Quote:
Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER
Baltic Mission. Destroyer patrolling an area near to Mission mark depth charging and using searchlights on fire.
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Eve of the battle[edit]
The
Polish Navy of the
Second Polish Republic (1919–39) was prepared mostly as means of supporting naval communications with France in case of a war with the
Soviet Union. However, after it became apparent that the aggressive side would be Germany, and the entrance to the
Baltic Sea would be blocked, three out of four Polish modern
destroyers were withdrawn from the Baltic Sea to Great Britain in what was called
Operation Peking. The remaining forces, consisting of one large minelayer, one destroyer, five submarines and smaller vessels were to execute two major naval operations, both aimed at disrupting the German naval movement in the area of the
Danzig Bay and transit movement between Germany and
East Prussia. All submarines were dispatched for their operational zones in the southern Baltic to take part in
Operation Worek, an attempt to sink as many German ships as possible.
Battle[edit]
All the remaining surface vessels were to be dispatched from the naval base in
Gdynia to
Hel Peninsula, from where they were to start the so-called
Operation Rurka. The plan was to lay a
naval mine barrier between Hel Peninsula and Danzig to prevent any enemy ship from entering the area.
At dusk ten Polish warships left Gdynia for
Hel, located on the other side of the bay. There, the ships were to start the minelaying operation. Among them were the
destroyer ORP Wicher, large minelayer
Gryf, minelaying
minesweepers Jaskółka,
Czapla,
Żuraw,
Czajka,
Rybitwa and
Mewa and
gunboats Komendant Piłsudski and
Generał Haller.
While traversing the
Danzig Bay, the flotilla was attacked by a group of 33 German warplanes, mostly
Junkers Ju 87B Stuka
dive bombers. The air raid was mostly unsuccessful and the Polish vessels suffered only minor losses. The backbone of the Polish flotilla, ORP
Gryf with over 300 naval mines on board, remained unharmed.
However, soon after the first air raid was repelled, the German bombers returned, around 6 pm. There were no direct hits, but the Polish ships suffered minor damage from close misses and machine gun fire, mainly minelayer ORP
Gryf and minesweeper ORP
Mewa. The commanding officer of ORP
Gryf, Cmdr.
Stefan Kwiatkowski was killed by German machine gun fire, and her rudder was jammed. Her executive officer, Lt. Cmdr.
Wiktor Łomidze feared that her cargo of mines (comprising over 33 tonnes of high explosives) was a danger to the ship and if it was hit by a bomb, it would explode immediately. Because of that, he ordered all the mines to be disposed of in the sea.
After the battle[edit]
After successful defence against several consecutive air raids, the Polish flotilla arrived at Hel. However, since ORP
Gryf had abandoned all of its mines and was damaged, the Operation Rurka had to be called off. The only destroyer, ORP
Wicher, did not receive the orders calling off the operation and went straight to the pre-designed zone of operations to cover the mine-layers. At night,
Wicher, commanded by Lt. Cdr.
Stefan de Walden, spotted two German destroyers, and later a ship misidentified as a light cruiser, but did not attack, not wanting to uncover the operation.
After return to Hel Peninsula, both major vessels were there deprived of most of equipment and served as anti-aircraft platforms in the Hel naval base.