Anniversary of raising the flag on ORP Warsaw

Tomorrow, January 9, marks the anniversary of one of the more symbolic moments in the postwar history of the Polish fleet. On that day, in 1988, a flag was raised on ORP in Gdynia Warsaw – the largest and last destroyer remaining in the service of the Polish Navy.

ORP Warsaw – anniversary of the flag raising of the last destroyer

ORP Warsaw was a 61MP missile destroyer, formerly serving in the Soviet Navy as Smile. The ship was launched in 1968 and entered service a year later. He went to Poland under a lease agreement concluded with the Soviet Union.

The ship quickly assumed the function of the flagship of the Polish Navy, playing an important training, representative and operational role at the end of the Warsaw Pact.

Flag raising on ORP Warsaw It was preceded by several months of training of the Polish crew, conducted after the arrival of the ship in the autumn of 1987. The godmother of the unit was Krystyna Antos of Huta Warszawa, while the first commander was appointed Lieutenant Jerzy Wójcik, who had previously been associated with a previous ship bearing the same name.

From international exercises to withdrawal from service

In subsequent years, the ORP Warsaw participated in exercises in the Baltic Sea, in the Danish Straits and in the North Sea, representing the Polish flag also during foreign visits. After political change, the ship's activity was reduced, but the second half of the 1990s brought a return to more intensive service and the first exercises with NATO fleets.

The withdrawal of the ship from service on 5 December 2003 closed the era of destroyers in the Polish Navy. Today's anniversary, however, remains a good excuse to remind the unit, which for several years was one of the most recognizable symbols of the Polish water forces.

Remembering the ORP today WarsawIt is difficult not to get the impression that it was a ship standing at the interface of two epochs. On the one hand, the symbol of cold-war realities, subject to policies and restrictions imposed from outside, on the other, an individual who already in new geopolitical conditions tried to find its place in the changing Navy of Poland.

It was not an easy-to-use ship or a grateful modernization, but for years it remained a clear sign of ambition and maritime presence of the state. Tomorrow's anniversary is a good opportunity to look at the ORP Warsaw not only through the prism of technical parameters or the calendar of service, but also as a testimony to the time when the Polish fleet sought continuity, meaning and new identity in troubled waters of history of our country.