed: - 2 surface ships, - 3 submarines, - 2 transport ships, - 10 planes. Polish vessels took part 47 times in rescuing of crews of ships and vessels and of aircraft crews - over 35 times. For their achievements, Polish sailors obtained 83 British medals (1 Order of Bath 2nd class, 2 Orders of the British Empire 3rd class, 5-4th class, 2-5th class and 15 French medals - including 4 of the Honorable League.

 

Polish Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 The outbreak of war (1 Sept. 1939) found most of the Polish commercial ships (combined PMH tonnage: 137,000 BRT) beyond Polish waters. According to the Polish - British accord of 12th Oct. 1939, Poland joined collaboration in the inter-allied navigational committee, effectively giving its fleet away for the needs of war sea transport. Polish Merchant Fleet participated in naval operations on the waters of all oceans. Its ships sailed with troops to Norway, evacuated soldiers from France (1940) but, first and foremost, they took part in convoys to many ports of the world. After the end of the war in Europe some ships took part in fights with Japan, i.e: "Pułaski" took part in the taking over of Port Swettenham on the Malayan Peninsula (Sept. 1945). During the war Polish Merchant Fleet lost: - 18 ships (combined tonnage: 76.000 BRT). Loss of life: - over 200 sailors. Polish sailors received, amongst others, 14 British medals.