ORP ''Kujawiak'' was a British Type II destroyer escort, originally ordered as HMS'' Oakley''. ''Kujawiak'' was built by Vickers-Armstrongs at the company's

High Walker Walker is a residential suburb and electoral ward in the south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The place-name 'Walker' is first attested in 1242, where it appears as ''Waucre''. This means 'wall-carr', that is to say, 'the marsh b ...

yard on the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

. Her keel was laid down on 22 November 1939 and she was launched on 30 October 1940 as HMS ''Oakley'' but on completion in June 1941 she was renamed and commissioned into the Polish Navy. ''Kujawiak'' was sunk on 16 June 1942 after running into a German MT 14 minefield near Malta while participating in Operation Harpoon. 13 Polish sailors died and 20 were wounded.

Design

The ship was ordered under the 1939 War Emergency Programme as HMS ''Oakley'' on 4 September 1939 from Vickers-Armstrongs High Walker Yard on the Tyne who laid her down on 22 November 1939 with the yard number of J4145. Her engines were to be constructed by Parsons. She was launched on 30 October 1940 under her British name but on 3 April 1941 it was decided to transfer her together with to the Polish Navy. On her completion on 17 June 1941 she was commissioned as ORP ''Kujawiak''.

War service

1941

On 18 June ''Kujawiak'' came under attack by German aircraft whilst on passage from Tyne to

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

to work-up for operational service with ships of

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

. Fire from the aircraft hit the 4-inch ready-use ammunition which exploded causing one fatal casualty. After completing her work-up on 25 July she joined the

15th Destroyer Flotilla The15th Destroyer Flotilla, or Fifteenth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from August 1916 to March 1919 and again from September 1939 to May 1945. First World War The flotilla was first established in August 1 ...

based at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

for local convoy escort and patrol duties. Later that year on 23 October ''Kujawiak'' deployed with fellow Polish destroyer for escort of inward Convoy SL89 during final stage of passage in Irish Sea from Freetown into Liverpool. On 22 December she sailed from Scapa Flow as part of Force J to carry out landings on the

Lofoten Islands Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvær ...

as part of Operation Claymore. Two days later on 27 December the destroyer sustained slight damage from a near miss during air attacks.

1942

In early June 1942 ''Kujawiak'' was nominated for loan service with the Home Fleet as part of the escort for the planned relief convoy to Malta ( Operation Harpoon). On 6 June she joined military Convoy WS19S in the Northwest Approaches as part of Ocean Escort for passage to

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. She joined Force X at

on 12 June whose task was to escort the Harpoon convoy through the

Sicilian Narrows The Strait of Sicily (also known as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria Channel; it, Canale di Sicilia or the Stretto di Sicilia; scn, Canali di Sicilia or Strittu di Sicilia, ar, مضيق ص ...

to Malta. On 14 June the convoy came under heavy and sustained air attacks during which the cruiser was damaged. The following day the air attacks continued and ''Kujawiak'' was in action with Italian warships attempting to intercept and attack the convoy. Near midnight on 16 June, while entering Grand Harbor, Malta ''Kujawiak'' sustained major structural damage forward after detonating a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

while going to the aid of after she had struck a mine. ''Kujawiak'' sank before a successful tow could be achieved.

Discovery of wreck

On 22 September 2014 a Polish expedition discovered the location of the wreck of ''Kujawiak''. Further dives were made in 2015 and 2017 with the latter recovering the ship's bell which has been passed to the Maritime Museum of Malta for conservation and display. The Maltese government has declared the wreck site a war grave and prohibited unauthorised diving

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kujawiak (L72) Hunt-class destroyers of the Royal Navy 1940 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom Hunt-class destroyers of the Polish Navy World War II destroyers of Poland World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Maritime incidents in June 1942 Ships sunk by mines Shipwrecks of Malta Ships built on the River Tyne Ships built by Vickers Armstrong