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ORP Orzel was the lead ship of of her class of submarines serving in the Royal Polish Navy during World War II. Her name means Orzel translates Eagle in Polish.
The ship is most notable for her brave escape from neutral harbor of Tallin in Estonia in what is known and now referred to as the Orzel incident or Orzelgate.

History

Orzel was laid down 14 August 1936 at the Dutch shipyard De Schelde; launched on 15 January 1938, and commissioned on 2 February 1939. She was a modern design (designed by the joint venture of Polish and Dutch engineers), albeit quite large for the shallow waters of Baltic Sea.

World War II

Orzel incident

At the begining of the invasion of Poland (1939) Orzel had been deployed on patrol in a designated strategic zone of the Baltic Sea.

Due to act of war and invasion and attack of Germany on Poland, submarine Orzel was unable to return to the Polish naval bases at Hel peninsula in the bay of Hel near the major port city of Gdynia. The Hague Convention of 1907, section XIII, Article 8, [1] required at that time that all navy ships to be held and interned by neutral parties. The escape of the submarine Orzel caused Estonian neutrality to be challenged by the Soviet Union and Germany. Orzel had been forced to make its way into a neutral port to depose its quite ill captain.
The crew in an emergency decided to head to Tallinn, Estonia. The ORP Orzel reached Tallinn on September 14, 1939. On 15 September Captain of ORP Orzel Lieutenant-Commander Henryk Kloczkowski was forced to leave the submarine to undergo the treatment in the hospital as a result of an unidentified illness from which he had been suffering since September 8.
At the insistence of Germany, the Estonian military authorities boarded the ship, interned the crew, confiscated all the navigation aids and maps, and commenced dismantling all the armaments. The crew of ORP ORZEL conspired together to carry out a daring escape. Under the new command of its former chief officer, Lt.Cdr. Jan Grudzinski VM VM DSO, ORP Orzel escaped from Tallinn harbor. On September 18 ORP Orzel slipped out from the Estonian harbor in the fog under the cover of darkness. Partially submerged, she escaped with two Estonian guards on board taken as hostages. The Estonian and German press covering the ORP Orzel incident declared the two captured guards missing at the sea. The new captain in charge of the mission deposited them on Swedish shores, providing them with resources such as clothing, money and food for their safe return to homeland. The Polish crew believed that those returning from the underworld "deserve to travel first class only". Orzel headed to the Royal Navy base at Rosyth in Scotland.

Scotland

Without any navigation equipment or maps, ORP Orzel remained in the Baltic Sea, hunting for some German ships to sink. No ships were sunk, but Orzel remained in the Baltic Sea long after all pockets of resistance on Polish territory were conquered by the Nazis. She evaded the numerous Kriegsmarine ships hunting her, then made it to Rosyth in Scotland on 14 October, where she was subsequently stationed.

Norwegian Campaign

The retrofitted submarine Orzel, upon her return to service, immediately carried out patrol missions. She sank the 5,261 ton clandestine German troop transport Rio de Janeiro in vicinity of the small harbor village of Lillesand in southern Norway, on April 8, 1940, killing hundreds of German troops intended for Operation Weserubung known to be the begining of the invasion of Norway. Rio de Janeiro was heading to Bergen in order to take part in the initial landings of Operation Weserubung - the invasion of Norway and opening move of the Norwegian Campaign.

The submarine Orzel was lost at sea with her entire crew on her next patrol somewhere in the North Sea, about late May - or early June - 1940.

(from wikipedia)

ORP Orzel was the lead ship of of her class of submarines serving in the Royal Polish Navy during World War II. Her name means Orzel translates Eagle in Polish.
The ship is most notable for her brave escape from neutral harbor of Tallin in Estonia in what is known and now referred to as the Orzel incident or Orzelgate.

History

Orzel was laid down 14 August 1936 at the Dutch shipyard De Schelde; launched on 15 January 1938, and commissioned on 2 February 1939. She was a modern design (designed by the joint venture of Polish and Dutch engineers), albeit quite large for the shallow waters of Baltic Sea.[citation needed]

World War II

Orzel incident

At the begining of the invasion of Poland (1939) Orzel had been deployed on patrol in a designated strategic zone of the Baltic Sea.

Due to act of war and invasion and attack of Germany on Poland, submarine Orzel was unable to return to the Polish naval bases at Hel peninsula in the bay of Hel near the major port city of Gdynia. The Hague Convention of 1907, section XIII, Article 8, [1] required at that time that all navy ships to be held and interned by neutral parties. The escape of the submarine Orzel caused Estonian neutrality to be challenged by the Soviet Union and Germany. Orzel had been forced to make its way into a neutral port to depose its quite ill captain.
The crew in an emergency decided to head to Tallinn, Estonia. The ORP Orzel reached Tallinn on September 14, 1939. On 15 September Captain of ORP Orzel Lieutenant-Commander Henryk Kloczkowski was forced to leave the submarine to undergo the treatment in the hospital as a result of an unidentified illness from which he had been suffering since September 8.
At the insistence of Germany, the Estonian military authorities boarded the ship, interned the crew, confiscated all the navigation aids and maps, and commenced dismantling all the armaments. The crew of ORP ORZEL conspired together to carry out a daring escape. Under the new command of its former chief officer, Lt.Cdr. Jan Grudzinski VM VM DSO, ORP Orzel escaped from Tallinn harbor. On September 18 ORP Orzel slipped out from the Estonian harbor in the fog under the cover of darkness. Partially submerged, she escaped with two Estonian guards on board taken as hostages. The Estonian and German press covering the ORP Orzel incident declared the two captured guards missing at the sea. The new captain in charge of the mission deposited them on Swedish shores, providing them with resources such as clothing, money and food for their safe return to homeland. The Polish crew believed that those returning from the underworld "deserve to travel first class only". Orzel headed to the Royal Navy base at Rosyth in Scotland.

Scotland

Without any navigation equipment or maps, ORP Orzel remained in the Baltic Sea, hunting for some German ships to sink. No ships were sunk, but Orzel remained in the Baltic Sea long after all pockets of resistance on Polish territory were conquered by the Nazis. She evaded the numerous Kriegsmarine ships hunting her, then made it to Rosyth in Scotland on 14 October, where she was subsequently stationed.

Norwegian Campaign

The retrofitted submarine Orzel, upon her return to service, immediately carried out patrol missions. She sank the 5,261 ton clandestine German troop transport Rio de Janeiro in vicinity of the small harbor village of Lillesand in southern Norway, on April 8, 1940, killing hundreds of German troops intended for Operation Weserubung known to be the begining of the invasion of Norway. Rio de Janeiro was heading to Bergen in order to take part in the initial landings of Operation Weserubung - the invasion of Norway and opening move of the Norwegian Campaign.

The submarine Orzel was lost at sea with her entire crew on her next patrol somewhere in the North Sea, about late May - or early June - 1940.