__NOTOC__ The Battle of Danzig Bay ( pl, bitwa w Zatoce Gdańskiej) took place on 1 September 1939, at the beginning of the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

, when Polish Navy warships were attacked by German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

Gdańsk Bay Gdańsk Bay or the Gulf of Gdańsk ( pl, Zatoka Gdańska; csb, Gduńskô Hôwinga; russian: Гданьская бухта, Gdan'skaja bukhta, and german: Danziger Bucht) is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent por ...

(then Danzig Bay). It was the first naval-air battle of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Background

The Polish Navy of the Second Polish Republic (1919–39) was prepared mostly as means of supporting naval communications with France in case of a war with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. After it became apparent that the aggressor would be Germany, and the entrance to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

would be blocked, three out of the four Polish modern destroyers were withdrawn from the Baltic Sea to Great Britain in what was called Operation Peking. The remaining forces, consisting of one large minelayer, one destroyer, five submarines and smaller vessels were to execute two major naval operations, both aimed at disrupting the German naval movement in the area of the Danzig Bay and transit movement between Germany and East Prussia. All submarines were dispatched for their operational zones in the southern Baltic to take part in the

Worek Plan The Worek Plan (or ''Operation Worek'', pl, Plan Worek, literally ''Plan Sack'') was an operation of the Polish Navy in the first days of World War II, in which its five submarines formed a screen in order to prevent German naval forces fr ...

, an attempt to defend the Polish coast against possible German landings.

Prelude

All the remaining surface vessels were to be dispatched from the naval base in

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

Hel Peninsula Hel Peninsula (; pl, Mierzeja Helska, Półwysep Helski; csb, Hélskô Sztremlëzna; german: Halbinsel Hela or ''Putziger Nehrung'') is a sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is l ...

, from where they were to start the so-called Operation ''Rurka''. The plan was to lay a

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

barrier between Hel Peninsula and Danzig to prevent any enemy ship from entering the area. At dusk ten Polish warships left Gdynia for Hel, located on the other side of the bay. There, the ships were to start the minelaying operation. They were as follows: large minelayer , minelaying

minesweepers A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

, , , , and and

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

s and ''Generał Haller''. The destroyer had left for its position earlier that day and did not partake in the battle. That afternoon a German reconnaissance aircraft spotted ''Gryf''. Within half an hour a German airstrike was organized and launched.Williamson, D. G
Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939
p. 67-68

Battle

While traversing Danzig Bay, the flotilla was surprised by a group of 33 German warplanes, mostly Junkers Ju 87B Stuka dive bombers. The German aircraft divided themselves into two groups and attacked. The Polish ships zig-zagged wildly to avoid being hit. Concentrated AA fire forced the planes to bomb from a higher altitude. The air raid was mostly unsuccessful and the Polish vessels suffered only minor losses. The backbone of the Polish flotilla, ORP ''Gryf'' with over 300

s on board, remained unharmed. However, soon after the first air raid was repelled, the German bombers returned, around 18:00. There were no direct hits, but two Polish

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing control ...

s suffered damage from near misses and machine gun fire, ORP ''Gryf'' and ORP ''Mewa''.Haar, Geirr H
The Gathering Storm
47. A near miss disabled ''Mewa'', killing or wounding her 22 crewmen, so that she had to be taken in tow by ''Rybitwa''. The commanding officer of ORP ''Gryf'', Cmdr. Stefan Kwiatkowski, was killed by German machine gun fire, 29 of his men were wounded, and his ship's rudder was jammed. ''Gryf''s executive officer, Lt. Cmdr.

Wiktor Łomidze Viktor Lomidze, also known by his Polish name of Wiktor Łomidze-Wachtang, was a Georgian-Polish military officer. After the Bolshevik take-over of his country in early 1920s he emigrated to Poland, where he joined the Polish Army and then the Po ...

assumed command. Fearing that her cargo of 300 mines was a liability, he ordered the munitions be thrown overboard.

Aftermath

After the air raids, the Polish flotilla arrived at Hel. However, since ORP ''Gryf'' had abandoned all of its mines and was damaged, Operation Rurka had to be called off. ORP ''Wicher'', did not receive the orders calling off the operation and went straight to the pre-designed zone of operations to cover the minelayers. At night, ''Wicher'', commanded by Lt. Cdr. Stefan de Walden, spotted two German destroyers, and later a ship misidentified as a light cruiser, but did not attack, not wanting to compromise the operation. After return to Hel Peninsula, ''Wicher'' and ''Gryf'' were stripped of most of equipment and served as anti-aircraft platforms in the Hel naval base.

References

Sources

* Jerzy Pertek, ''Wielkie dni małej floty'', Poznań, 1976.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danzig Bay, battle of Battles of the Invasion of Poland Baltic Sea operations of World War II Naval battles of World War II involving Germany Naval battles of World War II involving Poland History of Gdańsk September 1939 events pl:Obrona Wybrzeża w kampanii wrześniowej 1939#Działania na morzu