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 (Chief of Naval Staff) and
Rear-Admiral Józef Unrug (CO of the
Fleet). A number of modern ships were built in
France, the
Netherlands, and the
United Kingdom. Despite ambitious plans (including 2
cruisers and 12
destroyers), 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 Polish Navy destroyer 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 (the
Peking Plan). On 30 August 1939, three destroyers, (, , and ) 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 (one of them, , made a
daring escape from
internment in
Tallinn,
Estonia, and traveled without charts). 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 (, ex-HMS
Danae; , ex-HMS
Dragon), seven destroyers (one of which was ). 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 (gunboats, mine hunters etc.) 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 was a
Kashin-class guided missile destroyer 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==