History
Irene Oldendorff was built for E Oldendorff, Lübeck. On 14 September 1944, she was reported to be in a damaged condition at Copenhagen. The ship had been sunk by sabotage. Although repaired, she was again reported as damaged in March 1945. She was seized in May 1945 at Lübeck, passed to the MoWT and renamed Empire Contees. She was placed under the management of the Constantine Steamship Co Ltd.
In 1946, Empire Contees was transferred to the Soviet Union and was renamed Omsk. On 13 April 1947, she was sold to Zegluga Polska SA, Poland and was renamed Opole. On 24 November 1950, Opole was transferred to the Polish Navy. She was rebuilt as a training ship and hospital ship at a cost of zł100,000,000. The conversion was undertaken at the Stocznia Gdynia and was completed in 152 days. Opole was renamed ORP Zetempowiec and commissioned into the Polish Navy on 10 July 1951. Following conversion, Zetempowiec had a displacement of 4,220 tons.
Armament was two 85mm AA guns and four 37mm AA guns. In 1957, Zetempowiec was renamed Gryf. She remained as a training ship. Photographs show that Gryf used the code letters STAY. Gryf won the title of the best ship in the Polish Navy in 1970 and again in 1971. Gryf was decommissioned in 1976, and was thereafter used as an accommodation hulk.
Read more about this topic: ORP Gryf (1944)
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