Orzeł class submarine
|
| Class overview |
| Name: |
Orzel class submarine |
| Built: |
1930s – |
| General characteristics |
| Displacement: |
1100 tons surfaced, 1473 tons submerged |
| Length: |
84m (247 feet) |
| Height: |
6.7m (22 feet) |
| Draft: |
4m (13 feet) |
| Propulsion: |
Twin screws with diesel/electric motors |
| Range: |
13,300 km (7169 nautical miles) at 10 knots |
| Crew: |
56 |
| Armament: |
12 550mm (21.7 inch) torpedo tubes, One 105mm (4 inch) deck gun |
The Orzeł class was a short series of modern submarines built in Dutch shipyards for the Polish Navy in the 1930s. Initially the design was to be built in the United Kingdom, but the price proposed was too high and the British Admiralty announced that building a fast submarine with over 20 knots (37 km/h) of surface speed was technically impossible.[1] The two submarines were ordered in De Schelde and Rotterdamse Shipyards, the ORP Orzeł and ORP Sęp (four were initially planned). Design was made in cooperation with a team from Polish Navy, and incorporated many features of earlier Dutch O-16-class submarine including the external trainable mount. The hull were entirely welded, and all controls were hydraulically operated.Design was made to fulfill the Polish requirements for a multi-purpose vessel, to be used both on shallow waters of the Baltic Sea and in the high seas. They were among the most modern submersibles in the allied fleets at the outbreak of World War II. Their speed was 19.5 knots (36 km/h).
Orzel was ordered in 1935 and commissioned in February 1939. On 14 September 1939 the Orzel and Wilk were ordered to make for British ports. Wilk arrived on 20 September 1939 and Orzel arrived on 14 October 1939 (after an adventurous voyage with no charts). On 8 April 1940 Orzel sank two large troop transports at the start of the German invasion of Norway. Orzel was lost in a mine barrage off the Norwegian coast on 8 June 1940.
References
- Jackson, Robert. Submarines of the World. Barnes and Noble Books, New York.
- Fontenoy, Paul E.. Submarines: An Illustrated History of Their Impact (Weapons and Warfare). ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1851095632.
External links