ORP Czapla (ship, 1938)

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ORP Czapla
The sister ships ORP Rybitwa, Czajka, Mewa and Jaskółka 1937
The sister ships ORP Rybitwa , Czajka , Mewa and Jaskółka 1937
Ship data
flag PolandPoland (naval war flag) Poland
Ship type Minesweeper
class Jaskółka class
Shipyard Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej, Gdynia
Launch August 22, 1938
Commissioning September 1, 1939
Whereabouts Sunk by air raid on September 14, 1939
Ship dimensions and crew
length
45.00 m ( Lüa )
width 5.50 m
Draft Max. 1.55 m
displacement Construction: 185 t
Maximum: 203 t
 
crew 3 officers
27 men
Machine system
machine 2 × 8-cylinder diesel engines
Machine
performance 		1,040 hp
Top
speed 		17.5 kn (32 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament
  • 1 × 75 mm
  • 2 × 7.92 mm machine guns
  • 2 × 13.2 mm machine guns
  • 20 mines, alternatively 20 depth charges

The ORP Czapla (German: "Heron") was the fifth of six minesweepers of the Jaskółka class of the Polish Navy and was built between 1938 and 1939. These boats were also used as mine layers and submarine hunting and were the only warships made in Poland before World War II.

The boat was put into service early on September 1, 1939 and was in active service for only 14 days - on September 14, 1939, it was sunk in a German air raid.

Navy of the Second Polish Republic

With the beginning of the German attack on Poland, the Czapla was put into service prematurely on September 1, 1939 without test drives. Captain Marynarki Eligiusz Ceceniowski was appointed to the command.

On the morning of 1 September, the Polish fleet with the minelayer left Gryf , the destroyer Wicher , the minesweepers Jaskółka , Mewa , Rybitwa , Czajka , Żuraw and Czapla and the gunboats General Haller and Komendant Pilsudski base in Gdynia to by Hela to relocate and carry out " Operation Rurka ". The Danzig Bay was to be protected against attacks by German ships of the line Schleswig-Holstein and Silesia with a mine barrier .

During the crossing, 33 Ju 87 dive bombers of Lehrgeschwader 1 attacked the fleet and "Operation Rurka" had to be canceled. In this attack, the Gryf , Wicher and Mewa received damage from close hits. The latter had to be towed from the Rybitwa to Hela. The Mewa remained in Hela, while the five undamaged minesweepers were ordered to the naval port of Jastarnia , where they remained stationed until mid-September.

When the minesweepers next used on September 3, Żuraw and Czapla stayed in Jastarnia because their helmets had failed. There they supported the air defense. They were no longer used in further operations.

On September 14th, 11 Ju 87 dive bombers of the 4th / Carrier Group 186 appeared over Jastarnia at 10 a.m. The Jaskółka was destroyed in this air raid when a hit in the ammunition depot set off a fire. The Czapla also received a hit that tore a large hole in the starboard wall. The boat listed and sank. Rybitwa and Czajka were damaged. The survey boat Pomorzanin and the tug Lech were also sunk in this attack .

The Czapla was structurally so badly damaged that repairs were not worthwhile for the Germans and they later scrapped the wreck.

Remarks

  1. ^ "ORP" is the abbreviation for "Okręt Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej" and the name prefix of Polish ships. ORP means "Warship of the Republic of Poland".
  2. ↑ comparable to a first lieutenant at sea
  3. ^ Piaskowski, p. 42
  4. ↑ Twardowski p. 175f.
  5. ^ Twardowski, p. 176
  6. ^ Twardowski, p. 176
  7. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/39-08.htm#SEP
  8. ^ Twardowski, p. 179

Web links

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