The ''Orzeł'' class was a short series of submarines built in Dutch shipyards for the Polish Navy in the 1930s. Four submarines were planned but only two were completed. They saw service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Design

Initially the design was to be built in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, but the price proposed was too high and the British Admiralty announced that building a fast submarine with over of surface speed was technically impossible. The two submarines were ordered in De Schelde and Rotterdamse Shipyards, ''(Eagle)'' and ''(Vulture)''. Design was made in cooperation with a team from Polish Navy, and incorporated some features of the earlier Dutch submarine including the external trainable mount. The hull was entirely welded, and all controls were hydraulically operated. The design was made to fulfill the Polish requirements for a multi-purpose vessel, to be used both in the shallow waters of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

and in the high seas. They were among the most modern submersibles in the Allied fleets at the outbreak of

. Their speed was . This class of submarine was the basis for next Dutch s. Two further submarines based upon the plans of the Orzeł class were ordered from France in 1938 and their construction began in 1939, but because of the outbreak of war, they were never completed.

Service history

''Orzeł'' was ordered in 1935 and commissioned in February 1939. After the outbreak of World War II, on 14 September 1939 ''Orzeł'' and ''Wilk'' ''(Wolf)'' were ordered to make for British ports. ''Wilk'' arrived in Britain on 20 September 1939. ''Orzeł'' arrived on 14 October 1939, after escaping from internment in neutral

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

(the

Orzeł incident The ''Orzeł'' incident occurred at the beginning of World War II in September 1939, when the interned Polish submarine escaped from Tallinn, in neutral Estonia, to the United Kingdom. The Stalinist Soviet Union used the incident as one of ...

) and an adventurous voyage with no charts. On 8 April 1940 ''Orzeł'' sank the

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

at the start of the German invasion of Norway. ''Orzeł'' was lost with all hands due to unknown reasons while on patrol in North Sea. ''Orzeł''s loss is one of the biggest mysteries in Polish naval history.

Boats in class

There were two boats of the ''Orzeł'' class built. Two more were ordered from France, but never completed.

References

;Citations ;References * R Gardiner, R Chesnau (1980) ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships'', Conway Maritime Press * Jackson, Robert. ''Submarines of the World.'' Barnes and Noble Books, New York. *

External links

Orzeł class at uboat.net
Orzeł-class submarines World War II submarines of Poland World War II submarines of the Netherlands {{submarine-stub