ORP ''Żbik'' was a which saw service in the

Polish Navy The Polish Navy (; often abbreviated to ) is the Navy, naval military branch , branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 12,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish ...

from 1932 to 1955. Her name means "

wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

" in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

. ''Żbik'' was laid down in 1927 in

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, launched in 1930, and entered service in 1932. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began on 1 September 1939, she took part in the

Worek Plan The Worek Plan (or ''Operation 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 from carrying out ...

for the defense of the Polish coast. According to the plan she laid her mines, one of which sank a small (525 t) German minesweeper ''M85'' on 1 October. After suffering battle damage and shortages of fuel, the submarine withdrew to neutral Swedish waters and was interned on 25 September. After the war, she returned to Poland in October 1945 and served in the navy of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

until 1955. She was scrapped in 1956.

External links

Uboat.net on ORP ''Żbik''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zbik (1930), ORP Wilk-class submarines World War II submarines of Poland 1930 ships Ships built in France