ORP Dzik

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For other ships of the Polish Navy named ORP Dzik see: ORP Dzik (disambiguation)

**ORP Dzik**
Career
Ordered
Laid down	December 30, 1941
Launched:	November 11, 1942
Commissioned	MW: December 12, 1942 RN: July 25, 1946 RDN: 1947
Decommissioned	MW: July 25, 1946 RDN: October 1957 RN: April 1958
Fate	Scrapped in April of 1958
Current position
General characteristics
Displacement:
surfaced	545 tons
submerged	740 tons
Length	58.60 m (202 ft)
Beam	4.90 m (16 ft)
Draft	3.90 m (12½ ft)
Speed
surfaced	13 knots (24 km/h)
submerged	9 knots (16.7 km/h)
Complement	37
Armament	1 x 76 mm deck gun, 2 x 7.5 mm AA MGs, 4 x aft 533 mm torpedo tubes, up to 12 torpedoes

ORP Dzik was a U-class submarine built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 December 1941 as P-52 for the Royal Navy, but was transferred to the Polish Navy during construction. Launched on November 11, 1942, ORP Dzik was commissioned into the Polish Navy on December 12, 1942. Her name meant "Wild Boar" in Polish.

24 May, 1943 Near Cape Spartivento ORP Dzik fires a 4 torpedo salvo and damages the Italian oil tanker Carnaro (8357 BRT). After the attack, two Italian corvettes dropped over 60 depth charges.

21 Sep, 1943 ORP Dzik (Lt.Cdr. Romanowski) fires torpedoes in Bastia harbour, Corsica, France and sinks the German tanker Nikolaus (6397, former Greek Nicolaou Ourania) and the German tug Kraft (333 BRT).

8 Jan, 1944 ORP Dzik sinks the Greek sailing vessel Elleni (200 BRT) with gunfire off Lesbos Island, Greece in position 39.37N, 25.43E.

ORP Dzik destroyed or damaged 18 surface ships both German and Italian with a total tonnage of 45,080 tons. She participated in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and also engaged enemy surface ships with her 76 mm cannon three times and the crew boarded two enemy ships. The ORP Dzik earned the Jolly Roger.

In July 1946 the Polish Navy decommissioned her and returned her to the British Royal Navy.

In 1947 the ship was transferred to the Royal Danish Navy. She sailed as HDMS U-1 and was later renamed to HDMS Springeren. She was returned to the British Royal Navy in April 1958.

[edit] General characteristics

Propulsion: Diesel and electric engines
- Diesel: 825 horsepower/615 kW
- Electric: 615 horsepower/459 kW
Range
- 4,300 nautical miles at 11.5 knots
- 5,203 nautical miles at 8.5 knots submerged