Shipbucket

Very nice work in this thread,eswube.I am interested of your Osa Patrol Boat,since I have this in one of my AU navies.Can I use it?

Thank You Guys for Your appreciation.

Odysseus - No problem. Just remember about crediting.

The time has come for another addition to this thread.

Two patrol ships of the Project 5633 SKS-40 Kaper class entered service in the Polish Coast Guard in 1991. Originally four were planned for the Maritime Administration (Urząd Morski) as Statki Kontroli Strefy (SKS, Zone Control Ships) for EEZ patrols, but eventually only two were made due to fiscal constraints. First of them (Kaper-1) served initially in the Urząd Morski of Gdynia between january and october 1991 when it was transferred to the Coast Guard, second one (Kaper-2) entered service in 1992 as the first ship commissioned directly by the Coast Guard since the border guards were renamed from Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza (WOP, Border Protection Troops) to Straż Graniczna (SG, Border Guard). Both these ships are currently the largest vessels of this formation.



Unfortunately, the drawing doesn't show the underwater part of the hull. Modeller's plans of these ships were published some years ago, but I couldn't find any for sale in recent weeks, so I decided to post the drawing as it is for a time being.

Another excellent drawing from you Eswube. Hope you find underwater hull sources

_________________
Work in progress:
DD County Class PNS Babur (1982)(PAK)
FF Type 21 Class D182 PNS Babur (2000)(PAK)
All relevant Coat of Arms

KimWerner - Thank You very much. I hope I'll find it too.

About two months ago I wrote: throughout this thread I'm casually using terms "Navy" and "Coast Guard" like if they were totally different and separate entities. In reality, their mutual relation was more complicated. Perhaps I will elaborate more on it sometime later.
I guess that time has come.
And even though I don't expect it to be an often read text, even if one or two people will take a genuine interest in it, I'll feel that spending the time on writing it (btw. - sorry for language errors) was justified.

I. Poland's border guards after 1945

After the end of the World War 2 there was a need to re-create border protection apparatus. As a stop-gap measure troops returning in may-june 1945 from Germany were deployed on the borders - 1st Army (1 AWP) on southern border with Czechoslovakia and 2nd Army (2 AWP) on western border with Germany (Soviet Occupation Zone). In total 11 infantry divisions and 1 tank corps were deployed until november 1945.

In the meantime a Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza (WOP, Border Protection Troops (1) ) were formed on 13 september 1945, administered by Departament WOP (WOP Department) under the Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej (MON, Ministry of National Defence). Major formations of WOP were initially eleven Detachments (Oddział WOP, plur. Oddziały WOP), which on the 20 march 1948 were reorganized into 12 Brygady Ochrony Pogranicza (Border Protection Brigades, including one training).

On the 4 december 1948 WOP were transferred from MON to Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego (MBP, Ministry of Public Security) and its headquarters was renamed from Departament WOP into Główny Inspektorat Ochrony Pogranicza (Chief Inspectorate of Border Protection). At that time WOP was made up from 12 brigades, border control point at Warszawa-Okęcie international airport and training centre in Kętrzyn with about 32000 personnel. Despite being transferred out of MON, WOP remained a military formation and its logistic was still conducted through Military Districts.

In the 1950 Main Inspectorate was renamed Dowództwo Wojsk Ochrony Pogranicza (Border Protection Troops Command), therefore raising its status, while the formations' constituent brigades were renamed as Brygady WOP (Brigades of WOP), with their total number raised to 13. On the 7 december 1954 the dreaded MBP was divided into two separate organizations: Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych (Ministry of Internal Affairs - "normal" police, border control, internal troops, fire guards etc.) and Komitet do spraw Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego (KdsBP, Commitee for affairs of Public Security - intelligence, counterintelligence and secret police) which was merged into MSW two years later in the wake of de-Stalinization.

WOP remained part of the MSW until 1965, when it returned to MON under Główny Inspektorat Obrony Terytorialnej (Chief Inspectorate of Territorial Defence (2) ). At that time it consisted of 8 brigades, 4 detachments and several training and support establishments.

In the turn of 1971/1972 control of WOP passed once again to MSW, while still remaining a military formation whose regulations, administration of reserves and mobilization etc. were overseen by MON. In 1986 it consisted of 12 brigades and support units.

Changes of political situation in Poland after 1989 had also impact on border guards. On 12 october 1990 Sejm (lower house of parliament) passed "Ustawa o ochronie granicy państwowej" (Law on protection of state border) and "Ustawa o Straży Granicznej" (Law on Border Guard), thereby brining Straż Graniczna (SG, Border Guard) to life. New SG, though formed basically through reorganizing and renaming WOP and its elements, is no longer a military formation, but a police-type one (under MSW), although its uniforms and ranks are still based on military ones and in time of war it becomes part of armed forces.

Actual organization of SG took some time, however. It's Komenda Główna (Main Command) was organized on 10 december 1990, Oddziały SG (OSG, Detachments of BG) were formally organized on 14 february 1991, old Brigades of WOP were formally disestablished on 7 may 1991 and it's HQ on 15 may 1991. SG formally took over functions of WOP on 16 may 1991. Due to further changes in Poland's political situation, esp. joining the European Union in 2004, number of OSG's slightly declined from the initial 14, and now there are 10 of them. It's personnel in 1994 numbered ca. 12500 men (planned: 16246) while in 2011 ca. 15300, including ca. 3000 women.

II. Coast guard formations after 1945

First formation guarding the naval frontier after the war (specifically: may 1945 - january 1946) was Milicja Morska (Maritime Militia) - a branch of Milicja Obywatelska (Citizens' Milita - then official name of police), equipped with some small boats and launches. By january 1946 all duties related to security of borders were passed on to WOP. It's formations responsible for guarding the coastline were initially two Detachments: 4th (HQ in Słupsk, majority of coastline) and 3rd (HQ in Szczecin, westernmost part - Bay of Szczecin), and from september 1946 three Detachments: 3rd (Bay of Szczecin), 4th (HQ moved to Koszalin, western coastline) and 12th (Gdańsk, eastern coastline). These detachments were essentially only land units, equipped with only a handful of small boats and launches grouped into several semi-official squadrons (organized outside formal TO&E's).

During reorganization in 1948 a Wydział Morski WOP (Maritime Department of WOP) was formed. At the same time in each of the coastal Border Protection Brigades a Flotylla Ścigaczy (Chaser Flotilla) was to be formed, but in reality only one in Gdańsk really became operational. During next reorganization in 1950, seaside brigades were again renamed and from then on the coastline was guarded by: 12. Pomorska Brygada WOP (12th Pomeranian Brigade of WOP, HQ in Szczecin), 15. Bałtycka Brygada WOP (15th Baltic Brigade of WOP, HQ in Koszalin) and 16. Kaszubska Brygada WOP (16th Kashubian Brigade of WOP, HQ in Gdańsk) (3).

At the same time, due to increasing political tensions in Europe the strenght of maritime formations of WOP was on the rise (albeit it was a rather hodge-podge grouping), allowing to form - in place of failed Flotillas - in each coastal brigade a Dywizjon Okrętów Pogranicza (Border Ships Squadron (4) ), additional Dywizjon Rzeczny (Riverine Squadron) on Odra river and Szkoła Specjalistów Morskich WOP (Marine Specialists' School of WOP) in Gdańsk. In the 1958 a Samodzielna Eskadra Lotnictwa Rozpoznawczego WOP (Autonomous Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron of WOP) was formed in Wicko Morskie with An-2M seaplanes and later also with Mi-2 helicopters; while in 1960 Dywizjon Rzeczny was dissolved.

Poland's coast guard was heavily reorganized in 1965, when WOP was transferred from MSW to MON. HQ of WOP's maritime service was dissolved and replaced with (organized on it's base) 6. Brygada Okrętów Pogranicza (6th Border Ships Brigade, HQ in Gdańsk) consisting of three Border Ships Squadrons (30th in Świnoujście, 31st in Gdańsk, 32nd in Kołobrzeg) and Marine Specialists' School. Although now under MON, the 6th Brigade was not a part of the Navy but remained in WOP, only it's logistics was done through Navy channels.

On 15 april 1967 names of Brigade and it's squadrons were changed, losing numbers. From that point it was Morska Brygada Okrętów Pogranicza (MBOP, Maritime Brigade of Border Ships), Kaszubski Dywizjon Okrętów Pogranicza (Kashubian Border Ships' Squadron, base: Gdańsk), Bałtycki Dywizjon Okrętów Pogranicza (Baltic Border Ships' Squadron, base: Kołobrzeg) and Pomorski Dywizjon Okrętów Pogranicza (Pomeranian Border Ships' Squadron, base: Świnoujście). In the same year the Maritime Specialists School was dissolved and its functions transferred to Centrum Szkolenia Specjalistów Marynarki Wojennej (Naval Specialists' Training Centre) in Ustka and WOP's Aviation Squadron was subordinated directly to Maritime Brigade (thereby losing the word "Autonomous" from the name), but on 30 november 1970 the unit was dismantled too.

Transfer of WOP again to MSW put Maritime Brigade in a peculiar situation, because the MBOP did not follow the rest of WOP and from 1 october 1971 became directly subordinated to Navy, although still with it's primary duty being border protection in close cooperation with WOP and while still raising the WOP banner (with green edges). Transferring the coast guard out of WOP did not deprived it of watercraft, as it had about three dozen small motor boats on Odra and Nysa rivers (western borders), but they were too small to operate in the inshore coastal regions, so several dozen of new boats were produced for the coastal brigades of WOP for duties in harbours and river mouths etc. (most numerous of these were motorboats of KR-70S type: lenght 4,88m, displacement 1,21t)

On 9 october 1983 MBOP was given an official patron, being named after (5) lt.cdr Franciszek Dąbrowski (6).

These general organizational arrangements were kept until the end of WOP and transferred to SG. After the creation of SG in 1991 the Baltic frontier was guarded by 4 OSG's - Kashubian, Baltic, Pomeranian (former Brigades of WOP) and Morski Oddział SG (MOSG, Maritime Detachment of Border Guard, former MBOP). Officialy MBOP was formally dissolved on 31 july 1991 and day later MOSG was formed. On 12 march 1993 another reorganization happened - Kashubian and Baltic Detachments were disbanded and zone of responsibility of Pomeranian Detachment was limited to land border with Germany. From that point MOSG was responsible for guarding of the whole coastline, both on the sea and on the shore (taking over elements from dissolved land brigades). Initially MOSG had 12 Graniczne Placówki Kontrolne (sing. Graniczna Placówka Kontrolna - Border Control Post and 3 Dywizjony Straży Granicznej (Border Guard Squadrons - Kashubian in Gdańsk, Baltic in Kołobrzeg and Pomeranian in Świnoujście), but on 1 january 2000 Baltic Squadron was disbanded, leaving only two.

On 5 november 2004 BOSG was given an official patron, being named after col. Karol Bacz (7).

Notes:
(1) Polish word "wojsko" - plur. "wojska" does not have a direct equivalent in english language. Depending on context it can mean: "military" in general, "armed forces", "armies" or "forces" (for example: Wojska Lądowe - Land Forces) or finally "type of troops" ("corps", for example: Wojska Pancerne - Armoured Troops).

(2) In the "communist"-era Polish Armed Forces (except for the 1947-1950 period) there was no separate General HQ of Land Forces as such. Since early 1960s two commands closest in functions were Główny Inspektorat Szkolenia Bojowego (Chief Inspectorate of Combat Training) and Główny Inspektorat Obrony Terytorialnej (Chief Inspectorate of Territorial Defence).
First of them in wartime would be renamed as HQ of Polish Front (or Maritime Front) and would take command of front-line forces, so called "Układ Zewnętrzny" ("External System" - three armies with 5 tank divisions, 8 mechanized divisions, 3 reserve mechanized divisions, marine assault divisions, airborne division, Wojska Lotnicze - Air Force - during war renamed 3rd Air Army and parts of the Navy).
Second of them would command so called "Układ Wewnętrzny" ("Internal System" - internal troops, territorial defence forces, border guards, Wojska Obrony Powietrznej Kraju - Air Defence Force, parts of the Navy etc.) tasked with security of the homeland against enemy assaults, diversionary attacks, ensuring safety of the lines of communication between Soviet Union and forces fighting in Germany (and of course the safety of regime).

(3) In 1958 the numbers in Brigade names were dropped and from that point all land brigades of WOP were recognized by their regional name (roughly corresponding to their area of operation).

(4) Issue of translation of polish language and polish word "dywizjon" into english (with its potential relation to english word "division") and english word "squadron" into polish needs some clarification.
In polish language "division", understood as large military formation composed of several regiments or brigades translates as "dywizja". Word "dywizjon" has, hovewer, slightly diffent meanings (or, most importantly, issues with translation into english) in army, air force and navy.
In land forces it refers (similarly to russian "divizion") to battalion-level unit in cavalry or (most often) artillery, including air defence troops.
In air force it gets more complicated. Before WW2 Polish Military Aviation was a part of the army and was organized along apropriate lines. Smallest basic unit (with it's own, singular unit name and number, HQ etc.) was eskadra, being an equivalent of company (cavalry squadron, artillery battery). Both organizationally, functionally as well as (indirectly) linguistically it was an equivalent of RAF squadron. One level higher was dywizjon of two eskadry and equivalent of battalion, and above it was Pułk (Regiment) - all loosely similar to german staffel - gruppe - geschwader.
There was hovewer significant difference between Poland's eskadra and RAF squadron. Squadron was supposed to have 12 aircraft (plus reserves), generally regardless of the type (fighter, bomber etc.), therefore heavy squadrons had size corresponding rather to army battalion (and commanding officer of apropriate rank). Eskadry had to fit, hovewer, in more rigid army structure, therefore their size in personnel had to be always "company-like" while the number of aircraft differed, depending on type of unit (10 fighters, 9 light bomber/recce or observation, 6 medium bomber).
That difference was a source of current issues with translating "squadron" into polish language. When after the fall of Poland in 1939 Polish Air Force (as part of Polish Armed Forces in Exile) was formed in Great Britain, british military authorities were initially convinced of low quality of Poland's soldiers, because of the rapid conquest of Poland by Germans. While this oppinon was proven totally wrong after the France - hidden behind seemingly impregnable Maginot Line was overrun even faster, in late 1939 and early 1940 Brits were for a while unwililng to allow forming more than a token Polish Air Force on their soil.
Thus they initially proposed forming of just the 2 bomber squadrons plus 2 operational training units. Because of language and organizational misunderstandings Polish side considered "squadron" not by it's proper translation but by it's size in bomber aircraft (12 - like two pre-war eskadry with 13 for whole dywizjon including CO's plane), therefore using polish (basically improper) word dywizjon. From that point english squadron (in aviation) is translated into polish as both dywizjon and eskadra (although when units of Polish Air Force in Exile are mentioned it's always "dywizjon" as the word is the part of their name itself). More confusingly, when in the late 1990s Polish Air Force was reforming its structure from the one of soviet origin (with Regiment as basic units) into NATO-style, the basic unit became (as in other NATO countries) a squadron - eskadra.
And finally in the navy. Here relation between eskadra and dywizjon is completely opposite then in air force. Eskadra denotes large (either because of number of ships or because of their size) grouping of warships, smaller than fleet, while dywizjon refers to a more formalized unit of several larger or up to about dozen smaller warships divided into several "groups". Making direct comparison of dywizjon with, for example, US Navy "squadron" and "division" is made difficult because of the small size of the Polish Navy. Whilst the number of destroyer-sized ships (2-4) in a dywizjon would rather warrant translating it as "division" (understood as 2-4 ship sub-element of squadron), the fact that because the Polish Navy is made up mostly of smaller vessels and dywizjony are typically sub-divided (which, as I understood, generally doesn't happen with USN divisions) suggests rather translating "dywizjon (of ships)" as squadron (which seems to be quite often practice anyway).

(5) In Polish (and also Russian) tradition institutions (military formations etc.) are often "named after" ("given patron") some respected person or group of people (though current regulations in the Polish Armed Forces allow only individuals to become patrons of units). For example: 1 Warszawska Dywizja Piechoty imienia Tadeusza Kościuszki (1st Warsaw Infantry Division named after Tadeusz Kościuszko) or 1 Brygada Pancerna imienia Bohaterów Westerplatte (1st Armoured Brigade named after Heroes of Westerplatte). This is not, hovewer, tradition akin to giving units names like, say, "Tophatters", "City of London" and the like, as such names can be given as well.

(6) Franciszek Dąbrowski (1904-1962) was in september 1939 a deputy commander of the Military Transit Depot Westerplatte during its heroic seven-day long defence against overwhelming german forces (and, according to some sources, it's de-facto commander for most of the time). On a note, Dąbrowski was actually an army officer (captain in 1939, promoted to major in 1945), and was nominally transferred to Navy only in 1946. During the era of hard-line stalinism he was removed from the active service in 1950 (partially also for health resons) and later branded as "class enemy" and deliberately kept without possibility to find any work by over-zealous local party apparatchiks in Kraków (where he lived, while not being allowed to move anywhere else) nor underwent medical treatment. He could get a meager job (in a newspaper kiosk) only after an intervention from (Soviet) general Bolesław Kieniewicz, then CO of Kraków Military District of the Polish Army. During the de-stalinization thaw he was officially appologized and paid damages, hovewer his health was further deteriorating and he died in 1962 in Tuberculosis Treatment Hospital in Kraków.

(7) Karol Bacz (1900-1984) was a veteran of both world wars. During first he volunteered into Polish Legions in 1915 (after lying about his age) and in 1918 joined Polish Army, taking part in Polish-Soviet War 1919-1921. Between 1924 and 1929 he served in Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza (KOP, Border Protection Corps), military formation guarding border with Soviet Union, and after retiring from military in 1936 joined Border Guard (police-style formation guarding all other Poland's borders). During german invasion of Poland he was taken POW but fled from captivity and later was a member of underground resistance. After the war he (re-)joined Polish Army ("communist"-led, as opposed to Polish Armed Forces in Exile that fought alongside western Allies) and served in the HQ of WOP. In 1947 he was removed from the army. Later he worked in civilian jobs and in veterans associations.

P.S. Sorry for tripleposting.

Thats a good, solid history lesson eswube. I'm proud of you comrade.

_________________

Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Thanks Rhade.
For the glory of the Motherland!

I guess it's time to add something to this thread.

Besides large, seagoing craft, Polish Coast Guard was (and is) using also smaller vessels. In the late 1950s small boats that entered service decade earlier were replaced by M-41 utility boats, 40 of which were made for Armed Forces, Border Protection Troops and Citizen's Militia (Police). In the mid 1960's they were partially replaced by 28 KR-70 motor launches (length: 4,5m, displacement 1t) that were assigned to riverine and inshore duties. Reorganization of the Coast Guard in 1971 (described earlier) caused the need to equip coastal Border Troops Brigades (land) in watercraft, mainly for port security duties. As a stop-gap measure, some KR-70 launches were transferred to them, but soon they were replaced by two types of craft better suited to sea conditions. One type of these were 30 KR-70S "Jesion" boats (4,88m, 1,21t), 30 of which served from 1973 to 1993-1995.

Other type were small boats of Project 1328, often described with their shipyard designation MI-6. They were ordered already in 1969. Of the 9 boats made in first series, one ended up in Czechoslovakia and other 8 were divided between land Brigades of WOP and Citizen's Militia. Between 1983 and 1990 second series of 15 boats was made, most of which ended in Citizen's Militia, but several were assigned to WOP (although it was already receiving new boats of Project 3564 - see below). When WOP was reformed into Straż Graniczna 5 of these boats were transferred to the new service and served until 1999.



As by late 1970s and early 1980s boats of the first series of Pr.1328 were already quite worn-out, it was decided to produce a series of completely new, fast boats of the Project 3564 or S-12 (NATO code: Szkwal). First boat entered service in 1983, and after some minor revisions of the design, 14 more entered service between 1986 and 1990 (with plans to build a total of 24, but these were never realized). They were divided among 3 coastal (land) Brigades of WOP and after the creation of Straż Graniczna were transferred to it's Maritime Detachment (MOSG). Unfortunately, although fast, these boats happened to be rather uneconomical and were not well-suited to long patrols (while excelled in chase) and they were decommissioned between 1995 and 1997.



I have to admit, that there could be some errors with underwater hull of Pr.3564 and whole Pr.1328, as I was doing them mostly from photographs, but I hope that I've managed to draw them fairly accurately.