Jaskółka class
 ORP Rybitwa , Czajka , Mewa and Jaskółka 1937
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The Jaskółka class was a series of six minesweepers of the Polish Navy from the 1930s, which were also intended for use as mine layers and for submarine hunting . They were the first and only warships built in Poland before World War II. Their names come from sea birds - hence their nickname "birds".
During the German attack in September 1939 all boats were sunk or sunk by their crews themselves. Four of them were taken over into the German navy after salvage . After the Second World War, the four boats were initially used by the German mine clearance service before they were returned to Poland in 1946. It was not finally taken out of service until the 1970s.
Development and construction
The first mine sweepers in Poland were former German shallow minesweepers from the First World War . They were bought in Denmark and put into service as Czajka (ex FM 2 ), Jaskółka (ex FM 27 ), Mewa (ex FM 28 ) and Rybitwa (ex FM 31 ). With these boats, the tradition of naming smaller units after birds began in the Polish Navy. They were retired by 1935, Mewa was then converted into the survey ship Pomorzanin and the other boats were sold or scrapped.
Four replacement buildings were to be developed and built at local shipyards against the backdrop of the global economic crisis . The shipyard in Gdynia (Stocznia Gdynska, Gdynia), the naval shipyard in Gdynia (Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej, Gdynia) and the inland shipyard in Modlin ( Stocznia Modlińska , Modlin) located near Warsaw were selected for construction . The latter prepared the design documents, which they then sent to the shipyards in Gdynia .
The construction contract was signed on January 26, 1933 and the first boat was to be delivered after 20 months, the others afterwards at three-month intervals. Numerous delays - such as late deliveries, storms or the simplest shipyard equipment with soft subsoil - led to the first delivery after 30 months on August 27, 1935. The last boat was handed over six months later.
The four boats got the names of their predecessors and were put into service as Jaskółka (German: swallow), Mewa (seagull), Rybitwa (tern) and Czajka (lapwing) - also known as "birds" in the Navy. Together with the old gunboats General Haller and Komendant Pilsudski they formed the re-established 1st Mining Division - a name that had not been used since the old FM boats were decommissioned. In terms of their maritime properties, the boats were handy and a success: small, fast and ideally suited for the waters of the Baltic Sea.
After completion of the boats, the naval command also intended to procure two larger minesweepers of 300 tons as part of their 6-year program from 1936. Due to a lack of financial resources, this could not be implemented, instead two more boats of the Jaskółka class were commissioned. The boats named Czapla (heron) and Żuraw (crane) were launched at the naval shipyard in Gdynia in August 1938 and were put into service early at the beginning of the war without test drives.
Later modifications
Over the years, the various owners rebuilt the individual boats on a smaller scale and adapted them to current needs. In the Navy, the boats Putzig (ex Mewa ), Rixhöft (ex Rybitwa ) and Westerplatte (ex Czajka ) were converted into torpedo catching boats TFA 7 , TFA 8 and TFA 11 and armed.
Further modifications also took place in the Navy of the People's Republic of Poland . In addition to a new armament - standardized according to the Soviet model - the Żuraw in particular was adapted to its new tasks as a survey ship. Around 1948 she received an additional aft deckhouse and, during a major renovation between 1959 and 1962, a superstructure on the foredeck and a shorter tripod mast instead.
Technical specifications
The boats were 45 meters long, 5.50 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 1.55 meters. The design displacement was 185 tons, the maximum 203 tons. Two 8-cylinder diesel engines produced a total output of 1040 hp and a top speed of 17.5 knots on two screws . The crew consisted of 3 officers and 27 men.
The armament consisted of a 75-mm gun on the bow and two machine guns of 7.92 mm caliber, supplemented by two 13.2-mm machine guns installed amidships for additional anti-aircraft defense in the two boats of the second series . In addition, all boats were equipped with mine rails and could take 20 mines or depth charges on board.
In the German Navy, the boats Czajka and Żuraw were equipped as test boats with a 2 cm anti-aircraft gun C / 30 , Mewa , Rybitwa and later also Czajka as torpedo fishing boats with two 2 cm anti-aircraft guns.
After their return in 1946, the boats were equipped with different weapons from former German stocks: Czajka with eight 20 mm anti-aircraft guns (2x2, 1x4), Mewa with seven 20 mm anti-aircraft guns (1x1, 1x2, 1x4), Żuraw with five 20 -mm-Flak (2x2, 1x1) and Rybitwa with four 20-mm-Flak (1x2, 2x1). With the reclassification to patrol boats from 1949, they were equipped with two 37 mm cannons (1x2), two 12.7 mm machine guns (1x2) and two depth charges according to Soviet standards. Żuraw kept the front 37 mm cannons as a survey ship; after the reconstruction from 1959–1963 it was no longer armed.
Jaskółka- class ships
ORP Jaskółka
As the lead ship of the class, the mining division of the Polish Navy was re-established with him. The main task before the war, however, was training the teams. On September 1, 1939, the Jaskółka ran out of the first - abandoned - mining company and took part in all operations of the Polish fleet until it was destroyed by the German air raid on September 14.
ORP Mewa
The ship was put into service on October 25, 1935, damaged on the first day of the war and sunk two days later. Lifted by the Germans, the Navy first put it into service as the Putzig and later as the TFA 7 torpedo intercepting boat . Returned to Poland in 1946, it remained in active service until 1960 before being retired in 1970 and scrapped in 1981.
ORP Rybitwa
After returning prematurely from a training voyage , the Rybitwa took part in all Polish missions from the first day of the war, was damaged in the German air raid on September 14, and sunk by its own crew when the Polish troops surrendered on Hela.
Raised by the German Navy and reactivated as Rixhöft , it was mainly used as a torpedo catch boat. After it was returned to Poland in 1946, it was initially used as a minesweeper, after which its crews were trained for submarine hunting. It was not taken out of service until 1970.
ORP Czajka
The Czajka took part in all Polish operations in September and was sunk by the crew itself when the Polish troops surrendered on Hela . Lifted by the Germans and reactivated as Westerplatte , it served briefly in the 7th minesweeping flotilla, as a buoy boat, school boat in the detachment team, torpedo catch boat, at the end of the war in a gliding flotilla and after the end of the war with the German mine clearance service. Back in the Polish Navy, crews were trained on her until 1960 before she was retired in 1970.
ORP Czapla
As the first boat of the second series, the Czapla was prematurely put into service on September 1, 1939. From September 3, she stayed in Jastarnia because of her failed steering gear , where she reinforced the air defense. During the German air raid on September 14, 1939, the Czapla was sunk.
It was structurally so badly damaged that it was not worth repairing for the Germans and they scrapped the wreck.
ORP Żuraw
As the last ship of the class, the Żuraw was also put into service early at the start of the war. After several missions, the crew sank the ship on October 2, 1939 with the surrender of the Polish troops on Hela on October 2, 1939.
The Germans lifted the ship, renamed it Oxhöft and used it as a test boat . After the war, it was initially assigned to the German mine clearance service. It was returned to Poland in 1946. After mine clearance tasks in the Baltic Sea, she was used as a survey ship and in 1971 she was decommissioned.
Remarks
- ↑ cf. Gröner Vol. 2, p. 171, Peszke, p. 19
- ↑ Twardowski, pp. 167f.
- ^ Twardowski, p. 171
- ↑ Gardiner, p. 347, Twardowski, p. 171
- ^ Twardowski, p. 179
- ↑ Gröner Vol. 5, p. 161, p. 183, Twardowski, p. 175
- ^ Piaskowski, p. 44, Twardowski, p. 175
- ↑ Gröner Vol. 5, p. 161, p. 183
- ^ Twardowski, p. 175
Web links
- http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/chronik.htm , accessed on January 5, 2017
- http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/mboote/m1-7.htm , accessed on January 5, 2017
- http://www.navypedia.org/ships/poland/pl_ms.htm , accessed January 5, 2017
- http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/minen/mrdiv3-frames.htm , accessed on January 5, 2017
literature
- Marek Twardowski: The Jaskolka Class Minesweepers , in: Warships. A quarterly Journal of warship history 15 (1980), Conway Maritime Press, London, pp. 167-179, ISBN 0-85177-207-2
- Stanisław M. Piaskowski: Okręty Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1920–1946 [The Ships of the Republic of Poland 1920–1946] , Planów album, Warsaw 1996, ISBN 83-900217-2-2
- Robert Gardiner / Roger Chesneau: Conway's All the world's fighting ships 1922-1946 , Conway Maritime Press, London 1980, ISBN 0-8317-0303-2
- Michael Alfred Peszke: Poland's Navy 1918-1945 , Hippocrene Books Inc., New York 1999, ISBN 0-7818-0672-0
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815 - 1945, Vol. 2: Torpedo boats, destroyers, speed boats, minesweepers, mine clearance boats , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815 - 1945, Vol. 5: Auxiliary ships II: Hospital ships, accommodation ships, training ships, research vehicles , port operations vehicles , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1988, ISBN 3-7637-4804-0
- Vincent P. O'Hara: The German Fleet at war, 1939–1945 , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 2004, ISBN 978-1-61251-397-3 (eBook)
- Donald A. Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell / Naval-history.net: World War II Sea War - Volume 1: The Nazis strike first , Bertke Publications, Dayton / Ohio 2011, ISBN 978-0-578-02941-2