Peking Plan

The Peking Plan (or Operation Peking) was an operation in which three destroyers of the Polish Navy, the Burza ("Storm"), Błyskawica ("Lightning"), and Grom ("Thunder"), were evacuated to the United Kingdom in late August and early September 1939 prior to the outbreak of war. They were ordered to travel to British ports and assist the British Royal Navy in the event of a war with Nazi Germany. The plan was successful and allowed the ships to avoid certain destruction or capture in the German invasion.

The plan was created in order to remove the Destroyer Division (Dywizjon Kontrtorpedowców) of the Polish Navy from the Baltic Sea operation theatre. The Kriegsmarine had a significant numerical advantage over the Polish Navy, and in the event of a war the Polish High Command realized that the ships which remained in the small and mostly landlocked Baltic were likely to be quickly sunk by the Germans. Also, the Danish straits were well within operation range of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe, so there was little chance for the plan to succeed if implemented after hostilities began.

The British government, on 24 August 1939, through Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart, head of the British Military mission, made strong representations to Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz, commander-in-chief of the Polish Forces, that the most modern elements of the fleet be evacuated from the Baltic. Although Śmigły-Rydz resisted the idea at first, he finally agreed.

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