Built at the Dutch shipyard, De Schelde, and Launched on January 15th, 1938, the #Orzel was a joint venture of Polish and Dutch engineers. She was commissioned on 2 February 1939 in Poland. She was a modern design for the day, albeit quite large for the shallow Baltic waters around Poland.
She was paid for by public bonds raised explicitly to build her. The above diagram shows a cross section of Orzeł. The map indicates the approximate route take from September 1 1939. The red square in the North Sea suggests a possible location of her loss, this may not be accurate.
Orzeł-class submarine
Displacement: 1,110 tons surfaced, 1,473 tons submerged Length 84.00 m Beam 6.7 m Draught 4.17 m Speed: 19.4 knots surfaced. 9 kn submerged Complement 60+ Armament 1 × Bofors wz.25 105 mm (4.1 in) gun 1 × double Bofors wz.36 40 mm (1.6 in) AA gun 1 × Hotchkiss 13.2 mm (0.52 in) HMG 12 × 533 mm (21.0 in) / 550 mm (22 in) torpedo launchers (4 aft, 4 rudder, 4 waist) 20 torpedoes
Polish Navy 1939
Leading up to the outbreak of World War II, the Polish Navy was in a state of expansion but still lacked any significant superiority. Polish Naval commanders decided to withdraw their main surface ships to Great Britain to join the Allied war effort and prevent them from being destroyed in the Baltic. In August 1939, the destroyers, ORP Błyskawica, ORP Grom, and ORP Burza sailed to the British naval base at Leith in Scotland. They then operated in combination with Royal Navy vessels against Germany.
Two submarines also managed to flee from the Baltic Sea through the Danish straits to Great Britain during the Polish September Campaign. One of them, ORP Orzeł, escaped from internment in Tallinn.
Three other submarines were interned in Sweden. Remaining surface vessels were sunk by German aircraft.
Start of War 1939
Poland had a tiny coastline in 1939, there were only 2 ports, Gdynia, and Gdansk, at the outlet of the Vistula River. On the outer reaches of the Vistula, just beyond Gdansk, at the seaward entrance stood a fort called Westerplatte. This is where the first shots were fired in the European front of World War Two.
Many bore witness to this onslaught, including the officers and crew of ORP Orzeł. This assault by the pocket battleship was determined and constant, lasting a week. The fort surrendered only because of lack of ammunition.
Operation Peking
As relations deteriorated between Germany and Poland, Polish leaders and those from the Western Allies alike worried that, locked in the Baltic Sea, the small Polish Navy would be no match for the German Kriegsmarine.
A plan was devised in which the Destroyer Division of the Polish Navy, consisted of the three modern destroyers; ORP Burza, ORP Błyskawica, and ORP Grom, to make a run for Britain. Rear Admiral Józef Unrug of the Polish Navy authorized the operation on 26 Aug 1939, a day after the signing of the Anglo-Polish Common Defense pact. The operation commenced on 29 Aug as Polish commander-in-chief Edward Rydz-Śmigły gave the signal “Peking”.
The three destroyers steamed under the command of Lieutenant Commander Roman Stankiewicz. That night, they encountered the German light cruiser Königsberg and a destroyer, but no incident broke out as Germany and Poland were not yet in a state of war. On 31 Aug, they were followed by German seaplanes, and the destroyers veered north to shake off the pursuit.
The ships made rendezvous with British Royal Navy ships on 1 Sep, three hours after they learned by radio that their home country had been invaded. The Polish ships served in the Royal Navy for the remainder of the war while most other ships of the Polish Navy were sunk or captured within days of the invasion.
Worek Plan
Operation Worek was devised to have the 5 Polish submarines defend the small seafront around Gdansk against seaborn invasion.
The above diagram indicates the positioning of submarines to defend the Polish coast. Orel was in the shallow waters outside the port of Gdynia, in the west of the bay.
Many suggest that this strategy was a mistake, as submarines are typically an offensive weapon. However, there may have been sense as surface ships would be an easy target for aircraft.
Ultimately the sea defense was pointless, as all assaults on Poland were land based.
In my novel ORP Orzeł, I used the names of real officers and crew. There is no way we would know what was said on their voyage, so I had to dramatize their dialog from any existing history. There is only one imaginary character, Leo Wrona who I use as narrator.
All incidents are true to life and recorded in history.
There is one question about Lieutenant Commander Henryk Kłoczkowski, the captain of the Orzel. His nickname was “Klocz”, or the “Key”, in Polish.
Kłoczkowski was regarded as the most skilled submariner in the Polish navy and was well respected by many, including his crew. However, it has been surmised that Kłoczkowski was a coward. He did not follow orders, left his position in the Worek plan, and avoided conflict at all costs.
Relevant Characters
Practical purposes of portraying the story, limited me to use a list of relevant characters. I may have edged towards using some names that were not relevant. If this is the case, I apologize to them and their families. I can only say this is artistic license.
Captain Henryk Kłoczkowski
Born on October 26, 1902, in St. Petersburg, Kłoczkowski was well educated well decorated and experienced in the military. He even studied in France with Ecole des Officiers Torpilleurs, the School of Underwater Officers.
He took various postings and commands on Polish vessels and even oversaw the construction of 2 Polish submarines in the Netherlands, the ORP Wilk and ORP Orzel. There was also a scandal involving a prostitute in Holand. Because of this he was suspected of being an intelligence risk for hostile nations.
His behavior during the September campaign is unclear. He avoided any military conflict, abandoned his station in the Worek plan, and eventually headed north without orders towards Gotland, where no fighting was taking place. Half the crew considered him a coward. But was he? Or was he avoiding the inevitable destruction?
He declared an undefined stomach illness and eventually headed towards a neutral port. When docked in neutral Tallin, Estonia, he checked into a local hospital. Three days later, he checked out and settled in Tartu Estonia. When the Russians invaded in the summer of 1940, he was arrested and imprisoned. In 1942, he was released to join General Anders, Polish Free Corp in the middle east. He was later transferred to Great Britain where he was court marshalled by the Polish Government in Exile. He did not serve a prison sentence as there was no formal treaty between Britain and the exiled government of Poland.
He later served on the SS Narocz, and various Liberty ships on cross Atlantic convoys. He settled in the USA where he died in 1962.
Jan Grudziński
Born December 3, 1907, in the Russian city of Kiev. He studied at I Korpus Kadetow, Lvov, in 1925, a prestigious officer cadet school. He progressed rapidly with various commissions. On 1 June 1939 he was assigned executive officer on ORP Orzeł.
He was short, but well built, modest and shy, for this reason he got the nickname Panienka, meaning Damsel.
Because of his relative inexperience in submarines, Kloczkowski and the crew were wary of him, and did not regard him as a reliable officer. This resulted in some friction between him and the captain. Likewise, Kloczkowski made many strange decisions, and Grudzinski was not confident that the submarine was in competent hands under this Command.
In Tallinn, Grudzinski took command of the submarine in Kloczkowski’s absence, and did not hesitate to plan the escape from internment. With great spirit displayed by all the crew, Orzeł escaped dramatically from Tallinn and continued, under Grudzinski’s command.
When they reached Great Britain, Grudzinski was considered a compentent commander. On 16 November 1939 the famous Polish General Sikorski decorated him with the Polish Medal Srebrny Krzyz Virtuti Militari. On 10 December 1939 he was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order, (DSO) by the British. During his time in Great Britain, Grudzinski met, and had a personal discussion with, King George VI, who had shown a great interest in Polish submarines generally, and Orzel in particular.
Andrzej Piasecki
Born Jun 28, 1911. Nicknamed Pablo. He became friends with Grudzinski. Note that his wife and child had managed to evacuate to Britain and was able to joint Andrzej in Scotland.
Marian Mokrski
Born on 16 January 1915 in Lublin. After attending navel cadet school, he was awarded the rank of Second Lieutenant in October 1936. After several naval commissions, he was assigned to ORP Orzeł in May 1939 as navigation officer.
Durning internment in Tallin, Estonia, navigation charts and equipment were confiscated by the authorities. Lieutenant Mokrski was able to acquire a copy of Leuchtfeuer und Signalstellen, published by the German Kriegsmarine. Using this simple booklet that detailed all the lighthouses on the Baltic Sea, Mokrski was able to formulate a hand drawn chart of the Baltic.
Using dead reckoning – a simple form of navigation – and the detailed signals described in the manual. Mokrski was able to guide the Orzel through the Baltic sea.
Wacław Fotorek
Born August 9, 1899. Little is publicly available regarding Warrant Officer Fotorek. Although not head of engineering, he was leading the engineering room on Orzeł.
Henryk Kotecki
Nicknamed the Kat, Petty Officer Henryk Kotecki was in charge of the radio room. While interned in Estonia, he was able to feign damage to the radio, preventing it to be confiscated. When in the North Sea, heading for Great Britain, he had to perform hasty repairs in order to contact Britain.
Leo Wrona
Leo is an imaginary member of the crew. I use him as the pain narrator and point of view.
Other real crew members were also used in the book. You’ll have to read the book to find out who.
Orzeł’s Voyage
You will have to read my book (available on Amazon, Barns and Noble, Waterstones) in order to experience the adventure. I wrote the story as close as possible to the real events, so no need to reproduce here.
Enjoy the Adventure!
Please note – many of my original sources of information have disappeared from the internet. If a discerning historian is interested in more detailed background, please join my newsletter/mailing list and I will happily provide information.
Probably the complete history of ORP Orzel is at Santio Odnalezc Orzel, or “Find the Orzeł” Fundation. Here you will find a trove of detail on the submarine and her crew. They also have led about a dozen expeditions to find the wreckage. Their website has an English translation.
