ORP “Warszawa” (“271”), project “61MP,” was the second Polish guided missile destroyer and the third vessel bearing the same name. She was built between 1966 and 1969 in Mykolaiv as Project “61” large vessel to fight submarines. Incorporated into the Black Sea Fleet in December 1968, she received the name of “Smielyi” (the brave) in November 1969. At first, she was used to perform surveillance tasks, and later also to fight submarines. Between 1972 and 1974, she was modernised to comply with the “61MP” standard and was subsequently incorporated in the Baltic Fleet. Once leased to Poland, she was brought by the Soviet crew at the turn of October and November 1987. The Polish war flag was hoisted and the vessel was christened on 9 January 1988 in Gdynia. Her godmother was Krystyna Antos, a worker at Warsaw Steelworks. The vessel belonged to the 3rd Flotilla of Ships. She was purchased from Russia at the turn of 1992 and 1993. During her service under the Polish flag, she travelled ca. 40,000 nautical miles. For the last time, her flag was lowered in Gdynia on 5 December 2003. Later, in 2005, she was scrapped in Gdańsk.

The commanders of the vessel were: commander Jerzy Wójcik, commander Zdzisław Płaczek and lieutenant-commander Krzysztof Maćkowiak. Her standard displacement was 3,850 tonnes, dimensions: 146.2 x 15.8 x 6.8 m. She was powered by four 17,650 kW gas turbines. Her cruising speed was 18 knots and maximum speed was 35 knots, with a range of 5,000 nautical miles at the cruising speed and 2,700 nautical miles at 30 knots. Her endurance was 20 days and the crew consisted of 315 persons. The armament consisted of two double 76-mm universal AK-726 cannons, four six-barrel 30-mm naval AK- 630M cannons, four single KT-97 anti-vessel missile launchers, two twin ZIF-101 anti-aircraft missile launchers, 533-mm five-barrel PTA- 53-61 torpedo launcher, two 12-rail RBU-6000 missile depth charge launchers and two single 73-mm salute cannons (that replaced the 45-mm ones). It included a landing pad for W-3RM Anakonda helicopter.

Walter Pater
The Polish Navy Museum

Coins linked with an article