Jan. 29th: Contract closed with two Dutch Shipyards for the construction of two submarines each
with standard/surface/submerged displacement of 1,110/1,473.5/1,650 tons, overall length 84.0
metres and surface/submerged speed 19/9 knots. The first one was to be built by Messrs. NV Koninklijke
Maatschappij De Schelde of Vlissingen, the second one - by Messrs. Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij. of
Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Order of the third submarine was cancelled due to lack of funds.
May 27th: work started on sheets preparation.
Aug. 14th: the keel of the first submarine laid on the slip of Messrs. N.V. Koninklijke Maatschapij De Schelde.
November: the first watertight bulkhead installed.
1937
Mar 30th: installation of hull's frames completed.
May 14th: installation of the hull's skin completed.
July 15th: the hull of the ship shifted 15 metres aside to the neighbouring slip.
July 29th: the hull then shifted 70 metres ahead.
Oct. 29th-Nov. 2nd: electric motors of the ship installed.
1938
Jan 15th: launching ceremony celebrated. Prior to the launching the ship was christened ORZEL
(Eagle in Polish) by Ms. Jadwiga Sosnkowska. The hull left the slip (stern-first) about an hour later than planned.
Feb.-June: the ship had been outfitted: installed were the devices, the electric
batteries and the armament. The first Commanding Officer was appointed Commander
Henryk Kloczkowski PN, Lieutenant Cdr. Jozef Chodakowski, PN, was appointed Executive Officer.
May 3rd-June 2nd: main propulsion Diesel engines installed.
June 25th -July 18th: the ship docked for the first time.
July 27th-28th: ordinary trials of the Diesel engines.
Aug. 12th-15th: trials of the ship's engines continued.
Aug. 23rd: first sea trials in the delta of Schelde, Lieutenant Cdr. van Dongen KM (RNN)
became the commanding officer of the ORZEL for the period of trials
(held customarily under the colours of the builders). On her way back the ORZEL
rammed with her bows a jetty in the Shipyard basin, this being the only accident during her trials.
Sep. 30th-Oct. 14th: the ship docked once more.
Oct. 21st-Nov. 1st: the ORZEL underwent her torpedo trials at Den Helder.
Nov. 12th: the ship left for the Horten Naval Base.
Nov. 14th-30th: trials of the ship held in the Norwegian waters (Oslofiord); measured
were inter alia the speeds on the measured mile and diving trials conducted to the depth of 80 m.
Dec. 2nd: the ship came back to the yard.
Dec. 22nd: the ship docked at Vlissingen for the third (and last) time.
1939
Jan. 20th: the ship left the dock.
Jan. 26th: final acceptance trials successfully completed.
Feb. 2nd: the ship was festively handed over to the Polish owners, on which the
Polish colours were hoisted. Neither the ORZEL nor her sister ship SEP did
receive the first letter of their names (O and S respectively) as their
identification letters on their sails.
Feb. 5th: the ORZEL left Vlissingen and sailed for Gdynia.
Feb. 7th: the ship arrived in Gdynia for the first time.
Feb. 10th: the ORZEL was festively greeted in Gdynia by the representatives of the State
Authorities. Festively unveiled was the plaque carrying the message that the ship was built
for the money acquired from the FOM (Maritime Defence Fund).
March-July: shakedown and training of the crew to achieve combat readiness status.
June 1st: Lieutenant Cdr. J. Grudzinski PN appointed deputy commanding (executive) of the ORZEL.
July 17th: the ORZEL became flagship of the Submarines' Division Commanding Officer.
Aug. 24th: 1st grade mobilization of the Submarines' Division ordered; vital ships' devices
reviewed, fuel and food provisions taken aboard. The ORZEL had a total number of 20 torpedoes
both in in her tubes (12) and spare (8), 125 rounds of ammunition for her 105 mm cannon and 1,200
rounds for her 40 mm a/a guns. The C/O did as well receive an amount of $ 9,000 in gold and in Polish notes.
Sep. 1st: due to the lack of full complement of her crew, who had received earlier the C/O's permission
to go ashore, the ORZEL left her base in Gdynia only after 07.00 a. m. then proceeding to her assigned
sector in the Bight of Gdansk [then called in German Danziger Bucht]. Two radio messages then received:
the earlier one ordered the C/O to stay submerged and the latter - to open the so-called "X-Envelope"
and to start executing the Worek(Sack or Bag in Polish)-Plan. The ship arrived at the sector only at
02.00 p. m. Cruising at the scope depth, she was detected and attacked by the enemy with depth-charges.
Sep. 2nd: the ship stayed on in the sector assigned to her, at about 07.50 p. m. when recharging the batteries,
she spotted Polish motor launches and fishing cutters off Jastarnia (called then Heisternest). After getting
in touch with the M-9 the word came about the losses suffered by the crews of the minelayer Gryf and the
minesweepers.
Sep. 3rd: after recharging her batteries the ship submerged and stayed under water sixteen hours long.
Two German Leberecht Maass-class destroyers detected via the scope. At 10.00 p. m. the surfaced ORZEL met
another Polish submarine Wilk. (Wolf in Polish, commanded by Lt. Cdr. B Krawczyk, PN).
Sep. 4th: at 03.50 a. m. the ship submerged and set forth patrolling the Danziger Bucht area. At about
08.00 a. m. the Commanding Officer of ORZEL decided to leave the sector without authorization and sailed
north towards the Gotland island. During the passage, between 03.15 and 04.20 p. m. the ORZEL was several
times attacked by German planes.
Sep. 5th: the ORZEL attacked again by the Luftwaffe planes.
Sep. 7th: the ORZEL made radio contact with the SEP (Cdr. Wladyslaw Salamon) informing her that she
changed her sector to the north. On passage the ORZEL luckily crossed a minefield.
Sep. 8th: the physical condition of the ORZEL her Commanding Officer deteriorated.
Sep.10th: the ORZEL reported to the SubDiv Command that an illness disabled her CO. The Headquarters
of the Fleet, answering the ORZEL's message, ordered either to disembark the ill CO at a neutral port
and continue the campaign under the Deputy CO, or to approach the Hel Peninsula in order to embark a new CO.
After a briefing with his officers, Cdr. Kloczkowski decided to call at the port of Tallinn (Estonia).
Sep. 14th: abt. 09.30 p. m. the ORZEL entered the roads to Tallinn off the Paljassar Peninsula.
Sep. 15th: on the consent received from Estonian authorities the ship entered the harbour. Then her CO
along with the Lieut. M. T. Mokrski PN paid a visit to the Senior Commanding Officer of the Estonian Navy,
to whom they, in the presence of the Polish Military Attache, Lieut. Col. S. Szczekowski, explained the
reasons that caused the ship call at Tallinn. Estonian authorities gave consent for a 24-hour-stay of the
ORZEL at the base, informing then, that she would be allowed to leave 24 hours after a German merchant
vessel, the Thalatta, lying then at Tallinn, has left the harbour. After the visit the CO was transported
away to the hospital. On his leaving the ship. he took with him all his personal belongings, including a
double shotgun and a typewriter. An Estonian Naval officer came in and instructed the Deputy CO, Lieut.
Cdr. Jan Grudzinski PN, on the conditions of the ship's stay at the base. Greater part of the crew went
to a bath ashore, where they were medically examined. Also Junior Petty Officer, M. Barwinski, was carried
away to the hospital. A compressor of the ship was taken away for repairs. Soon after that an Estonian
gunboat Laine came in, taking position close to the ORZEL. In the afternoon that day an Estonian Naval
officer with a detachment of Navy petty officers and ratings came in with the message for Lieut. Cdr.
Grudzinski, that the ORZEL was being interned. The latter, escorted by an Estonian officer, went to the
Polish Embassy to Tallinn. There he was instructed to remain composed and to destroy classified
documentation. Lieut. Cdr. Grudzinski took over as the new CO. Back aboard ship, the new Deputy CO, Lieut.
A. Piasecki PN, destroyed the above-mentioned documentation. The ORZEL was taken farther into the harbour.
The maps, the log and light hand weapons were taken away from the board. The radio station was sealed.
Sep. 16th: Estonian Navy men took away from the ship part of her torpedoes, the plug to her 105 mm cannon
and ammunition.
Sep. 17th: disarming procedure went on; mainly the Estonians took away fourteen torpedoes out of twenty the
ship's crew had aboard.
Sep. 18th: at 03.00 a. m. the crew overwhelmed the two Estonians Navy guards, cut the phone electric wires
and the mooring lines. Then the ORZEL started escaping from the blackouted harbour.
During this she rammed the wave breaker head and became temporarily trapped. The Estonians turned on their
searchlights and opened fire from machineguns and shore cannons. Soon afterwards the ORZEL refloated herself
and set forth her way towards the harbour entrance. The chase given by Estonian naval forces remained fruitless,
as the ORZEL submerged and moved on towards Aaland Islands.
The ship's CO sent a plain message to the Fleet HQ at Hela informing of her escape, lack of codes and
navigational aids.
Sep. 21st: the ORZEL arrived in the vicinity of Gotland (Sweden), where the two Estonian Navy men
(a petty officer R Kirikmaa and an ordinary seaman B Mahlstein) were disembarked.
Sep. 30th: after 9 days' patrolling off the Gotland, the ORZEL moved to new patrolling sector off Öland.
Oct. 1st-6th: the ship patrolled off the island; in the meantime she ran aground when trying to attack a
German vessel. During refloating she was attacked by a German seaplane.
Oct. 7th: the ORZEL her CO Lieut. Cdr. Grudzinski decided to pass the Danish Straits and to sail for the UK.
During the night the ship reached the vicinity of Trelleborg and submerged on detecting patrolling Swedish and German naval units.
Oct. 8th: on finding the horizon clean, the ORZEL surfaced to load her batteries. At dawn the ship submerged
again to stay under water until twilight. Then having surfaced the CO set the course to the Cape of Falsterbo.
Then he turned to the central "arm of the Sund, to the Drogden Channel, where he found again patrolling
Swedish and German warships. At 10.20 p. m. the ORZEL approached the Isle of Saltholm and then at 10.43 found
herself abeam of Copenhagen. At midnight the ship submerged off Landskrona.
Oct. 9th: at 8.30 p. m. the ORZEL surfaced and headed for the Ven Island. Half an hour later the ship passed
Helsingör and Hälsingborg.
Oct. 10th: the ORZEL entered the Kattegat-strait and submerged.
Oct. 11th: just after midnight the ship surfaced, then entered the Skagerrak-strait and searched for a target for her torpedoes.
Oct. 12th: the ORZEL headed for England.
Oct. 14th: at 06.00 a. m. the ship's international call sign was radioed by the ORZEL, along with her presumed
position. Five hours later, 30 nautical miles off the Isle of May, the ORZEL was met by HMS Valorous, an old
British destroyer, and then escorted by her to the harbour of Rosyth.
Oct. 16th: the ORZEL arrived in Dundee, where another Polish submarine, the ORP Wilk, was being repaired.
Nov. 16th: the General W Sikorski (then the Polish Prime Minister) and Rear Admiral Swirski (then Head of the
Polish Navy Headquarters) paid a visit to Dundee, giving decorations to a part of ORZEL her crew.
Dec. 1st: after completion of repairs the ship left Dundee for Rosyth to be assigned then to the 2nd Submarine
Flotilla there, receiving a British pennant no. 85-A. The crew was joined by the British liaison officer
(Lieutenant D A Fraser, RN) and two (or three?) petty officers (the signalman, W F Green and the radio man
L W Jones; the possible presence of a second signalman called 'John' is not confirmed as yet).
Dec. 8th: the British naval authorities announced that the two Polish submarines, the Wilk and the ORZEL,
were in British naval bases to carry on service along with the units of the Royal Navy.
Dec 9th: the ORZEL left the naval base escorting a British convoy.
Dec. 10th: the Distinguished Service Order, a high British military decoration, was given by HM the King
George VI to Lt. Cdr. Grudzinski, the new CO of the ORZEL. Then, until Dec. 20th, the ship escorted two more
convoys within the British waters.
Dec. 29th: the ORZEL took part in escorting a convoy from Lerwick (Shetland Isles) to Bergen.
1940
Jan. 4th: the ORZEL along with other ships escorted a convoy from Bergen to the Firth of Forth.
Jan. 18th: after adaptation of torpedo tubes for the 21 in torpedoes the ORZEL left for her first patrol
from a British naval base to a sector off Skagerrak-strait.
Jan 29th: the ORZEL her first liaison officer, Lieutenant Fraser, replaced by Lt. Cdr. K d'Ombrain Nott.
Feb.: the ORZEL left for her second patrol off Norse coasts.
Feb 26th: HM the King George VI paid a visit to the ORZEL at Rosyth; He met and had a short talk with her
CO, Lt. Cdr. Grudzinski.
March: the submarine made two patrols off Norse and Dutch coasts.
Apr. 3rd: the ORZEL left for her fifth patrol to the sector off Norse coasts.
Apr. 4th-5th: the ship ran surfaced to the assigned sector.
Apr. 6th: in the morning the ORZEL submerged and stayed under water until the evening. Then she surfaced
and set forth her run to the assigned position.
Apr. 7th: the submarine reached her assigned sector.
Apr. 8th: at abt. 11.00 a. m. off Lillesand the crew of the ORZEL detected a ship heading for the Nnorse
coasts; on closing, the name of the ship was deciphered (Rio de Janeiro) and (vaguely visible) home port
(Hamburg). The ship showed off no colours. After surfacing a signal was given ordering the ship to stop
her engines and send the skipper with ship's papers, but the German answer was only an increase of speed.
Then the ORZEL gave chase and crewmen fired her machine guns twice at the ship as a warning. The fleeing
ship stopped and started sending radio calls for help. The ORZEL's CO ordered the Germans to evacuate the
ship within 5 minutes and warned he would afterwards fire a torpedo. The warning was ignored by the German
skipper, so the ORZEL fired her torpedo, which hit the ship's starboard side at 12.05 p. m. After that on
the deck of the disabled ship appeared the uniformed soldiers who started abandoning her. A bit later small
craft and planes were observed approach from the coast. The ORZEL submerged and fired another torpedo,
which also hit the ship's board. Three minutes later, at 01.18 p. m. the ship went down. Lt. Cdr.
Grudzinski reported the attack to the Admiralty and then the ship left the area, carrying on her patrol
of the sector. At 4.00 p. m. the ORZEL came back to the area of her success. After 10.00 p. m. the
submarine surfaced and started charging her batteries, and an hour later the crew listened to the British
radio message on their sinking of the Rio de Janeiro.
Apr. 9th: the ship ran into three German minesweepers in her sector.
Apr. 10th: in the morning German minesweepers were spotted again; the CO decided to attack them with
torpedoes. After firing a salvo the ORZEL was attacked by an enemy plane with depth charges and was
forced to submerge. In the evening the ship came up to the scope depth and the CO found only two
minesweepers afloat.
Apr. 11th: The ORZEL detected a convoy composed of a big vessel screened by warships. Before she
could attack the targets, the submarine was herself detected by a plane crew and attacked with bombs.
The hunting for the ship lasted for a number of hours. In the evening the ORZEL rose to the scope
depth and it was stated that the stream had carried the ship to the fiord, where also the enemy
ship found shelter. During the night the ship surfaced and started charging her batteries.
Apr. 12th: after midnight the ORZEL was detected by German warships; the Germans started hunting
the submarine, throwing a number of depth charges. The escaping ORZEL submerged to the depth of
91 metres (ca 300 feet). By the evening the submarine rose to the scope depth and on finding no
enemy warships in the vicinity her CO ordered the ship to surface.
Apr. 13th: at noon the submarine was surprised by an enemy plane. There was no time to submerge and
the crew of the ORZEL opened fire from her a/a guns. The plane disappeared and the ship could submerge.
In the evening three German submarine chasers were spotted. During the whole day the ORZEL and her crew
spent a total of 20 hours submerged.
Apr. 14th: the submarine was again detected and attacked with
depth charges. Escaping them, the ORZEL submerged to the depth of 96 metres (ca 315 feet).
Apr. 15th: a number of attacks on the submarine from the surface and air. Between the 10th and 15th of
April enemy warships and planes dropped a total number of 111 depth charges and bombs at the ORZEL.
Apr. 16th: the submarine set the course to her base.
Apr. 18th: the ORZEL berthed at Rosyth.
Apr. 28th-May 11th: the ship made another patrol in the North Sea.
May 12th-22nd: the submarine stayed at Rosyth, where the new plug for her Bofors cannon was mounted after
coming from the Bofors' Factory in Sweden.
May 23rd: before midnight the ORZEL left Rosyth for a patrol to the area west from the Skagerrak
strait entrance.
June 1st: a message was radioed from the base to the ORZEL with order to move to the adjacent sector.
The message was not confirmed by the crew as received.
June 2nd: the same message was radioed again to the ORZEL. Either this time the crew did not confirm the
reception of the message.
June 5th: the order was radioed from the base to the ORZEL, according to which the submarine
should return to base on the 8th of June. The order was not confirmed by the ORZEL's crew as received.
June 8th: because of the ORZEL's failure to return from her patrol on the indicated time and lack of any
answer to radio calls asking for current position, the Submarine was OFFICIALLY DECLARED MISSING.
With the ORZEL perished her complete Crew with the CO, Lieut. Cdr. J Grudzinski, and the Royal Navy liaison
team (Lieutenant Nott and petty officers Green & Jones).
June 11th: The Polish Navy Headquarters issued the following message:
Because of the lack of any messages and the failure to return from her patrol on time,
the Polish Navy's Submarine ORZEL has been herewith declared as Lost-in-Action.
