Destroyer type "Thunder" ( Polish. Niszczyciele typu Grom ) - a series of Polish destroyers , which began to be built shortly before the outbreak of World War II. In total, two such ships were built in the shipyards of Great Britain under the names “Thunder” ( Polish. Grom ) and “Blyskavitsa” ( Polish. Błyskawica , “Lightning”), two more (“Orkan” and “Hurricane”) Poles did not have time to complete.
Thunder-class destroyers | |
---|---|
Niszczyciele typu grom | |
ORP Błyskawica , the only surviving destroyer | |
Project | |
A country |
|
Manufacturers |
|
Operators |
|
Previous type | type "Wiher" |
Years built | 1937 |
Years in the ranks | 1937-1939 |
Scheduled | 2 |
Built by | 2 |
Saved | one |
Losses | one |
Main characteristics | |
Displacement | 1975 t (standard) 2183 t (normal) 2400 tons (full) |
Length | 114 m |
Width | 11.3 m |
Draft | 3.3 m |
Engines | two Parsons turbines and 3 boilers |
Power | 54,000 l. with. |
Mover | 2 screws |
Travel speed | 39.5 knots |
Navigation range | 3500 nautical miles with 15 knots |
Fuel reserve | 350 tons (full) |
Crew | 192 people |
Armament | |
Artillery | 7 × 120mm Bofors wz. 34/36 |
Flak | 2 × 2 40mm Bofors L60 4 × 2 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns |
Anti-submarine weapons | 2 bombs, 200 depth charges wz. BH 200 |
Mine-torpedo armament | 6 × 530-mm or 533-mm torpedo tubes 44 sea mines |
Both of these destroyers were built with the latest ship technology and were the best ships of the Polish Navy: two Parsons turbines allowed destroyers to reach speeds of up to 40 knots, each of the destroyers was equipped with seven 120-mm powerful anti-ship guns and four 40-mm anti-aircraft guns Bofors , as well as eight Hotchkiss machine guns . A huge stock of depth charges and sea mines allowed them to successfully deal with enemy submarines.
During the Second World War, both vessels fought as part of the Great Patriotic Forces of Great Britain after the defeat of Poland. “Thunder” sank in 1940 during the Norwegian campaign, and “Blyskavitsa” went through the whole war and was returned to Poland after the war, becoming later a ship-museum.
Ship List
Name | Year bookmark | Year of descent | Completed | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
ORP Grom | 1935 | June 20, 1936 | May 11, 1937 | sunk May 4, 1940 in Ofotfjord |
ORP Błyskawica | 1935 | October 1, 1936 | November 25, 1937 | museum ship, stands in the port of Gdynia |
Literature
- PEJČOCH, Ivo; NOVÁK, Zdeněk; HÁJEK, Tomáš. Válečné lodě 4. Praha: Naše vojsko, 1993. ISBN 80-206-0357-3 .