Allied Warships

ORP Orzel (85 A)

Submarine of the Orzel class

Orzel

Navy	The Polish Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Orzel
Pennant	85 A
Built by	Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde (Vlissingen (Flushing), The Netherlands)
Ordered	29 Jan 1936
Laid down	14 Aug 1936
Launched	15 Jan 1938
Commissioned	2 Feb 1939
Lost	8 Jun 1940
History	Orzel means eagle in English. The boat, built in the Netherlands arrived in Poland on 7 Feb 1939. She famously escaped the German forces in Sept 1939 and reached England where she served during the war. ORP Orzel (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) Jan Grudzinski) sailed on her seventh patrol on the 23rd of May. She was sent to the central region of the North Sea. A wireless message was sent from Rosyth on the 1st and 2nd of June to the Orzel, with an order to change her patrol area and proceed for the Skagerrak. No signals had been received from the Orzel since her departure and on the 5th of June the order was sent for her to return. She failed to acknowledge reception of this signal (as well as the other signals) and she never came back to her base. The 8th of June, 1940, she was declared overdue. What happened to Orzel? She has still not been found, but there are two possible explanations. The Admiralty stated in 1962 that Orzel had been lost in a British minefield in position 57°00N, 03°40E on 25 May. That minefield had only recently been laid there, and it was admitted that it had not been possible to inform all of the allied ships, including Orzel, about the existence of that new minefield. (Presumably it was not possible to inform ships which were already at sea when the minefield was laid). That Admiralty statement is held in the National Archives in file ADM 199/1925. It is also worth mentioning that British acoustic stations heard a loud noise that day, which was assumed to have probably been something hitting a mine. The date of loss might have been 8 June. When Orzel was returning to Rosyth she might have hit a mine in a new German minefield, 16B, which was located near the British minefield. The Allies were unaware of the existence of minefield 16B at that time, and it was considered very likely that the Dutch Submarine O-13 was lost in that minefield five days later. The location of this and some other German minefields were not known until German charts were captured with Enigma material during the raid to the Lofotens and Maaloy in capture a German weather reporting trawler known to be north-east of Iceland carried out on 7 May 1941. More on Orzel can be found at this website (in Polish language, offsite link).

Commands listed for ORP Orzel (85 A)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) Henryk Wincenty Kloczkowski, ORP	2 Feb 1939	14 Sep 1939
2	Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) Jan Grudzinski, ORP	15 Sep 1939	8 Jun 1940

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Notable events involving Orzel include:

The page dealing with the wartime history of ORP Orzel was created in June 2023 and last updated in August 2023.

We hope to add further details in the future after further research is undertaken at the The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London.

15 Sep 1939
ORP Orzel (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) H.W. Kloczkowski) arrived at Tallinn, Estonia claiming to be in need of repairs but in fact only an air compressor was defective.

The ships Commanding Officer, which claimed to be sick was taken to hospital. The ships First Lieutenant, Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, took over command.

The Estonians then began to disarm the submarine and interned her. Also the charts were removed.

During the night of 17/18 September 1939, ORP Orzel escaped from Tallinn and then commenced to patrol in the Baltic. On leaving Tallinn harbour she had hit a rock near the harbour entrance. On board were six torpedoes which the Estonians had not yet removed due to sabotage by the Polish crew. Two Estonian guards were overpowered. They were landed on a small Swedish island off the island of Gotland on 22 September 1939.

7 Oct 1939
Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski decided to leave the Baltic and try to escape with ORP Orzel to the United Kingdom.

On 8 October, ORP Orzel grounded to the south-west of Trelleborg, Sweden.

The first part of the passage of the Sund was made during the night of 8/9 October.

Orzel then spent the day of 9 October on the bottom near Ven Island.

The second part of the passage of the Sund was made during the night of 9/10 October.

14 Oct 1939
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski) arrived off the coast of the U.K. near the Firth of Forth. Contact was made and the escort destroyer HMS Valorous (Lt. E. Mack, RN) was sent out to escort her in. They met around 1115A/14.

They arrived at Rosyth around 1500A/14.

On arrival at Rosyth it was noted that ORP Orzel looked smart and clean and had only sustained some minor damage to her keel and the bow outer torpedo caps due the grounding twice.

6 Nov 1939
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski) proceed from Rosyth for Dundee where she was to be docked. She was escorted by the destroyer HMS Whitehall (Lt.Cdr. A.B. Russell, RN).

[Docking dates currently not known to us.] (1)

15 Dec 1939
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) proceeded from Dundee to Rosyth. She was escorted by an armed trawler. Trials were conducted en-route of the Firth of Forth. (2)

29 Dec 1939

Convoy ON 6.

This convoy departed Methil on 29 December 1939 and arrived in Norwegian waters near Bergen on 1 January 1940.

The convoy was made up of the following merchant vessels; Highlander (British, 1216 GRT, built 1916), Rigel (Finnish, 1477 GRT, built 1937), Salerno (British, 870 GRT, built 1924), Vienti (Finnish, 1715 GRT, built 1911) and Wanda (Finnish, 1902 GRT, built 1897).

The small minelayer HMS Ringdove (Lt. C.R. Pilgrim, RN) was also part of this convoy.

A close escort was provided for the convoy made up of the destroyers HMS Exmouth (Cdr. R.S. Benson, DSO, RN), HMS Eclipse (Lt.Cdr. I.T. Clark, RN), HMS Encounter (Lt.Cdr. E.V.St.J. Morgan, RN), HMS Escapade (Cdr. H.R. Graham, RN) and the submarine ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO).

A close cover force, made up of the light cruisers HMS Glasgow (Capt. F.H. Pegram, RN) and HMS Edinburgh (Capt. C.M. Blackman, DSO, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral G.F.B. Edward-Collins, CB, KCVO, RN) departed Rosyth on 30 December.

At 0050Z/30, the Highlander parted company to proceed to Aberdeen escorted by HMS Eclipse. HMS Eclipse rejoined the convoy screen around 1000Z/30.

During the night of 29/30 December, the Vienti had straggled from the convoy and was not seen again before the convoy arrived in Norwegian waters.

At 1100Z/30, HMS Eclipse was again detached but now to escort HMS Ringdove towards Scapa Flow. At 1555Z/30, the escort was taken over by the auxiliary A/S trawler HMS Arctic Explorer (Skr. C.L. Buchan, RNR). HMS Eclipse rejoined the convoy screen around 15 minutes later. By that time the Rigel and Wanda had also straggled from the convoy being unable to keep up even at 6.5 knots. They rejoined the convoy the next day after the remainder of the convoy had doubled back for a while as Capt. Benson had been ordered to do so due the important cargoes the ships had on board.

The convoy arrived in Norwegian waters on 1 January where it was dispersed.

1 Jan 1940

Convoy HN 6.

This convoy departed from Norwegian waters near Bergen on 1 January 1940 and the bulk of the convoy arrived at Methil on 4 January 1940.

The convoy was made up of the following merchant vessels; Boreas (Norwegian, 2801 GRT, built 1920), Catherine (Estonian, 1885 GRT, built 1904), Consul Bratt (Swedish, 1117 GRT, built 1913), Corona (Finish, 1569 GRT, built 1922), Crown Arun (British, 2372 GRT, built 1938), Dokka (Norwegian, 1168 GRT, built 1925), Dux (Norwegian, 1590 GRT, built 1934), Eros (Norwegian, 974 GRT, built 1922), Fagerbro (Norwegian, 994 GRT, built 1923), Garm (Swedish, 1231 GRT, built 1912), Gaston Micard (Norwegian, 982 GRT, built 1917), Glen Tilt (British, 871 GRT, built 1920), Granli (Norwegian, 1577 GRT, built 1935), Hague (British, 974 GRT, built 1919), Haukefjell (Norwegian, 2495 GRT, built 1921), Havtor (Norwegian, 1524 GRT, built 1930), Hektos (Finnish, 2108 GRT, built 1903), Ibis (Norwegian, 1367 GRT, built 1918), Iris (Swedish,1974 GRT, built 1886), Kalix (Swedish, 2801 GRT, built 1913), Kis (Norwegian, 1249 GRT, built 1915), Majorca (British, 1126 GRT, built 1921), Maurita (Norwegian, 1569 GRT, built 1925), Miranda (Norwegian, 1328 GRT, built 1920), Oria (Norwegian, 2127 GRT, built 1920), Plato (Swedish, 836 GRT, built 1898), Porjus (Swedish, 2965 GRT, built 1906), Saimaa (Finnish, 2001 GRT, built 1922), Sarmatia (Finnish, 2417 GRT, built 1901), Sirius (Swedish, 1832 GRT, built 1889), Skarv (Norwegian, 852 GRT, built 1923), Svarton (Swedish, 2475 GRT, built 1906), Transport (Norwegian, 1998 GRT, built 1921), Ulv (Norwegian, 938 GRT, built 1920), Wiima (Finnish, 3272 GRT, built 1897) and Zilos (Finnish, 1711 GRT, built 1884).

On departure the convoy was escorted by the destroyers HMS Exmouth (Cdr. R.S. Benson, DSO, RN), HMS Eclipse (Lt.Cdr. I.T. Clark, RN), HMS Encounter (Lt.Cdr. E.V.St.J. Morgan, RN), HMS Escapade (Cdr. H.R. Graham, RN) and the submarine ORP Orzel (Lt.Cdr. J. Grudzinski, DSO).

A distant cover force for the convoy was also nearby, it was made up of the light cruisers HMS Glasgow (Capt. F.H. Pegram, RN) and HMS Edinburgh (Capt. C.M. Blackman, DSO, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral G.F.B. Edward-Collins, CB, KCVO, RN).

On forming up in bad visibility four of the merchant ships failed to join the convoy.

Around 1015Z/2, the destroyers HMS Eskimo (Cdr. St.J.A. Micklethwait, RN) and HMS Tartar (Lt.Cdr. D.E. Holland-Martin, DSC, RN) joined the close escort.

Around 0800Z/3, the destroyers HMS Fearless (Cdr. K.L. Harkness, RN) and HMS Fury (Cdr. G.F. Burghard, RN) joined the convoy to take the ' westcoast section ' with them. The ships that were to proceed to the westcoast were the Consul Bratt, Fagerbro, Hektos, Maurita, Oria, Saimaa and Zilos.

Around 0630A/4, the Glen Tilt and Hague parted company with the convoy and proceeded to Dundee.

The remainder of the convoy arrived off Methil on 4 January.

4 Jan 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) arrived at Rosyth from convoy escort duty. (2)

8 Jan 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is docked in the floating dock at the Rosyth Dockyard. (3)

10 Jan 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is undocked. (3)

18 Jan 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) departed Rosyth for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol to the north of area C 1 (off the south coast of Norway). (4)

27 Jan 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) ended her 1st war patrol at Rosyth. The patrol had been uneventful. (2)

30 Jan 1940
While maneuvering at Rosyth, ORP Wilk (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) B.D. Krawczyk) hit the side of ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) with its bow. Damage was not serious.

10 Feb 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) departed Rosyth for her 2nd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in area E 1 (off the west coast of Denmark). (4)

23 Feb 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) ended her 2nd war patrol at Rosyth. The patrol had been uneventful. (4)

5 Mar 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) departed Rosyth for her 3rd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in area C 1 off the Jøssingfjord (off south coast of Norway) to prevent the German tanker / supply vessel Altmark (10698 GRT, built 1938) from escaping from there. (4)

7 Mar 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to patrol in zone E 1 (off the west coast of Denmark). (4)

10 Mar 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to intercept the small German transport Helene Russ (993 GRT, built 1909). (5)

11 Mar 1940
At 0150A/11, a merchant vessel believed to be the Helene Russ was sighted in position 56°49'N, 08°10'E. The boarding party on board ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) was standing by but the fog prevented the enemy ship from being boarded. It was not possible to use the deck gun to stop the German vessel as the gun was still inoperable due to parts of it having been removed by the Estonians when ORP Orzel had been interned in Tallinn in September 1939.

At 0906A/11, in position 57°48'N, 08°15'E, the Danish merchant vessel Tomsk (1229 GRT, built 1911) was sighted and boarded for contraband inspection. The ship was on its way to Hull. (5)

12 Mar 1940
At 0013A/12, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO), receives a signal ordering her to patrol near position 56°55'N, 07°55'E. (5)

14 Mar 1940
At 0003A/14, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO), receives a signal ordering her to close the Danish coast to search for the German merchant vessel Duisburg (1080 GRT, built 1936) but the ship was not sighted.

At 1945A/14, Orzel left patrol to return to Rosyth. (5)

17 Mar 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) ended her 3rd war patrol at Rosyth. (4)

29 Mar 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is docked in No.3 dock at the Rosyth Dockyard. (6)

2 Apr 1940
HMS Seal (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Lonsdale, RN) is docked in No.3 dry dock at the Rosyth Dockyard. ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) was already in the dock since March 29th. (6)

3 Apr 1940
HMS Seal (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Lonsdale, RN) and ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) are both undocked from No.3 dry dock at the Rosyth Dockyard. (6)

4 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) departed the Firth of Forth for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Lillesand, Norway. Before proceeding on patrol exercises had been carried out and she had actually left Rosyth late on 3 April 1940. (7)

8 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) torpedoed and sank the German (troop) transport Rio de Janeiro (5261 GRT, built 1914) south-south-east of Lillesand, Norway in position 58°08'N 08°29'E.

0945A/8, Sighted a suspicious merchant vessel to the south. Closed to investigate. The vessel was seen to fly no ensign and was proceeding on a course of 240°. She was high in the water indicating very little cargo.

1100A/8, Closed enough to read the ships name which was Rio de Janeiro with place of registration being Hamburg.

1110A/8, Surfaced and signalled the vessel to stop which she did.

1112A/8, Ordered the vessel to sent a boat. There appeared to be very little movement on board so fired warning shots with the Lewis guns which unfortunately was the only armament available as the deck gun is still inoperative.

1120A/8, Ordered the vessel to abandon ship in 15 minutes.

1130A/8, A boat was lowered but it made very little attempt to close Orzel. So ordered the vessel once more to abandon ship and that they had 5 minutes left to do so before a torpedo would be fired.

1135A/8, Sighted a Norwegian motor boat approaching. There was still no sign of movement on board the merchant vessel.

1145A/8, Fired a torpedo while the Norwegian motor boat was still clear. a slight explosion was seen and the vessel heeled. She was still 1.8 nautical miles outside territorial waters.

1150A/8, Dived. The vessel showed no signs of sinking. More boats were seen to be lowered.

1155A/8, Sighted a Norwegian aircraft approaching. Orzel circled underwater to give the enemy crew time to pull clear before finishing off the ship with a second torpedo which blew up to ship on hitting.

At 1610A/8, Orzel received a signal ordering her to patrol south of Lindesnes near position 57°50'N, 07°00'E. (5)

9 Apr 1940
At 0120A/9, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) received a signal ordering her to patrol off Larvik. Course was set accordingly and she arrived in her new patrol position around 0700A/9. (5)

10 Apr 1940
At 1822A/10, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) fires two torpedoes against the German auxiliary patrol vessel V 705 / Carsten (258 GRT, built 1923) in the Skagerrak. Despite the range being only 250 yards the trawler was not hit. It appears one of the torpedoes exploded prematurely.

German sources give the position as 58°42'N 10°02'E. [No position is noted in the patrol report of ORP Orzel.]

12 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) was ordered to patrol in position 58°40'N 11°00'E.

0405A/12, sighted a ship blow up to the north. [This was most likely the German small tanker Moonsund (322 GRT, built 1937) which was being sunk by HMS Snapper (Lt. W.D.A. King, RN).]

1210A/12, When about to attack a merchant vessel with torpedoes in position 58°41'N 11°04'E it turned 100 degrees. Orzel was then immediately attacked by an aircraft which dropped around 20 bombs.

Between 1245A/12 and 1345A/12, Orzel was hunted by A/S vessels which dropped a total of 21 depth charges. Orzel went to 240 feet.

1400A/12, Orzel bottomed at 200 feet. She was hunted until midnight after which she surfaced and left the area. (5)

13 Apr 1940
No enemy patrol vessels were sighted by ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) during the night but during the day several enemy patrol vessels were sighted and also depth charges were dropped on several occasions. On surfacing around 2200A/13, a vessel was seen at short range but Orzel managed to evade it by running away at 15 knots. (5)

14 Apr 1940
At 0145A/14, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to proceed to position 58°01'N, 11°20'E.

1030A/14, Had to go deep for patrolling R-boats in estimated position 58°25'N, 10°31'E [no sights had been taken for the last three days]. Orzel was hunted for the remainder of the day. A total of 50 depth charges were dropped, about half of these were distant, the other half closer. (5)

15 Apr 1940
At 0030A/15, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to proceed to area C 9.

0330A/15, Arrived in position 58°15'N, 10°50'E [no sights had been taken for the last three days].

0340A/15, Heard HE from a vessel.

0400A/15, Heard a depth charge exploding.

Three patrol vessels were heard throughout most of the day but it is not thought that they were ever in contact with ORP Orzel. It appears that by dropping depth chargesevery now and then to keep submarines deep. (5)

16 Apr 1940
At 0006A/16, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) received a signal orderingher to return to Rosyth. (5)

18 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) ended her 4th war patrol at Rosyth. (5)

20 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is docked in the floating dock at the Rosyth Dockyard. (6)

25 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is undocked. (6)

28 Apr 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) departed Rosyth for her 5th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off Stavanger. (5)

4 May 1940
At 1200A/4, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO), sighted five German M-class minesweepers passing Jaederens Point proceeding northwards. They appeared to be sweeping. Shots from guns and rifles were heard and later noticed that some of the mines that were reported moored there were no longer in position.

2000A/4, Orzel was ordered to proceed to position 58°00'N, 06°30'E (near Lista). (5)

8 May 1940
At 1200A/8, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO), is ordered to patrol in position 57°50'N, 06°10'E. (5)

9 May 1940
At 2200A/9, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO), left patrol to return to Rosyth. (5)

10 May 1940
At 0650A/10, ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO), sighted an aircraft emerging from the mist. Exchanged recognition signals. The aircraft fired five blue stars. The aircraft was too close to dive, so fire was opened with the Lewis gun and the aircraft turned away. It was then identified as a Donier 18 so Orzel dived. The aircraft dropped two bombs and remained patrolling in the area for an hour. (5)

11 May 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) ended her 5th war patrol at Rosyth. (5)

23 May 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) departed Rosyth for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the northern half of area A 3 (between 55°10'N en 54°30'N en 03°30'E en 04°25'E).

The gun of ORP Orzel had finally been repaired as spare parts had become available. (5)

1 Jun 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) was ordered to patrol in area A 1 (Between 56°30'N en 55°45'N en 03°30'E en 04°25'E). (5)

3 Jun 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to proceed to position 57°00'N, 06°00'E (north of J) trough position 57°00'N, 04°10'E, diving by day when east of 05°00'E. (5)

5 Jun 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to leave patrol at 2200A/6 and return to Rosyth. (5)

8 Jun 1940
ORP Orzel (Kpt.mar. (Lt.Cdr.) J. Grudzinski, DSO) is ordered to report her position after having failed to arrive at Rosyth. There was no reply. (5)