Shipbucket

Excellent work on these ships!

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Thank You Rhade and DG_Alpha!


Landing ships of the Project 771 were a follow-on to Pr.770 ships with largely the same hull (except for the modified bow) and differences mostly in the equipment and small increase in total length. In NATO code these ships were named "Polnocny-B".

Polish Navy purchased 6 ships of the Project 771, commissioned between 28 january 1968 and 11 january 1969. Like the Pr.770's, between 1971 and 1974 they were modernized by adding second AK-230 gun, and in 1980s by adding stations for 9K32 Strela-2 MANPADS. All ships of the type were decommissioned between 01 june 1990 and 31 october 1991, being either sold to civilian operators as transport ships/ferries, or scrapped.




These ships were followed by modernized ships of the Pr.771A type, 5 of which were commissioned between 11 january 1970 and 10 october 1971. They also underwent standard modernizations during their lifetime. First three ships were decommissioned between 30 april 1991 and 31 october 1991, fourth on 30 june 1994 and remained in service until june 2001.



Ships of the Pr.771/Pr.771A type formed 2 Dywizjon Okrętów Desantowych (2 DOD, 2nd Squadron of Landing Ships) in the 2 BOD. With the exception of the 2nd ship (Brda, which continued the sequence of the Pr.770 ships, they were named after important battles. Four commemorated battles of the Polish People's Army: Lenino (12 october 1943), Studzianki (9-16 june 1944), Siekierki (crossing of Odra river 16-20 april 1945), Budziszyn (21-26 april 1945). Three commemorated battles of the pro-communist Gwardia Ludowa/Armia Ludowa (GL/AL, People's Guard/People's Amy - name was changed on 1 january 1944): Polichno - 10 june 1942, Janów (Janów Lubelski, referring to the battle of Porytowe Wzgórze - 14 june 1944), Rąblów (14 may 1944). Narwik commemorated participation of Polish soldiers (from the France/Great Britain-based Polish Armed Forces in Exile) in the Norwegian campaign between 8 may and 8 june 1940. Last two ships commemorated medieval battles against Germans - Cedynia (24 june 972) and defense of Głogów (august-september 1109).

Like with the Pr.770, majority of the production run of the Pr.771 was intended for the Soviet Navy, which received 13 ships of the Pr.771 (october 1967 - december 1968) and 12 ships of the Pr.771A (november 1969 - september 1971). They too underwent various modifications during their service, and some of these were later transferred to other countries (there are some disagreements on details, though).

According to Jarosław Ciślak (Okręty desantowe projektów 770/771/773/776 in Morza, Statki i Okręty, no. 3/1998) amount of ships of the Pr.771 transferred from Soviet Navy to other navies was as follows - 1 to Algieria, 3 to Angola, 2 to Bulgaria, 3 to Egypt, 2 to Ethiopia, 2 to Cuba, 3 to Syria, 3 to Vietnam, 3 to South Yemen. Additionaly, after the break-up of the Soviet Union one ship ended up in Azerbaijan.
Site russian-ships.info says that to the type Pr.771 belonged ships transferred to Algeria, Angola, Cuba, Ethiopia and Vietnam (plus the one for Azerbaijan), while rest were ships of the Pr.770 type.

Great to see the Polnocny's looking so good.

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Continuation of the Polnocny-series were ships of the Project 773 - "Polnocny-C" in NATO code. They were somewhat larger (over 8 meters longer than Pr.770) and with noticeably longer superstructure. These ships were built mostly for export - no Pr.773's in the basic variant served in the Polish Navy. Only one of them was configured as landing command ship under project designation 776 "Rudzik" (European Robin). It was named ORP Grunwald (pennant 811) after one of the largest battles (arguably the largest) of the medieval Europe, fought on 15 july 1410, that led to great victory of Poland and Lithuania (with their allies) over Germanic Teutonic Knights. Its NATO-code was "Modified Polnocny-C". It was commissioned on 21 april 1973 and attached to 2 Dywizjon Okrętów Desantowych (2 DOD, 2nd Squadron of Landing Ships) in the 2 BOD. It was decommissioned on 25 march 2005.



As mentioned, Pr.773 landing ships were built mostly for export - 8 were commissioned into Soviet Navy between 20 may 1971 and 27 april 1972. In the later years some of these were upgraded with 9K32 Strela-2 MANPADS, while two were given helicopter pads (thereby being renamed Pr.773U). One of them later ended in Ukrainian Navy. Indian Navy purchased 8 such ships - 4 Pr.773I commissioned between 1974 and 1975 (Ghopard - L14 - decommissioned 2008; Khesari - L15 - decommissioned 1999; Shardul - L16 - decommissioned 1997; Sharabh - L17 - decommissioned 2011) and 4 helicopter-capable Pr.773IM between 1984 and 1986 (Cheetah - L18; Mahish - L19; Guldar - L21; Kumbhir - L22; all remaining in service). Between 1976 and 1979 4 helicopter-capable Pr.773K were commissioned into Iraqi Navy (Atika - L72 - sunk 1991; Janada - L74 - sunk 1980; Ghanda - L76 - fled to Iran 1992, commissioned into Iranian Navy as Henshe, decommissioned and sunk 2000; Nouh - L78 - sunk 1991). Finally, between 1977 and 1978 4 helicopter-capable Pr.773KL were commissioned into Libyan Navy (Ibn El Hadrani - 112; Ibn El Qisi - 114 - decommissioned 1978 after accidental fire; Ibn El Umhaya - 116; Ibn El Furath - 118; due to collapse of the regular Libyan Armed Forces in the wake of civil war, status of of these is uncertain).

As have been said, throughout most of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s the main land component of the Polish amphibious assault forces was the 7 Łużycka Dywizja Desantowa (7th Lusatian Landing Division) formed in 1963. Because the names of the almost all military units (with several exceptions) were classified, in official statements it was called euphemistically Jednostka Obrony Wybrzeża (Coastal Defence Unit - as it was officially stated that the purpose of these forces is conducting counter-landings on the rear areas of the advancing enemy) or more casually Błękitne Berety (Blue Berets).

Although formally a division, sub-divided into regiments, 7 ŁDD was in fact an oversized brigade, with full (wartime) complement being just around 6000 men.
Its organization was as follows:
-Command and Staff in Gdańsk,
-4 Pułk Desantowy (4th Landing Regiment) in Lębork,
-34 Budziszyński Pułk Desantowy (34th Landing Regiment "of Bautzen") in Słupsk,
-35 Gdański Pułk Desantowy (35th Landing Regiment "of Gdańsk") in Gdańsk,
-11 Batalion Czołgów Pływających (11th Batallion of Amphibious Tanks) in Słupsk
-41 Dywizjon Artylerii (41st Artillery Batallion) in Gdańsk
-20 Dywizjon Artylerii Rakietowej (20th Rocket Artillery Batallion) in Gdańsk,
-18 Batalion Saperów (18th Batallion of Engineers) in Lębork,
-7 Batalion Remontowy (7th Maintenance Batallion) in Słupsk,
-52 Kompania Rozpoznawcza (52nd Reconnaissance Company) in Lębork,
-29 Bateria Artylerii Przeciwlotniczej (29nd AAA Battery) in Gdańsk,
-7 Kompania Chemiczna (7th Chemical Company) in Słupsk,
-23 Kompania Łączności (23rd Communications Company) in Gdańsk,
-7 Kompania Zaopatrzenia (7th Supply Company) in Gdańsk,
-23 Kompania Medyczna (23rd Medical Company) in Gdańsk,
-33 Kompania Dowodzenia Szefa OPL - (33rd Command Company of the Chief of Air Defence) in Gdańsk,
-Kompania Ochrony i Regulacji Ruchu - (Security and Traffic Regulation Company) in Gdańsk,
-Pluton Dowodzenia Szefa Artylerii - (Command Platoon of the Chief of Artillery) in Gdańsk.

Each of the Landing Regiments was in fact a large batallion, with company structure. Initially they were composed of the HQ, 3 landing companies, company of amphibious tanks, battery of mortars, battery of anti-tank guns and several platoons - reconnaissance, air defence, pioneers and signals, as well as logistics and maintenance elements - total complement (for wartime) was 649 men, including 71 officers, 7 PT-76 tanks, 4 BRDM recce vehicles, 1 armored personnel carrier, 3 PTG amphibious vehicles, 9 82mm mortars, 6 120mm mortars, 4 57mm anti-tank guns and 3 14,5mm AA machine guns - plus of course associated support equipment as well as the infantry arms.
From the mid 1960s onwards the structure of regiments was expanded and their equipment modernized.
By mid 1980s they consisted each of: HQ, 5 landing companies (each with 3 mechanized and 1 mortar platoon), amphibious tank company, mortar battery, anti-tank battery, maintenance company and several platoons - reconnaissance, air defence, pioneers, communications and logistics) equipped altogether with 16 PT-76 tanks (3 platoons of 5 tanks each, 1 tank in company HQ), 4 BRDM-2 recce vehicles, 45 TOPAS armored personnel carriers (some sources say: 40), 15 82mm mortars, 6 120mm mortars, 6 anti-tank missile launchers and certain amount of air-defence weapons - plus of course associated support equipment as well as the infantry arms.

11th Batallion of Amphibious tanks had a total of 40 PT-76 tanks in 3 companies of 13 vehicles plus Batallion commanders' vehicle.
41st Artillery Batallion - had deliberately misleading name as it was equipped with surface-to-surface rockets - 4 9K52 Luna-M (FROG-7) launchers divided between two batteries, plus an air defence platoon.
20th Rocket Artillery Batallion - despite the name, was mostly barrel-artilery unit, with two batteries of 6 2S1 Gvozdika 122mm SP howitzers each and one battery of 6 9K51 Grad (BM-21) MRLs.
52nd Reconnaissance Company was equipped - at least at later periods - with 10 BRDM-2 armored cars (3 platoons with 3 cars each).
It's unclear to me how much air defence equipment was used by the division, only that they were 23mm ZU-23-2 AAA guns and 9K32 Strela-2 MANPADS. Most probable configurations are based around platoons with either 3 ZU-23-2 guns, or 2 ZU-23-2 guns and 3 9K32 missiles.

After the long series of Pr.770/771/776 medium landing ships, next addition to the amphibious assault vessels of the Polish Navy was of somewhat smaller size. Three medium landing craft of the Project 719 (NATO code: Marabut) entered service in 1975 in the Dywizjon Kutrów Desantowych (Landing Craft Squadron) of the 2 BOD. They were experimental units with hulls made of plastic-fiberglass composite which happened to be not particularly well suited to the conditions of those boats' service. As a result they were all decommissioned already in 1984.

Excellent drawings in an excellent thread eswube.

Most excellent additions.

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Don't forget to put them in the upload thread!

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Thank You for Your comments!

@TimothyC
I wouldn't forget, but I am leaving other members some time to comment and possibly point out any potential errors.
They will be posted into upload thread later today.