ORP Wicher (1928) - History

History

The ship was built at Ateliers et Chantiers Navals Français, Blainville-sur-Orne, near Caen and construction took 4 years, almost two more than initially planned. The steam turbines were built by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in St. Nazaire, while the armament was mounted in the French Marine arsenal in Cherbourg. The ship was launched on 10 July 1928, but it was not until 8 July 1930, when she was finally commissioned by the Polish Navy in Cherbourg harbour. She was named ORP Wicher (Polish: gale), in accordance with the French tradition of naming destroyers after meteorological phenomena. A week later she arrived at Gdynia and became the first modern ship of the Polish naval forces. Her sister ship, Burza, was started at the same time, yet was finished two years later, roughly four years after the initial deadline.

During the Interbellum, Wicher served a variety of roles, mostly political. For instance, on 15 June 1932, she was sent to the port of the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk) to meet two British destroyers entering the port and to underline the Polish political influence in that city. In March 1931 she also sailed to Madeira, from where she brought Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski and his family. This passage was the greatest distance Wicher ever travelled from Poland. She also visited Stockholm in August 1932, Leningrad in July 1934, Kiel in June 1935 and Helsinki and Tallinn the following month. In 1937, while serving as a school ship, she visited Pärnu, Narva, Vyborg, Turku, Mariehamn, Nexo, Skagen, Assens and Helsingor, as well as Tallinn and Riga.

By late 1930s it was apparent that the armament was insufficient. The French artillery had a low rate of fire and the ship had inadequate protection against aerial bombardment. To solve the problem, in the autumn of 1935 two double 13.2 mm Hotchkiss heavy machine guns were added. On 18 March 1939 the ship, along with the entire "Counter-torpedo Flotilla", was put on alert due to the Memel Crisis. Although the alert was called off a week later, the training cruises were halted. At the same time, most Polish surface vessels were prepared to be withdrawn to British ports in Operation Peking. Wicher and Gryf were the only major ships left at Gdynia harbour for the protection of the Polish shore.