ORP ''Wilia'' (old spelling ORP ''Wilja'') was a transport and training ship of the Polish Navy of the Second Polish Republic, from 1940 a merchant ship SS ''Modlin''.

Construction

The ship was built in 1906 as a freighter ''Ganelon'' in the shipyard ''Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft'' in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

, Germany, for Roland Linie AG, with a home port

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

. From 1907 it was operated by H.C. Horn and renamed ''Hilda Horn'' (home port

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

). In 1911 it was sold to Deutsche Levante Linie in Hamburg and operated on the Mediterranean with a name ''Tinos''. After an outbreak of World War I, it was interned in Pireus in August 1914. In 1916 it was taken over by the French there, and impressed into service as a military transport ''Le Bourget''. After the war it was sold in 1922 to Charles Schaffiano and sailed under the French flag as the ''Laurent Schaffiano''.

Polish Navy

In 1925 the ship was bought by the newborn Polish Navy. After a refit and adaptation in France, the Polish flag was raised on the ship on 8 August 1925 in

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

. The ship was renamed ORP ''Wilia'', after the river Wilia (until 1936 there was an old spelling: ''Wilja''). Initially the Polish Navy used her to transport arms and equipment, bought in France, to Poland. From 1928 she served mainly as a training ships for cadets. At the start of the Second World War the ship was in the port of

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

on a training cruise. On 13 September 1939 she was slightly damaged due to an explosion of the French minelayer ''Pluton''; the Polish sailors took part in a rescue operation. In October 1940 she was laid up in

Port Lyautey Kenitra ( ar, القُنَيْطَرَة, , , ; ber, ⵇⵏⵉⵟⵔⴰ, Qniṭra; french: Kénitra) is a city in north western Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey from 1932 to 1956. It is a port on the Sebou river, has a population in 201 ...

. It was next decided to transfer the ship to the merchant navy, and in July 1940 she sailed through Gibraltar to Liverpool, avoiding U-Boots, evacuating over 200 Polish soldiers and airmen from Morocco. On 30 July 1940 she was transferred to the

Polish Merchant Navy The Polish Merchant Navy ( pl, Polska Marynarka Handlowa, ''PMH'') was created in the interwar period when the Second Polish Republic regained independence. During World War II, many ships of the Polish Navy joined the Allied merchant navy and i ...

and renamed ''Modlin'' (after a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Fate

The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 BU1023

The ship entered into operation only after a refit on 1 July 1941 roku, in

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport ...

charter. She undertook five transatlantic cruises in convoys to Canada and back, but an old ship was ill-suited to rough Atlantic weather, and her machinery was worn out, so she had to be repaired in a yard after most cruises. She was also used in coastal convoys. In November 1943 she was laid up. On 8 June 1944 useless ship was scuttled off the coast of Normandy as a part of an artificial breakwater of Mulberry B harbour (Gooseberry 3 at

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was lo ...

, Arromanches). After the war she was raised and scrapped.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilia Ships of the Polish Navy 1906 ships Ships sunk as breakwaters