ORP Krakowiak (L115)

Last updated

Krakowiak Nahi.JPG
ORP Krakowiak (L115) in 1942
History
PL navy flag IIIRP.svgPoland
NameORP Krakowiak
Builder
Laid down5 December 1939
Launched4 December 1940
Commissioned28 May 1941
Decommissioned1946
FateScrapped in 1959
General characteristics
Class and typeType II Hunt-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 1,050 long tons (1,067 t) standard;
  • 1,490 long tons (1,514 t) full load
Length85.0 m (278 ft 10 in)
Beam9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Draft2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Speed27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Armament

ORP Krakowiak was a British Type II Hunt-class destroyer escort, used by the Polish Navy during World War II. Initially built for the Royal Navy, it bore the name of HMS Silverton during British use.

Contents

History

The ship was laid down on 5 December 1939 in the J. Samuel White Shipyard in Cowes. On 4 December 1940 she was launched as HMS Silverton for the Royal Navy. However, on 3 April 1941 it was agreed that she would be allocated (along with HMS Oakley) to the Polish Navy to replace the ex-French destroyer Ouragan which was being manned by the Poles. Commissioned on 28 May of that year, she was renamed ORP Krakowiak, [1] after either a folk dance from Kraków or an inhabitant of that city.

As she was the first ship of her class to be handed to the Poles, until 10 July 1941, her crew spent most of their time training and getting to know the ship. After that date she entered line service in the convoy escort role in the North Atlantic. In December of that year she was among the ships to take part in the successful raid against a German naval outpost on the Lofoten islands. Throughout the war she also patrolled the North Sea, often engaging in skirmishes with German torpedo boats. In 1943 she moved to the Mediterranean, where she took part in, among others, Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and later in the Dodecanese Campaign. Altogether, during the Second World War she covered over 146,000 nautical miles (270,000 km) escorting 206 different convoys, including nine in the North Atlantic. She shot down three enemy planes, but the number of enemy vessels sunk is unclear.

ORP Krakowiak towing U-boat U-2337 out to sea for scuttling, 28 November 1945 The Polish Navy during the Second World War HU55913.jpg
ORP Krakowiak towing U-boat U-2337 out to sea for scuttling, 28 November 1945

At the end of the war, she was active in Operation Deadlight (November 1945 – February 1946), in which German U-boats were towed out to an area north-west of Ireland to be scuttled.

Postwar

After the Allied powers withdrew their support for the Polish government, the ship was decommissioned on 28 September 1946 by the Polish Navy and returned to the British, who re-commissioned her under her original name and placed her in reserve at Devonport. [2] She was reclassified as a frigate and given a new number: F 55. Serving in only rare cases, she spent most of her time in dock, preserved as part of the Reserve Fleet. As such she represented the Reserve Fleet during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation celebrations in Spithead in July 1953. [3] In 1959 she was finally decommissioned and sold to Thos. W. Ward for scrapping, arriving at Grays, Essex, in March of that year.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Garland</i> (H37) G-class destroyer

HMS Garland, also known by her Polish designation ORP Garland, was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Shortly after World War II began, she was badly damaged by the premature explosion of her own depth charges and required over six months of repairs. Before these were completed, Garland was loaned to the Polish Navy in May 1940. The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet afterwards and escorted convoys there before being assigned to the Western Approaches Command in September for escort duties. She escorted a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta during Operation Halberd in September 1941 and escorted Convoy PQ 16 from Iceland to Murmansk in May 1942. She was badly damaged by a near miss from a German bomber during that operation and required three months of repairs.

ORP <i>Kujawiak</i> (L72)

ORP Kujawiak was a British Type II Hunt-class destroyer escort, originally ordered as HMS Oakley.

ORP <i>Ślązak</i> (L26) Hunt-class destroyer in service with the Polish Navy

ORP Ślązak was a World War II Hunt-class destroyer. Initially laid down in 1940 for the Royal Navy as HMS Bedale, in 1942 she was commissioned by the Polish Navy.

HMS <i>Badsworth</i> Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Badsworth(pennant number L03) was an escort destroyer of the Type II Hunt class. The Royal Navy ordered Badsworth's construction three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. Cammell Laird laid down her keel at their Birkenhead yard on 15 May 1940, as Admiralty Job No. J3260. After a successful Warship Week national savings campaign in March 1942, Badsworth was adopted by the civil community of Batley, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The ship was named after a fox-hunt in Yorkshire.

HMS <i>Bicester</i> (L34) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Bicester(pennant number L34) was an escort destroyer of the Type II Hunt class. The Royal Navy ordered Bicester's construction three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. Hawthorn Leslie & Co. laid down her keel at their Tyne yard on 29 May 1940, as Admiralty Job Number J4210. The ship was named after a fox hunt in Oxfordshire.

HMS <i>Blackmore</i> (L43) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Blackmore(pennant number L43) was an escort destroyer of the Type II Hunt class. The Royal Navy ordered Blackmore's construction three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. A. Stephen & Sons laid down her keel at their Glasgow yard on 10 February 1941, as Admiralty Job Number J1479. The ship was adopted by the civil community of Langport, Somerset after a successful Warship Week campaign. The ship was sold to the Royal Danish Navy and renamed HDMS Esbern Snare.

HMS <i>Holcombe</i> British destroyer

HMS Holcombe was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was named after the Holcombe Hunt in Lancashire. She was the first and thus far only ship of the Royal Navy named HMS Holcombe.

HMS <i>Brecon</i> (L76) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Brecon was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Second World War, one of two ships in the fourth subgroup of the class, built to a radically different design from other ships in the Hunt class.

HMS <i>Wheatland</i> Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Wheatland was a Type 2 Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War.

HMS <i>Exmoor</i> (L08) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The second HMS Exmoor (L08), ex-HMS Burton, was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy in commission from 1941 to 1945. She was a member of the second subgroup of the class, and saw service during much of World War II. She later served in the Royal Danish Navy as HDMS Valdemar Sejr.

HMS <i>Witch</i> (D89) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Witch (D89) was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.

HMS <i>Worcester</i> (D96) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

The eighth HMS Worcester, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II. She later served as an accommodation ship as the second HMS Yeoman.

HMS <i>Southwold</i> (L10) British warship

HMS Southwold was a Type II British Hunt-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during World War II. She served in the Mediterranean for a few months until she was sunk off Malta in March 1942.

HMS <i>Brocklesby</i> (L42) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Brocklesby was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War, spending much of the time in the English Channel and Mediterranean, taking part in the Dieppe Raid in 1942, and the Allied landings in Sicily and at Salerno in 1943. After the war, she was used as a sonar trials ship until 1963, and was sold for scrap in 1968.

HMS <i>Eggesford</i> Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Eggesford was a Type III Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She entered service in January 1943, carrying out convoy escort, patrol and anti-shipping attacks for most of the rest of the Second World War. In 1957, she was sold to the West German Navy, serving as a training ship for the submarine weapons school until 1968.

HMS <i>Oakley</i> (L98) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Oakley was a Type II Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was originally to have been named Tickham, however she was renamed after her sister ship Oakley was transferred to Poland and was renamed ORP Kujawiak (L72). She entered service in May 1943, carrying out convoy escort, patrol and anti-shipping attacks for most of the rest of the Second World War. She was adopted by the Civil community of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire as part of Warship Week in 1942. In 1957, she was sold to the West German Navy, serving as a training ship for the German Naval Gunnery school until scrapped in 1972.

HMS <i>Eglinton</i> (L87) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Eglinton (L87) was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy built by Vickers-Armstrongs on the River Tyne, and launched on 28 December 1939. She was adopted by the town of Alton, Hampshire, as part of the Warship Week campaign in 1942.

HMS <i>Holderness</i> (L48) Destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Holderness was a Type I Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy which served in World War II. She was scrapped in 1956.

HMS <i>Belvoir</i> (L32) Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy

HMS Belvoir was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was a member of the third subgroup of the class, and saw service in the Second World War. She was adopted by the civil community of Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire during Warship Week in 1942.

HMS Rockwood was a Type III, Hunt class Escort destroyer of the Royal Navy, built by Vickers-Armstrongs in Barrow-in-Furness and served during the Second World War. She was damaged in action in November 1943 by a glide bomb, not fully repaired, took no further part in the war and was broken up for scrap in 1946.

References

  1. English, John (1987). The Hunts: A history of the design, development and careers of the 86 destroyers of this class built for the Royal and Allied Navies during World War II. World Ship Society. pp. 17, 72. ISBN   0-905617-44-4.
  2. Critchley, Mike (1982). British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers. Liskeard: Maritime Books. p. 32. ISBN   0-9506323-9-2.
  3. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden

Publications