The ''Wicher''-class destroyers were a series of

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s that served in the Polish Navy during World War II. Two ships of this class were built for the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

Chantiers Navals Français Chantiers Navals Français was a French shipbuilding company founded in 1917 located in Blainville-sur-Orne in the port of Caen. The company mainly built merchant ships but also built destroyers and submarines for the French Navy between 1924 and 1 ...

during the late 1920s. They were modified versions of the s built for the French Navy.

History

After the Great War, Poland's shoreline was very short (only ) and there was no need to create a large naval force. Initially consisting merely of four naval trawlers and two

monitors Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...

— all inherited from the '' Kaiserliche Marine'' — in 1924, the Polish Navy was to start the construction of nine

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s. As Poland's greatest possible enemy at that time was perceived to be the Soviet Union, their only task would be to secure supply convoys from France in case of a war. However, due to the economic crisis and the

customs war A trade war is an economic conflict often resulting from extreme protectionism in which states raise or create tariffs or other trade barriers against each other in response to trade barriers created by the other party. If tariffs are the exclus ...

with Germany, this plan had to be abandoned and eventually only three submarines were ordered from France. ORP Burza Gdynia Muzeum

At that time, the government of Władysław Grabski tried to obtain a large credit from France. It has been suggested that many members of the French government were stock owners of the newly created Chantiers Naval Francais shipyard in

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Polish government. As the shipyard had no experience in shipbuilding and submersibles were believed to be very complicated to build, on September 9, 1925, it was decided instead to purchase two destroyers for the approximate price 22 million złotys. After initial talks, the shipyard presented Poland with a plan for two modified ''Bourrasque''-class destroyers. On April 2, 1926, the contract was signed. From the very beginning of the project, it was readily apparent that the ''Wicher'' class had severe problems: the destroyers were relatively slow, had a large silhouette with three large

funnels A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...

, and were inadequately armoured. Additionally, flaws in the project's planning resulted in poorly designed watertight compartments and pipelines, which could result in the ship being immobilized after only minor damage. Also the ships suffered from poor stability due to fuel tanks being located high up on the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

just below the bridge. As the shipyard had absolutely no experience in building vessels of this size, there were numerous other construction flaws that were discovered only after the ship was delivered. Some of the flaws were corrected on the insistence of the Polish admiralty, but others could not be resolved. Regardless of the many drawbacks to the ''Wicher'' class, since the purchase was based on political, rather than military needs, the Polish authorities decided to continue on and have the destroyers built. Construction of each ship took four years, almost two years more than initially planned. The

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s were built in Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in

St. Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...

, while the armament was mounted at the French marine

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

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 first ship was launched on July 10, 1928, but it was not until July 8, 1930, when she was finally commissioned by the Polish Navy in the Cherbourg harbour. She was named (" gale"), in accordance with the French tradition of naming destroyers after meteorological phenomena. A week later she arrived at Gdynia and became the first modern ship of the Polish naval forces. The second ship of the class, (" storm"), was not finished until 1932, almost four years after the initial deadline. ORP ''Wicher'' was sunk in the opening days of the Invasion of Poland in 1939. ORP ''Burza'' survived the war, became a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

and was eventually

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

in 1977.

''Wicher''-class ships

Sources

* ''Navies in Exile'' by Divine, A.D., John Murray Publishers Ltd, London, 1944

External links

Picture of ORP Wicher and her sister ship side by side at Gdynia harbour
{{WWII Polish ships Destroyer classes France–Poland military relations