__NOTOC__ The Battle of Danzig Bay () took place on 1 September 1939, at the beginning of the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, when

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 ...

warships were attacked by German

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

Gdańsk Bay Gdańsk Bay or the Gulf of Gdańsk is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent port city of Gdańsk in Poland. Geography The western part of Gulf of Gdańsk is formed by the shallow waters of the Bay of Puck. The so ...

(then Danzig Bay). It was the first naval-air battle of

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 ...

Background

The

of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

(1919–39) was prepared mostly as means of supporting naval communications with France in case of a war with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. After it became apparent that the aggressor would be Germany, and the entrance to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

would be blocked, three out of the four Polish modern

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s were withdrawn from the Baltic Sea to Great Britain in what was called Operation Peking. The remaining forces, consisting of one large minelayer, one destroyer, five submarines and smaller vessels were to execute two major naval operations, both aimed at disrupting the German naval movement in the area of the Danzig Bay and transit movement between Germany and

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. All submarines were dispatched for their operational zones in the southern Baltic to take 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 ...

, an attempt to defend the Polish coast against possible German landings.

Prelude

All the remaining surface vessels were to be dispatched from the naval base in

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

Hel Peninsula Hel Peninsula (; ; ; or ''Putziger Nehrung'') is a sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Name The name of the peninsula ...

, from where they were to start the so-called Operation ''Rurka''. The plan was to lay a

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

barrier between Hel Peninsula and Danzig to prevent any enemy ship from entering the area. At dusk ten Polish warships left Gdynia for Hel, located on the other side of the bay. There, the ships were to start the minelaying operation. They were as follows: large minelayer , minelaying

minesweepers A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

, , , , and and

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s and ''Generał Haller''. The

had left for its position earlier that day and did not partake in the battle. That afternoon a German reconnaissance aircraft spotted ''Gryf''. Within half an hour a German airstrike was organized and launched.Williamson, D. G
Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939
p. 67-68

Battle

While traversing Danzig Bay, the flotilla was surprised by a group of 33 German warplanes, mostly Junkers Ju 87B Stuka

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s. The German aircraft divided themselves into two groups and attacked. The Polish ships zig-zagged wildly to avoid being hit. Concentrated AA fire forced the planes to bomb from a higher altitude. The air raid was mostly unsuccessful and the Polish vessels suffered only minor losses. The backbone of the Polish flotilla, ORP ''Gryf'' with over 300

s on board, remained unharmed. However, soon after the first air raid was repelled, the German bombers returned, around 18:00. There were no direct hits, but two Polish

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

s suffered damage from near misses and machine gun fire, ORP ''Gryf'' and ORP ''Mewa''.Haar, Geirr H
The Gathering Storm
47. A near miss disabled ''Mewa'', killing or wounding her 22 crewmen, so that she had to be taken in tow by ORP ''Rybitwa''. The commanding officer of ORP ''Gryf'', Cmdr. Stefan Kwiatkowski, was killed by German machine gun fire, 29 of his men were wounded, and his ship's rudder was jammed. ''Gryf''s executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Wiktor Łomidze assumed command. Fearing that her cargo of 300 mines was a liability, he ordered the munitions be thrown overboard.

Aftermath

After the air raids, the Polish flotilla arrived at Hel. However, since ORP ''Gryf'' had abandoned all of its mines and was damaged, Operation Rurka had to be called off. ORP ''Wicher'', did not receive the orders calling off the operation and went straight to the pre-designed zone of operations to cover the minelayers. At night, ''Wicher'', commanded by Lt. Cdr. Stefan de Walden, spotted two German destroyers, and later a ship misidentified as a light cruiser, but did not attack, not wanting to compromise the operation. After return to Hel Peninsula, ''Wicher'' and ''Gryf'' were stripped of most of equipment and served as anti-aircraft platforms in the Hel naval base.

References

Sources

* Jerzy Pertek, ''Wielkie dni małej floty'', Poznań, 1976.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danzig Bay, battle of Battles of the Invasion of Poland Baltic Sea operations of World War II Naval battles of World War II involving Germany Naval battles of World War II involving Poland Danzig in World War II September 1939 in Europe pl:Obrona Wybrzeża w kampanii wrześniowej 1939#Działania na morzu