Polish Navy
The Polish Navy is the naval branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 8000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish Navy is ORP.
The first Polish naval forces were organized in 1568 following the Thirteen Years' War, but the Polish Navy in its modern form was not created until 1918. Most of Poland's naval forces escaped capture when Germany invaded in 1939, and carried on the fight in exile during World War II. During the Cold War, the Polish People's Navy was organized to support the Soviet and East German navies in controlling the Baltic Sea in event of a war with NATO. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Poland's accession to NATO in 1999, the Polish Navy has reversed its former Cold War role, helping to ensure NATO control of the Baltic Sea.
The Polish Navy is the smallest of Poland's armed services, numbering approximately 8,000 personnel in 2025, but has benefited from significant increases in Poland's defense spending in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Headed by Vice Admiral Jarosław Ziemiański, Inspector of the Navy, the Polish Navy is headquartered in Gdynia.
Origins
The Polish Navy has its roots in naval vessels that were largely employed on Poland's main rivers in defense of trade and commerce. During the Thirteen Years' War, a small force of ships that primarily operated on rivers and lakes saw real open sea battles for the first time. At the Battle of Vistula Lagoon, a combined fleet of the Kingdom of Poland and the pro-Polish Prussian Confederation decisively defeated the navy of the Teutonic Knights, and secured permanent access to the Baltic Sea. In 1454, the maritime city of Gdańsk was re-incorporated to Poland after being previously occupied by the Teutonic Knights since 1308. The reintegration was confirmed in the Second Peace of Thorn, and Poland acquired the means of maintaining a large fleet on the Baltic. In 1561, following a victory over a Russian fleet in the Baltic, the Polish Navy acquired a second key port at Riga, in modern-day Latvia.File:Battle of Oliwa 1627 II.jpg|thumb|The Battle of Oliwa, fought during the Polish–Swedish War, resulted in a Polish victory on 28 November 1627
At that time, as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became involved in conflicts in Livonia, Polish king Sigismund II Augustus organized a Sea Commission which operated between 1568 and 1572, and supported the operations of Polish privateers, but that met with opposition of the Poland's primary port, Gdańsk, which saw them as a threat to its trade operations. This led to the development of a privateer port in Puck. Around the start of the 17th century, Poland became ruled by the House of Vasa, and was involved in a series of wars with Sweden. The Polish kings of the period attempted to create a proper naval fleet, but their attempts met with repeated failures, due to lack of funds in the royal treasury. The Commission of Royal Ships was officially created in 1626 during the reign of Sigismund III of Poland. The most celebrated victory of the Commonwealth Navy took place at the Battle of Oliwa in 1627 against the Swedish Empire, during the Polish–Swedish War. The victory over the Swedish fleet secured for Poland permanent access to the Baltic, and laid the foundations for potential expeditions beyond Europe. The plans for the permanent naval fleet fell through shortly afterwards due to a badly executed alliance with the Habsburgs who in 1629 forcibly took over the fleet.
The Commission of Royal Ships, along with the ultimate allocation of funds by the Sejm in 1637, created a permanent Commonwealth Navy. Władysław IV Vasa, Sigismund's son and successor who took the throne in 1632, purchased 12 ships and built a dedicated port for the royal navy called Władysławowo. The fleet, however, was entirely destroyed in 1637 by Denmark-Norway, despite the Danish not issuing a formal declaration of war. Support for the idea of a Polish-Lithuanian navy was weak and it largely withered away by the 1640s; the remaining ships were sold in the years 1641–1643, which marked the end of the Commonwealth Navy. A small navy was also created by Augustus II the Strong in 1700 during the Great Northern War. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, though the dominant force in Central and Eastern Europe during the 16th–18th centuries, never developed its navy to its full potential. The proportionally small Polish coastline and the limited access to the Atlantic never allowed for a massive buildup of naval forces to the level of maritime great powers such as the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of France. The Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century brought an end to the possibility of an independent Polish Navy.
20th century
Following World War I, the Second Polish Republic on 28 November 1918, by the order of Józef Piłsudski, commander of the Armed Forces of Poland, founded the modern Polish Navy. The small naval force was placed under the command of Captain Bogumił Nowotny as its first chief. The first ships, which included several torpedo boats, were acquired from the former Imperial German Navy. In the 1920s and 1930s the Polish Navy underwent a modernisation program under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Jerzy Świrski and Rear-Admiral Józef Unrug.A number of modern ships were built in France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Despite ambitious plans, the budgetary limitations placed on the government by the Great Depression never allowed the navy to expand beyond a small Baltic force. The building of one submarine,, was partly funded by a public collection. One of the main goals of the Polish Navy was to protect the Polish coast against the Soviet Baltic Fleet, therefore it put emphasis on fast submarines, large and heavily armed destroyers and mine warfare. By September 1939 the Polish Navy consisted of 5 submarines, 4 destroyers, 1 big minelayer and various smaller support vessels and mine-warfare ships. This force was no match for the larger Kriegsmarine, and so a strategy of harassment and indirect engagement was implemented.
World War II
The outbreak of World War II caught the Polish Navy in a state of expansion. Lacking numerical superiority, Polish Naval commanders decided to withdraw main surface ships to Great Britain to join the Allied war effort and prevent them from being destroyed in a closed Baltic. On 30 August 1939, three destroyers, sailed to the British naval base at Leith in Scotland. They then operated in combination with Royal Navy vessels against Germany. Also two submarines managed to flee from the Baltic Sea through the Danish straits to Great Britain during the Polish September Campaign. Three submarines were interned in Sweden, while remaining surface vessels were sunk by German aircraft.The coastal defense subordinated to the Polish Navy fought as one of the longest defending forces in Poland until October 2, 1939. During the 32-day defense, the Hel Fortified Area and the Heliodor Laskowski's Artillery battery were of great importance.
During the war the Polish Navy in exile was supplemented with leased British ships, including two cruisers, seven destroyers. three submarines, and a number of smaller fast-attack vessels. The Polish Navy fought alongside the Allied navies in Norway, the North Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and aided in the escort of Atlantic and Arctic convoys, in which was lost in 1943. Polish naval vessels played a part in the sinking of the, and in the landings in Normandy during D-Day. During the course of the war, one cruiser, four destroyers, one minelayer, one torpedo boat, two submarines and some smaller vessels were sunk; in total, twenty-six ships were lost, mostly in September 1939. In addition to participating in the sinking of Bismarck, the Polish Navy sank an enemy destroyer and six other surface ships, two submarines and a number of merchant vessels.
Postwar
After World War II, on 7 July 1945, the new Soviet-imposed Communist government revived the Polish Navy with headquarters in Gdynia. During the Communist period, Poland's navy experienced a great buildup, including the development of a separate amphibious force of Polish Marines. The Navy also acquired a number of Soviet-made ships, including 2 destroyers, 2 missile destroyers, 13 submarines and 17 missile boats. Among them was a, and a modified Kashin-class missile destroyer,. Polish shipyards produced mostly landing craft, minesweepers and auxiliary vessels. The primary role of the Warsaw Pact Polish Navy was to be Baltic Sea control, as well as amphibious operations along the entire Baltic coastline against NATO forces in Denmark and West Germany. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and the fall of Communism ended this stance.21st century
Poland's entrance into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has greatly changed the structure and role of the Polish Navy. Whereas before, most of Naval High Command was concerned with coastal defense and Baltic Sea Operations, the current mindset is for integration with international naval operations. To facilitate these changes the Republic of Poland undertook a number of modernization programs aimed at creating a force capable of power projection. This included the acquisition of two s from the United States. The Naval air arm has also acquired a number of SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters. The Polish Navy continues to operate one Kilo-class attack submarine.File:ORP Orzeł Gdynia.JPG|thumb|right|ORP Orzeł is a attack submarine
The Polish Navy has taken part in numerous joint force operations. In 1999 the naval base at Gdynia became the home base of all NATO submarine forces in the Baltic, codenamed "Cooperative Poseidon". That same year joint American-Polish submarine training manoeuvres codenamed "Baltic Porpoise" for the first time utilized the port in a multinational military exercise.