ORP Nurek (ship, 1936)

ORP *Nurek*
	ORP Nurek
Ship data
flag	Poland
Ship type	Diving ship
class	Single ship
Shipyard	Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej , Gdynia
Launch	July 2, 1936
Whereabouts	Sunk on 1 September 1939 by the German Air Force in the Oksywie naval port
Ship dimensions and crew
length	29.0 m ( Lüa )
width	6.0 m
Draft	Max. 1.4 m
displacement	110 t
crew	19-22
Machine system
machine	Four-cylinder Ursus - Nohab - diesel engine
Machine ; performance	260 hp
Top ; speed	10 kn (19 km / h)
propeller	1
Armament
	until 1939: unarmed ; from 1939: 2 × 7.92 mm machine guns

The ORP Nurek was a dive boat for the Polish Navy built in 1936 . On September 1, 1939, the ship was sunk by the German Air Force .

Construction and technical data

After the First World War , the newly established Polish Navy had already set up its own diving unit when it was being set up, and in 1924 the 20-meter motorboat Nurek was parked for it. The boat soon no longer met the requirements and the navy began looking for a replacement from the early 1930s. The naval command decided to build a ship tailored to their needs. The design and construction of the ship took place entirely in Poland.

The ship was in the second half of 1935 on the Navy Yard Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej in Gdynia on down Kiel and received first the internal designation B6 . The launch took place on July 2, 1936 and the ship received its final name Nurek - the Polish name for "diver". The length was 29.0 meters, it was 6.0 meters wide, had a draft of 1.4 meters and displaced 110 tons. The drive consisted of a four-cylinder Ursus - Nohab - diesel engine , the 260 hp generated and a screw worked. This enabled the Nurek to reach a top speed of 10 knots and a range of 150 nautical miles. The crew consisted of 19 to 22 officers and men.

For her job as a diving ship, the Nurek received additional equipment: The ship was equipped with a decompression device made in Poland, a diving pump and a loading crane. In addition, it had a towing device that allowed it to be used as an auxiliary tug.

history

The shipyard was handed over to the Navy and the Nurek was put into service on November 1, 1936. She was stationed in the naval port of Gdynia-Oksywie and placed under the command of the coastal defense in Hel . She now took over the duties of the first Nurek , who was removed from the list of warships on December 1st. The ship's first in command was por. mar. Waclaw Lipkowski, who kept command until 1938 and was then replaced by Wincenty Tomasiewicz.

In the following three years, Nurek took on a wide variety of tasks. Primarily the practical part of the diver education and the permanent training of the divers took place on it. In addition, the navy used them several times with naval divers for underwater work - for example, in 1937/1939 diving work in the port of Gdynia. In 1936/1938 the marine divers took over work on underwater archeology as part of the research on Biskupin

At the beginning of the Second World War, the boat was under the command of chor. mar. Wincenty Tomasiewicz and was in the naval port of Oksywie . On the first day of the German invasion of Poland, on September 1, 1939 at around 2 p.m., dive bombers of the Ju 87 type of Lehrgeschwader 1 attacked the port and sank the old torpedo boat Mazur and the Nurek . 16 of the 22 crew members on board, including the commander, were killed. The ship was so badly destroyed that later repairs were not worthwhile for the Germans and they scrapped the ship.

literature

Maciej Neumann: Flota II Rzeczypospolitej i jej okręty [The fleet of the Second Republic and its ships] , Wydawnictwo LTW, Łomianki 2013, ISBN 978-83-7565-309-0 .
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 .
Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945 , published by the Working Group for Defense Research and the Library for Contemporary History , Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft, Herrsching o. J. [1968], ISBN 3-88199-009-7 , extended online Version under: http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/chronik.htm .

Web links

ORP Nurek - Photos and history of the ship at dobroni.pl (Polish), accessed on July 31, 2018
Photos on the history of diving in Poland and the ORP Nurek of the Historical Diving Society - Poland at hds-poland.org (Polish), accessed on August 1, 2018

Individual evidence

↑ ORP is the abbreviation for "Okręt Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej" and the name prefix of Polish ships. ORP means "Warship of the Republic of Poland".
↑ cf. Piaskowski, p. 27, Neumann, p. 204.
↑ ^a ^b Piaskowski, p. 28.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Neumann, p. 228.
↑ comparable to a first lieutenant at sea
↑ ORP Nurek - story about the ship at dobroni.pl
↑ Photos on the history of diving in Poland at the Historical Diving Society - Poland at hds-poland.org
↑ comparable to an ensign at sea
^ Rohwer: Sea War , September 1, 1939 Baltic Sea

[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] . Piaskowski, p. 27, Neumann, p. 204.

[P-28-3] Piaskowski, p. 28.

[N-228-4] Neumann, p. 228.

[5] rable to a first lieutenant at sea

[6] ORP Nurek - story about the ship at dobroni.pl

[7] Photos on the history of diving in Poland at the Historical Diving Society - Poland at hds-poland.org

[8] rable to an ensign at sea

[9] Rohwer: Sea War , September 1, 1939 Baltic Sea