The Polish Navy (Polska Marynarka Wojenna, PMW) is the Navy of Poland. As of 2003 the Navy has 149 ships. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish Navy is ORP ( "Okręt Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej" - "the Naval Ship of the Polish Republic").

History

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth maintained a small fleet until Poland was partitioned at the end of the 18th century. The biggest victory of the Commonwealth Navy was the battle of Oliwa in 1627 against the Sweden, during the Polish-Swedish War.

The modern navy was created in the Second Polish Republic on 28 November 1918, by the order of Józef Piłsudski, with Captain Bogumił Nowotny as its first chief.

In the 1920's and 1930's the Polish Navy underwent a modernisation program under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Jerzy Świrski (Chief of Naval Staff) and Rear-Admiral Józef Unrug (CO of the Fleet). By Sept 1939 the navy consisted of 5 Submarines: ORP Orzeł (Eagle), Sęp (Vulture), Wilk (Wolf), Ryś (Lynx) & Żbik (Wildcat), 4 destroyers: ORP Blyskawica (Lightning), Burza (Storm), ORP Grom (Thunder), ORP Wicher (Wind) and a big minelayer ORP Gryf (Griffon).

Just before an outbreak of the World War II, the 3 destroyers were withdrawn to the Great Britain and then operated from the British ports. During WW2, the Polish Navy was supplemented with leased British ships, and then the Navy consisted of 2 cruisers (Dragon and Conrad) and a great number of smaller ships, including 2 submarines (Orzeł and Wilk) that got out of the Baltic Sea in 1939. The Polish Navy fought alongside the allied navies, including fighting against the Bismarck.

See also:

• List of ships of the Polish Navy

External links

• Official Polish Navy homepage (http://www.mw.mil.pl/)
• A history of the navy to 1945 (http://www.polish-navy.org/)
• a "Polish Navy Homepage" (http://crolick.website.pl/pmw/)

pl:Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej