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„Lublin” Class Minelayer-landing Ship

ORP Lublin (821) is a prototype of a series of five Project 767 class transport and minelayer-landing ships (the other ships were also named after the Polish cities of Poznań, Gniezno, Cracow and Toruń). They were built in the Northern Shipyard in Gdańsk in 1987–1991. The world innovative design of a medium-size amphibian warfare craft with the open both-end hold, reclassified into a minelayerlanding ship, was developed in the shipyard’s Design, Construction and Technological Unit. The war flag was hoisted on 12 October 1989 and the ship was baptized by Ms. Ludmiła Sołowiej-Mańko. Originally, the ship was assigned to the 1st squadron of the 2nd Landing Ships Brigade, and following its reform in 1993 – to the 2nd minelayer-transport squadron of the 8th Coast Guard Flotilla in Świnoujście.

Her standard displacement is 1745 tons, length – 95.8 m, beam 10.8 m and draught –2.38 m. She is powered by 3 Cegielski-Sulzer 1320 kW internal combustion engines that propel 3 screws, which allows her to travel at the maximum speed of 16.5 knots. Her range is 1500 nautical miles, endurance 5 days. The crew consists of 37 personnel.

Designed for freighting from an unarmed shore (e.g. a beach), maritime transport and disembarking for an unarmed shore of military equipment and landing forces, the ship has no additional re-loading measures. She can carry 9 combat or armoured recovery vehicles of the width over 2.5 m or 17 combat vehicles and trucks of the width of up to 2.5 m, and 135 military personnel, armed and equipped. Instead of the freight, 2 mine laying rails and 2 launching tubes can be installed. Then, depending on the class, she can freight and lay 50–134 mines.

The ship’s armament includes 4 ZU-23-2MR Wróbel-II sea missileartillery units (twin 23 mm cannon and twin surface-to-air Strzała-2M missile systems), the Derkacz passive interference system (12 twelve-barrelled 70 mm fixed missile launchers for close-range dummy targets) and 6 smoke grenades. The ship can use 9 mineclearing line charge ŁWD-100/5000 Sosna launching tubes to break the anti-landing mine coverage.

Walter Pater
The Navy Museum