ORP ''Kaszub'' is a
corvette of the
Polish Navy, in service since 1987,
the sole ship of the Project 620 class. She was the first ocean-going warship built in Poland. As of 2012 she is in active service.
[''The Military Balance 2008'',International Institute for Strategic Studies]
Construction and career
The work on her design began in 1971, but the construction of the first ship started only in 1984, being laid down at
Gdańsk Shipyard, Stocznia Północna (Northern Shipyard),
Gdańsk on 9 June 1984. ''Kaszub'' was launched on 11 May 1986,
but was found to have a warped hull and propeller shafts, which required repair.
When the ship was commissioned on 15 March 1987,
''Kaszub'' was not fitted with much of the planned armament, with a
9K33 Osa
The 9K33 ''Osa'' (, literally "wasp"; NATO reporting name SA-8 ''Gecko'') is a highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and fielded in 1972. Its export version na ...
(NATO codename SA-N-4 ''Gecko'')
surface-to-air
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
missile launcher being omitted because of its unreliability on small, high speed ships, while the ship's main gun armament was absent because of stability problems.
[Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 312.] Originally it was planned to build 7 ships of this class, but in the end only one was constructed.
At first, ''Kaszub'' saw little operational use, being loaned to the
Polish Border guard from 1990 to January 1991. In September 1991, the ship was fitted with an
AK-176
The AK-176 is a Soviet naval gun mounted in an enclosed turret, that may be used against sea, coastal, and aerial targets, including low flying anti-ship missiles. The system is designed to arm small displacement ships and comprises the Gun Mou ...
gun turret forward.
In October 2016 AM-35 Tryton, turret system with single 35mm Oerlikon gun was mounted, tested and officially certified 19 December 2018.
References
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaszub (1987)
Corvettes of the Polish Navy
1987 ships
Ships built in Gdańsk