ORP Wicher (English:
Gale), the lead ship of her class, built at
Chantiers Naval Francais, construction took 4 years, almost two more than initially planned. Commissioned July 8, 1930 a week later she arrived at Gdynia and became the first modern ship of the Polish naval forces. Her sister ship, the
ORP Burza, was started at the same time, yet was finished two years later, roughly four years after the initial deadline. By late 1930s it was apparent that her 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. At the outbreak of World War Two
ORP Wicher and
ORP Gryf were the only major ships left at Gdynia harbour for the protection of the Polish shore. In the morning of September 3, 1939,
ORP Gryf and
ORP Wicher, moored in a harbour, were attacked by two German destroyers, the
Z1 Leberecht Maass and
Z9 Wolfgang Zenker, firing at 9 nm. Polish warships and a shore battery im. Heliodora Laskowskiego ( 4x152 mm Bofors guns ) repulsed the attack, with
Gryf scoring two hits. After that the German squadron put up a smoke barrier and withdrew. Later that day
ORP Wicher, still in a harbour, repulsed two air raids. However, in the third attack at approximately 15:00 she was attacked by two group of planes, and the German Luftwaffe scored four hits. Two bombs hit amidships, one hit the bow and the other was a close miss, yet it managed to fracture the hull at several places on the starboard side.
ORP Wicher started to sink and the crew made it ashore, where they joined the Land Defence of Pomerania. Altogether, she had one sailor killed and 22 wounded in the attack. After World War II, in 1946, she was raised and hauled outside the port to the area of Jastarnia. There she served as a target for aerial bombardment practice until 1955. In 1963 she was partially scrapped.
PS: I update first page and ... if you will ask "what da f*** is that strange thing on gun shield nr.3" ... that well ... a clock.