ORP
Błyskawica was a Grom
-classThe Grom class destroyers were two destroyers, built for the Polish Navy by the British company of J. Samuel White, Cowes. They were laid down in 1935 and commissioned in 1937...
destroyerIn naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers .Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels without the endurance...
serving in the Polish NavyThe Polish Navy is the branch of Poland's Armed Forces responsible for naval operations. It has 60 ships and about 14,300 commissioned and enlisted personnel...
during World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, currently preserved as a museum shipA museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
in GdyniaGdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport at Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea....
. It is the only ship of the Polish NavyThe Polish Navy is the branch of Poland's Armed Forces responsible for naval operations. It has 60 ships and about 14,300 commissioned and enlisted personnel...
awarded with the Virtuti MilitariThe Order Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for courage in the face of the enemy. It was created in 1792 by Poland's King Stanisław August Poniatowski and is considered as one of the oldest military decorations in the world still in use.It is awarded in five classes either...
medal, as well as the oldest preserved destroyer in the world.
She was the latter of two Grom
(Thunder)-class destroyers, built for the Polish Navy by J. Samuel WhiteJ. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm , which came to prominence during the Victorian era...
, CowesCowes, sometimes referred to as West Cowes, is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, an island south of Southampton. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...
. The name means Lightning
. The two Groms
were some of the most heavily-armed and fastest destroyers on the seas before World War II.
Operational history
Two days before the war, on 30 August 1939, the Błyskawica
withdrew, along with GromORP Grom was the lead ship of her class of destroyers serving in the Polish Navy during World War II. She was named after the Polish word for "thunderclap".-History:...
and BurzaORP Burza was a of the Polish Navy which saw action in World War II.-History:ORP Burza was ordered on 2 April 1926 from the French shipyard Chantiers Naval Francais together with her sister ship Wicher...
destroyers, from the Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
to BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
in accordance with the Peking PlanThe Peking Plan was an operation in which three destroyers of the Polish Navy, the Burza , Błyskawica , and Grom , were evacuated to the United Kingdom in late August and early September of 1939 prior to the outbreak of war...
to avoid open conflict (and possible destruction) from Germany. From then on they acted in tandem with the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
's Home Fleet. On 7 September 1939, Błyskawica
made contact with and attacked a U-BoatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
, resulting in possibly the first combat between the Allied and the GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
fleets.
In early May 1940, Błyskawica
took part in the Norwegian Campaign, shelling German positions and downing two LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
aircraft. Her sister ship Grom
was bombed and sunk during the campaign. Later that month, she took part in covering Operation DynamoThe Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940, when British, French, and Canadian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk in the...
, the successful Franco-British evacuationThe Battle of Dunkirk was a battle in the Second World War between the Allies and Germany. A part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and allied forces in Europe from 24 May to 4 June 1940.After the Phoney War, the Battle of...
from DunkirkDunkirk is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies 10 kilometres from the Belgian border. The population of the city at the 1999 census was 70,850 inhabitants...
.
During the remainder of the war, Błyskawica
took part in convoy and patrol duties, engaging both U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s and the LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
in the AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
and Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
. In 1941 her 120 mm guns were replaced with British four-inch (102 mm) anti-aircraft guns. The ship was also given escort duties to troop transports, notably , Błyskawica
being one of the few ships that could keep up with the liner.
On the nights of May 4 and May 5 1942, Błyskawica was instrumental in defending the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
town of
CowesCowes, sometimes referred to as West Cowes, is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, an island south of Southampton. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...
from a potentially devastating air raid by 160 German bombers. Coincidentally this is where the ship had been built in 1935-7 by
J. Samuel WhiteJ. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm , which came to prominence during the Victorian era...
. The ship was undergoing an emergency refit at the shipyard and on the night of the air raid fired repeated rounds at the German bombers from outside the harbour, her guns becoming so hot they had to be doused with water and extra ammunition had to be ferried over from
PortsmouthPortsmouth is a city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the United Kingdom's only island city and is located on Portsea Island. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey...
. This ensured the bombers had to stay high to avoid the weapons fire, making it hard for them to target properly. Additionally the ship laid down a smokescreen hiding
CowesCowes, sometimes referred to as West Cowes, is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, an island south of Southampton. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...
from sight. Although a lot of damage was done to the town and the shipyard, it is generally thought that without this defensive action, it would have been far worse. In 2002 the crew's courage was honoured by a local commemoration lasting several days to mark the 60th anniversary of the event. In 2004 an area of Cowes was named Francki Place in honour of the ship's commander. The Isle of Wight Council has approved the idea of having the Błyskawica
return to Cowes in 2012 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the event and 75 years since the ship's commissioning.
On 8 June 1944, Błyskawica took part in a battle with the
GermanThe German Navy The German Navy The German Navy (Deutsche Marine is the navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces).The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet (Reichsflotte) of the revolutionary era of 1848–1852 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which...
destroyers at
UshantThe Battle of Ushant, also known as the Battle of Brittany, occurred on the early morning of 9 June 1944 and was an engagement between a Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla, and an Allied destroyer flotilla off the coast of Brittany. The engagement came shortly after the initial Allied landings in...
.
During the war, she logged and escorted eighty-three convoys. In combat she damaged three
U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s and shot down at least four aircraft before the war's conclusion in May 1945, also took part in sinking some other ships.
In late 1945/early 1946, the Błyskawica
took part in Operation DeadlightOperation Deadlight was the code name for the scuttling of U-boats surrendered to the Allies after the defeat of Germany near the end of World War II....
, the scuttling of over 100 German U-Boats, along with the destroyer HMS OnslowThree ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Onslow:* Onslow, an "M" class destroyer launched in 1916 and scrapped in 1921. She saw action at the Battle of Jutland, where her captain was John Tovey, who later became Admiral of the Fleet....
.
After the war, she returned to PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Since 1 May 1976 she has served as a museum shipA museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
in GdyniaGdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport at Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea....
, replacing BurzaORP Burza was a of the Polish Navy which saw action in World War II.-History:ORP Burza was ordered on 2 April 1926 from the French shipyard Chantiers Naval Francais together with her sister ship Wicher...
. In July 2006, Błyskawica
was "twinned" with the Canadian destroyer HMCS Haida
HMCS Haida is a Tribal-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943-1963.Haida sunk more enemy surface tonnage than any other Canadian warship...
in a ceremony in Gdynia. Both ships served in the 10th Destroyer Flotilla during World War II. The ceremony was attended by former crew members of both ships and the general public. A similar ceremony took place in Canada with HMCS Haida
in 2007. In November 2007 she was awarded the International Maritime Heritage Award of the World Ship Trust.
External links
Cowes street named after Commander of ORP Blyskawica
Blyskawica may return to Cowes in 2012