The ''Orkan'' class or ''projekt 660'' (
NATO code: Sassnitz class) is series of three
fast attack craft
A fast attack craft (FAC) is a small, fast, agile, offensive, often affordable warship armed with anti-ship missiles, gun or torpedoes. FACs are usually operated in close proximity to land as they lack both the seakeeping and all-round defensive ...
of the
Polish Navy, in service since 1992.
History
The original project was prepared by the
German Democratic Republic for its navy and was named ''Project 660'', it also received the NATO reporting name "Sassnitz". After the
Unification of Germany the unfinished
hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
s were bought by the
Polish Navy from VEB Peenewerft shipyard in
Wolgast and successfully completed by Northern Shipyard in
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
.
In 2006, Ministry of Defence ordered 36 RBS-15 Mk 3 anti-ship missiles to equip the ships. Since 2007, they carried RBS-15 Mk 2 missiles as interim armament. RBS-15 Mk 3 missiles were first deployed in 2014. Since 2015 ''Orkan'' and ''Piorun'' underwent a 19-month, mid-life refit.
List of ships
The lead ship of the class is named ''Orkan'' ( pl, Hurricane), while other two ships are ''Piorun'' ( pl, Thunderbolt) and ''Grom'' ( pl, Thunderclap). and were famous Polish destroyers of the
Second World War.
''Orkan'' was to have been the first destroyer constructed in Poland, but her construction was interrupted by the start of the World War II.
Gallery
File:ORP Orkan NTW 11 93.jpg, ''Orkan'' before modernisation
File:ORP Piorun.JPG, ''Piorun''
File:OPR Grom.jpg, ''Grom'' in 2008 armed with 8 RBS-15 Mk2
File:ORP Grom (korweta).JPG, ''Grom'' in 2011, armed with 4 RBS-15 Mk2
References
*{{cite web, title=''okręty rakietowe projektu 660, typu Orkan (NATO: Sassnitz).'', url=http://www.mw.mil.pl/index.php?akcja=orkan, publisher=Polish Navy, accessdate=3 August 2011, language=Polish, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925084643/http://www.mw.mil.pl/index.php?akcja=orkan, archive-date=25 September 2017, url-status=dead
Orkan-class corvettes of the Polish Navy
Missile boats of East Germany
Ships built in Wolgast
Ship classes of the Volksmarine