ORP Wilk

History
Poland
Name:	ORP Wilk
Namesake:	wolf (in Polish)
Builder:	Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand Le Havre, France
Laid down:	1927
Launched:	April 12, 1929
Commissioned:	October 31, 1931
Decommissioned:	April 2, 1942 to reserve submarine
Decommissioned:	1953
Fate:	Scrapped 1954
General characteristics
Class and type:	Wilk-class submarine
Displacement:	980 tons (surfaced) 1,250 tons (submerged)
Length:	78.5 m (257 ft 7 in)
Beam:	5.9 m (19 ft 4 in)
Draught:	4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	Diesel-Vickers diesel: 1,800 hp (1,300 kW) electric engines: 1,200 hp (890 kW)
Speed:	14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) surface 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) submerged
Range:	3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) @ 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) @ 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Complement:	46–54
Armament:	1 × 100 mm (3.9 in) deck gun 2 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) deck anti-aircraft heavy machine guns (mounted in place of 40 mm gun from 1935 onwards) 4 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes, bow 2 × 550 mm (22 in) (twin) rotating torpedo tubes, midship 10 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedoes (6 in tubes and 4 reloads) 40 × mines

Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand

ORP Wilk was the lead boat of her class of mine-laying submarines of the Polish Navy. The ship saw service in the Polish Navy from 1931 to 1951. Her name meant "Wolf" in Polish.

Wilk was laid down in 1927 at Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand shipyard at Le Havre in France. Launched on April 12, 1929, she was commissioned into the Polish Navy on 31 October 1931.

When World War II began on September 1, 1939, Wilk, commanded by Captain Boguslaw Krawczyk, took part in the Worek Plan for the defence of the Polish coast, operating in Gdańsk Bay. On September 2 she spotted a destroyer Erich Steinbrinck, but could not attack it, because she fell herself under attack of minesweepers (the German report on firing a torpedo at Steinbrinck is not confirmed by the Polish). On September 3 she deployed her mines as planned. On September 4 and 5 the Wilk was under continuous depth charge attacks and had to lay on the sea bottom during daytime, suffering minor damage. During next days, attempts at attacking enemy shipping were unsuccessful. Then she left the Polish coast, successfully passing the Danish straits (Øresund) on September 14/15, escaping from the Baltic Sea and arriving in Great Britain on September 20. Only ORP Orzeł managed to accomplish the same feat later; the other three Polish submarines were interned in neutral Sweden.

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Wikipedia