ORP Kaszub (1987)

For other ships of the same name, see ORP Kaszub.
Career (Poland)
Name: ORP Kaszub
Builder: Stocznia Północna, Gdańsk
Laid down: 9 June 1984
Launched: 11 May 1986
Commissioned: 15 March 1987
General characteristics [1]
Displacement:1,051 long tons (1,068 t) standard
1,183 long tons (1,202 t) full load
Length:82.34 m (270 ft 2 in)[2]
Beam:10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Draught:3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) (hull)
4.9 m (16 ft 1 in) (sonar dome)
Installed power:4× Cegieski-Sulzer AS 16V 25/30 diesels
12.42 MW (16,660 shp) total
Propulsion:CODAD, 2 shafts
Speed:27 kn (31 mph; 50 km/h)
Range:3,500 mi (3,000 nmi; 5,600 km) at 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement:67
Sensors and
processing systems:		Radar:

MR 302 Air/surface search (NATO Strut Curve)
Nogat SRN 7453 surface search
SRN 441XT Navigation radar
Sonar:

MG 322T hull mounted medium frequency active search
MG 392M high-frequency dipping sonar
Armament:1× AK-176 76 mm gun
6× ZU-23-2M Wrobel 23 mm cannon (3× twin mounts)

2× 9K32M Strela 2M surface-to-air missiles
4× 533mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (2× twin tubes) for SET-53M torpedoes

2× RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers
Kaszub
Kaszub - view from astern
Kaszub firing an RBU-6000 rocket

ORP Kaszub is a corvette of the Polish Navy, in service since 1987,[3] the sole ship of the Project 620 class. She was the first ocean-going warship built in Poland. As of 2012 she is in active service.[4]

The work on her design began in 1971, but the construction of the first ship started only in 1984, being laid down at Stocznia Północna (Northern Shipyard), Gdańsk on 9 June 1984. Kaszub was launched on 11 May 1986,[1] but was found to have a warped hull and propeller shafts, which required repair.[2] When the ship commissioned on 15 March 1987,[1] Kaszub was not fitted with much of the planned armament, with a 9K33 Osa (NATO codename SA-N-4 Gecko) surface-to-air missile launcher being omitted because of its unreliability on small, high speed ships, while the ship's main gun armament was absent because of stability problems.[5] Originally it was planned to build 7 ships of this class, but in the end only one was constructed.[5]

At first, Kaszub saw little operational use, being loaned to the Polish Border guard from 1990 to January 1991. In September 1991, the ship was fitted with a AK-176 76 mm (3.0 in) gun turret forward[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Saunders 2002, p. 540.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Baker 1998, pp. 604–605.
  3. ↑ Data from official Polish Navy website
  4. ↑ The Military Balance 2008,International Institute for Strategic Studies.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 312.