1.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
2.
J. Samuel White
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J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in East Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White. It came to prominence during the Victorian era, during the 20th century it specialised in building destroyers for both the Royal Navy and export customers. In the closing years of the Napoleonic War he began work on what would become the Thetis Yard across the river on the West bank on the salterns and it opened officially on 1 October 1815. White subsequently rebuilt the east bank site which in 1825 became the Falcon Yard, records indicate that by the 1850s Whites docks with its steam sawmills and engine shops, and the mast and block shops, provided work for around 500 craftsmen. J Samuel White expanded still further in 1899, an order in 1911 of six destroyers for the Chilean Navy led to an expansion of the yard and the purchase of a large 80 ton hammerhead crane from Babcock & Wilcox of Renfrew, Scotland. The crane was installed in 1912 and still survives, last used in 2004 and these destroyers were fitted with Whites own design of water-tube boiler, the White-Forster boiler. These were similar to contemporary three-drum boiler designs, but had a number of smaller tubes. With the regular construction of turbines, boilers, steam and diesel engines, the general decline of shipbuilding in Britain led to the launch of the last vessel for the Royal Navy in 1963 and the closure of the shipyard. In 1981 the company ceased trading. Sammy White has built well over two thousand vessels at their various shipyards at East Cowes between 1803 and their closure in 1963. Two White-built destroyers were preserved – ORP Błyskawica and HMS Cavalier, in 1912 the company began constructing aircraft at East Cowes in a Gridiron Shed on the bank of the River Medina with Howard T. Wright as general manager and chief designer. Because of its location on The Isle of Wight the company choose the name Wight Aircraft, the company also manufactured 110 Short Type 184 aircraft designed by Short Brothers. Through 1916-1917 the company developed the Wight Quadruplane prototype fighter and this aircraft was tested at Martlesham Heath from 1917, and was written off in 1918. Massey Shaw Colledge, J. J. Warlow, Ben, Ships of the Royal Navy, The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy. David L. Williams, Whites of Cowes, pictures of some of J. Samuel Whites ships Naval Ships of J. Samuel White Photos of J. Samuel Whites fitting out crane
3.
East Cowes
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East Cowes is a town and civil parish to the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina next to its neighbour on the west bank, Cowes. The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a ferry operated by the Isle of Wight Council. East Cowes is the site of Norris Castle, and Osborne House, the name Estcowe originally comes from one of two sandbanks each side of the River Medina estuary, so called after a supposed likeness to cows. The naming of Cowes was done in a similar fashion and they replaced the earlier name of Shamblord. The settlement of Shamblord at East Cowes was first recorded in 1303 and it grew as East Shamblord, and became a much more significant settlement than the Western Shamblord. During the reign of Queen Victoria, who made her home at Osborne by acquiring and rebuilding Osborne House, East Cowes was the subject of planned estate of grand houses, groves. In East Cowes Norris Castle was designed in the Norman style by James Wyatt in the eighteenth century. The building survives and today remains a private home, in 1798, the architect John Nash, began building his home, East Cowes Castle, where he later entertained the Prince Consort and other prominent guests. East Cowes Castle was notable for its Gothic towers and turrets, Nash died in 1835 and is buried in the tower of St James Church which he also designed. East Cowes Castle was demolished during the 1960s, although the ice house remains and is visible in Sylvan Avenue, Cowes and East Cowes became a single urban district in 1933. During World War II, both Cowes and East Cowes became the targets of frequent bombing due to its industry and proximity to Southampton and the Royal Navys home at Portsmouth. The shipyard of J. Samuel White was badly damaged by air attack in early May 1942 but, the first warship completed by the renewed yard was HMS Cavalier. Later in 2004, and over to the west, an area of Cowes was named Francki Place in honour of the ships commander and it has since been re-floated, repaired, and returned to service. East Cowes is linked to the mainland by Red Funnel’s vehicle ferry service, the Cowes Floating Bridge links East Cowes with Cowes throughout the day. It is a ferry, and is one of the few remaining not to be replaced by a physical bridge. Southern Vectis operate bus route 4 linking the town with Ryde, the Isle of Wight Coastal Path runs through East Cowes. Local industry in both Cowes and East Cowes has always centred on the building and design of craft and materials associated with boatmaking, including the early flying boats. They also developed and tested the first hovercraft, the SR. N1, the former Saunders-Roe factory at Venture Quays now produces wind turbines, which can be seen laid on the quay for shipping out
4.
Virtuti Militari
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The War Order of Virtuti Militari is Polands highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King Stanisław II August and is one of the oldest military decorations in the still in use. It is awarded in five classes either for personal heroism or, to commanders, some of the heroic actions recognized by an award of the Virtuti Militari are equivalent to those meriting the British Victoria Cross or the American Medal of Honor. Soon after its introduction, however, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was destroyed in the partitions of Poland, since then, the award has been reintroduced, renamed and banned several times, with its fate closely reflecting the vicissitudes of the Polish people. There have been no new awards since 1989, throughout its history, the War Order of Virtuti Militari has shared its countrys fate, and has been abolished and reintroduced several times. The order was created on 22 June 1792 by King Stanisław II August to commemorate the victorious Battle of Zieleńce. Initially, it comprised two classes, a medal for generals and officers, and a silver one for non-commissioned officers. By August 1792, a statute for the decoration had been drafted, the regulation changed the shape of the decoration from a medal to a cross, which has not changed substantially since then. It also introduced five classes to the order, the first members of the decorations chapter were also its first recipients. For the Polish-Russian War in Defence of the Constitution of 1792, anyone who wore the medal could be demoted and expelled from the army by Polands new authorities. Although on 23 November 1793 the Grodno Sejm reintroduced the decoration, it was banned again on 7 January 1794, at the insistence of Russias Catherine the Great. Only a year later, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth itself shared the fate of its decoration when what remained of the Commonwealth was annexed by its neighbors in the partitions of Poland, King Stanisław II August abdicated the same year. During his reign,526 medals had been granted,440 Silver Medals and Crosses,85 Golden Medals and Crosses, and 1 Commanders Cross. In 1806, Lt. Gen. Prince Józef Poniatowski was promoted to commander-in-chief of all forces of the Duchy of Warsaw, as one of the first recipients of the Virtuti Militari, Poniatowski insisted on the reintroduction of the decoration. The official name of the decoration was changed to the Military Medal of the Duchy of Warsaw, however, soldiers remained faithful to the former name. However, the system was changed and, since then. According to the decree of 10 October 1812, each of the recipients of a Golden or Silver Cross had the right to a salary until promoted to officer or for life. In addition, during the Napoleonic Wars, the present tradition of awarding the soldiers with the Virtuti Militari in front of the unit was established
5.
Museum ship
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A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the number of museum ships that are still operational. Many, if not most, museum ships are also associated with a maritime museum, only a few survive, sometimes because of historical significance, but more often due to luck and circumstance. The restoration and maintenance of museum ships presents problems for historians who are asked for advice, for instance, the rigging of sailing ships has almost never survived, and so the rigging plan must be reconstructed from various sources. Studying the ships also allows historians to analyze how life on and operation of the ships took place, numerous scientific papers have been written on ship restoration and maintenance, and international conferences are held discussing the latest developments. Another consideration is the distinction between a museum ship, and a ship replica. As repairs accumulate over time, less and less of the ship is of the materials. Visitors without historical background are often unable to distinguish between a historical museum ship and a ship replica, which may serve solely as a tourist attraction. Typically the visitor enters via gangplank, wanders around on the deck, then goes below, usually using the original stairways, giving a sense of how the crew got around. The interior features restored but inactivated equipment, enhanced with mementos including old photographs, explanatory displays, pages from the logs, menus. Some add recorded sound effects, audio tours or video displays to enhance the experience, in some cases, the ships radio room has been brought back into use, with volunteers operating amateur radio equipment. Often, the callsign assigned is a variation on the identification of the ship. For example, the submarine USS Cobia, which had the call NBQV, is now on the air as NB9QV. The World War II submarine USS Pampanito, berthed at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, had the wartime call NJVT and is now on the air as NJ6VT, in other cases, such as the USS Missouri, a distinctive call is used. This radio work not only helps restore part of the vessel, a number of the larger museum ships have begun to offer hosting for weddings, meetings, other events, and sleepovers, and on a few ships still seaworthy, cruises. In the United States, this includes the USS Constitutions annual turnaround, a place on the deck is by invitation or lottery only, and highly prized. Many consider the appeal of an interesting old vessel on the city waterfront strong enough that any port city should showcase one or more museum ships. This may even include building a ship at great expense
6.
Destroyer
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Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations, typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. After the war, the advent of the missile allowed destroyers to take on the surface combatant roles previously filled by battleships. This resulted in larger and more powerful guided missile destroyers more capable of independent operation, the emergence and development of the destroyer was related to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s. A navy now had the potential to destroy an enemy battle fleet using steam launches to launch torpedoes. Fast boats armed with torpedoes were built and called torpedo boats, the first seagoing vessel designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was the 33-ton HMS Lightning in 1876. She was armed with two drop collars to launch these weapons, these were replaced in 1879 by a torpedo tube in the bow. By the 1880s, the type had evolved into small ships of 50–100 tons, in response to this new threat, more heavily gunned picket boats called catchers were built which were used to escort the battle fleet at sea. The anti-torpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Dutch and, up until the Second World War, Polish. At that time, and even into World War I, the function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks. The task of escorting merchant convoys was still in the future, an important development came with the construction of HMS Swift in 1884, later redesignated TB81. This was a torpedo boat with four 47 mm quick-firing guns. At 23.75 knots, while still not fast enough to engage torpedo boats reliably. Another forerunner of the torpedo boat destroyer was the Japanese torpedo boat Kotaka, designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the London Yarrow shipyards in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. The 165-foot long vessel was armed with four 1-pounder quick-firing guns and six torpedo tubes, reached 19 knots, in her trials in 1889, Kotaka demonstrated that she could exceed the role of coastal defense, and was capable of accompanying larger warships on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for the Kotaka, the first vessel designed for the explicit purpose of hunting and destroying torpedo boats was the torpedo gunboat. Essentially very small cruisers, torpedo gunboats were equipped with torpedo tubes, by the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the torpedo boat destroyers, which were much faster. The first example of this was HMS Rattlesnake, designed by Nathaniel Barnaby in 1885, the gunboat was armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. Exactly 200 feet long and 23 feet in beam, she displaced 550 tons, built of steel, Rattlesnake was un-armoured with the exception of a 3⁄4-inch protective deck
7.
Bofors 40 mm gun
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The Bofors 40 mm gun, often referred to simply as the Bofors gun, is an anti-aircraft/multi-purpose autocannon designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, a small number of these weapons remain in service to this day, and saw action as late as the Gulf War. In the post-war era the original design was not suitable for action against jet powered aircraft, so Bofors introduced a new model of more power. In spite of sharing almost nothing with the design other than the calibre and the distinctive conical flash hider. Although not as popular as the original L/60 model, the L/70 remains in service to this day, especially as a weapon for light armored vehicles. Bofors itself has been part of BAE Systems AB since March 2005, the Swedish Navy purchased a number of 2 pounder Pom-Poms from Vickers as anti-aircraft guns in 1922. The Navy approached Bofors about the development of a capable replacement. Bofors signed a contract in late 1928, Bofors produced a gun that was a smaller version of a 57 mm semi-automatic gun developed as an anti-torpedo boat weapon in the late 19th century by Finspong. Their first test gun was a re-barreled Nordenfelt version of the Finspong gun, testing of this gun in 1929 demonstrated that a problem existed feeding the weapon in order to maintain a reasonable rate of fire. A mechanism that was enough to handle the stresses of moving the large round was too heavy to move quickly enough to fire rapidly. One attempt to solve this problem used zinc shell cases that burned up when fired and this proved to leave heavy zinc deposits in the barrel, and had to be abandoned. This seemed to be the solution they needed, improving firing rates to a level. During this period Krupp purchased a share of Bofors. Krupp engineers started the process of updating the Bofors factories to use equipment and metallurgy. The prototype was completed and fired in November 1931, and by the middle of the month it was firing strings of two and three rounds. Changes to the mechanism were all that remained, and by the end of the year it was operating at 130 rounds per minute. Continued development was needed to turn it into a suitable for production. Since acceptance trials had been passed the year before, this known as the 40 mm akan M/32
8.
Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun
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In the late 1920s, Hotchkiss proposed a range of anti-aircraft automatic weapons in the 13.2,25 and 37 mm calibres. They were all based on the type of gas-operated action. The 8 mm mle 1914 machine gun had proven extremely reliable during World War I and was still in service, Hotchkiss also advertised the 13.2 mm machine gun as an infantry weapon that could be fitted on conventional tripods and be used against light armour. French infantry commanders that had expressed interest in acquiring light anti-aircraft guns refused to accept the 13.2 mm and they argued that those heavy bullets falling down could be dangerous to friendly troops, and went to larger calibres where self-destructing shells were available. But the 13.2 mm Hotchkiss saw extensive use as a naval gun, the French Air Force used a twin mounting on a tripod carriage, designated as mitrailleuse de 13,2 mm CA mle 1930, for close-range defence of its airfields and other strategic places. Early in World War II, the French and Japanese navies were using twin and quadruple mountings on many of their warships. French warships that were refitted in the USA in 1943, such as the battleship Richelieu or the destroyer Terrible, had their 13.2 mm machine guns replaced by more efficient Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. The Spanish Navy bought this weapon in December 1935 and used it during the Civil War, the Pirotecnia Militar Army Ammunition plant produced its cartridges after 1939. After World War II it was used on the boats of the Guardia di Finanza naval service. The 13.2 mm Hotchkiss was used on the Belgian T15, the Japanese mounted license-produced version of the gun on a number of Type 92 Heavy Armoured Cars which had initially been armed with only a pair of 6. 5mm machine guns. Several self-propelled anti-aircraft combinations were tested in the 1930s, with Citroën-Kegresse or Berliet chassis, the Free French used field-modified self-propelled mountings, with guns recovered from French ships, in North-East Africa in 1942. Belgium France Greece Italy Israel Japan Poland Spain Anti-aircraft 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun, France 1940 larmement terrestre, ETAI,1998, ISBN 978-2-7268-8380-8 Las armas de la guerra civil española, José MAría MANRIQUE, ISBN 84-9734-475-8, pages 394 -398
9.
Torpedo tube
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A torpedo tube is a cylinder shaped device for launching torpedoes. There are two types of torpedo tube, underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships. Thus a submarine torpedo tube operates on the principle of an airlock, the diagram on the right illustrates the operation of a submarine torpedo tube. The diagram is somewhat simplified but does show the working of a torpedo launch. A torpedo tube has a number of interlocks for safety reasons. For example, an interlock prevents the door and muzzle door from opening at the same time. The submarine torpedo launch sequence is, in simplified form, Open the breech door in the torpedo room, load the torpedo into the tube. Hook up the connection and the torpedo power cable. Shut and lock the breech door, turn on power to the torpedo. A minimum amount of time is required for torpedo warmup, fire control programs are uploaded to the torpedo. This may be manually or automatically, from sea or from tanks. The tube must be vented during this process to allow for complete filling, Open the equalizing valve to equalize pressure in the tube with ambient sea pressure. If the tube is set up for Impulse Mode the slide valve will open with the muzzle door, if Swim Out Mode is selected, the slide valve remains closed. The slide valve allows water from the pump to enter the tube. Modern torpedoes have a safety mechanism that prevents activation of the torpedo unless the torpedo senses the required amount of G-force, the power cable is severed at launch. However, if a wire is used, it remains connected through a drum of wire in the tube. Torpedo propulsion systems vary but electric torpedoes swim out of the tube on their own and are of a smaller diameter,21 weapons with fuel-burning engines usually start outside of the tube. Once outside the tube the torpedo begins its run toward the target as programmed by the control system
10.
Depth charge
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A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a set to detonate the charge. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first effective methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II and they remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War. Depth charges have now largely replaced by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A depth charge fitted with a warhead is known as a nuclear depth bomb. These were designed to be dropped from a plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or another submarine. All nuclear anti-submarine weapons were withdrawn from service by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and they were replaced by conventional weapons whose accuracy and range had improved greatly as ASW technology improved. The first attempt to fire charges against submerged targets was with aircraft bombs attached to lanyards which triggered them, a similar idea was a 16 lb guncotton charge in a lanyarded can. Two of these together became known as the depth charge Type A. Problems with the lanyards tangling and failing to function led to the development of a chemical pellet trigger as the Type B and these were effective at a distance of around 20 ft. A1913 Royal Navy Torpedo School report described a device intended for countermining, at Admiral John Jellicoes request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol preset for 45 ft firing, to be launched from a stern platform. Weighing 1,150 lb, and effective at 100 ft, the design work was carried out by Herbert Taylor at the RN Torpedo and Mine School, HMS Vernon. The first effective depth charge, the Type D, became available in January 1916 and it was a barrel-like casing containing a high explosive. There were initially two sizes—Type D, with a 300 lb charge for fast ships, and Type D* with a 120 lb charge for ships too slow to leave the area before the more powerful charge detonated. A hydrostatic pistol actuated by water pressure at a pre-selected depth detonated the charge, initial depth settings were 40 or 80 ft. Because production could not keep up with demand, anti-submarine vessels initially carried two depth charges, to be released from a chute at the stern of the ship
11.
QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun
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The QF4 inch Mk XVI gun was the standard British Commonwealth naval anti-aircraft and dual-purpose gun of World War II. The Mk XVI superseded the earlier QF4 inch Mk V naval gun on many Royal Naval ships during the late 1930s, the ammunition fired by the Mk V gun and the Mk XVI guns was different. The Mk V ammunition was 44.3 inches long and weighed 56 pounds, while the ammunition fired by the Mk XVI gun was 42.1 inches long and weighed 66.75 pounds. The weight of the high-explosive projectile grew from 31 pounds for the Mk V to 35 pounds for the Mk XVI, there were three variants of the gun produced with differing construction methods. The original Mk XVI had an A tube, jacket to 63.5 inches from the muzzle, the Mk XVI* replaced the A tube with an autofretted loose barrel with a sealing collar at the front of the jacket. The Mk XXI was a version with an autofretted monobloc barrel. The total number of Mk XVI and XVI* guns produced was 2,555 while there were 238 Mk XXI guns produced, of those totals 604 Mk XVI* and 135 of the Mk XXI guns were produced in Canada and 45 of the Mk XVI* were produced in Australia. These guns were mounted on HA/LA Mark XIX twin mountings. QF4 inch Mk V naval gun, Royal Navy anti-aircraft predecessor List of naval anti-aircraft guns List of naval guns On HMCS Haida, Hamilton, Ortario, Naval Museum of Alberta, Canada On HMS Belfast, London. Museum of Naval Firepower, Gosport, Hampshire, UK On ORP Błyskawica, a pair at South African National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg A pair in a turret from INS Haifa, at Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, Haifa, Israel. Two single guns on HMAS Diamantina, Brisbane, Australia One twin gun at the Marinemuseet, Horten, One twin gun in the Aldhurst military vehicles collection, Surrey England Campbell, John. Naval Weapons of World War Two, handbook for the 4 inch Q. F. Mark XVI* Gun on the H. A, twin Mark XIX And Single Mark XX Mountings. G3821/41 Naval Ordnance Department, Admiralty, July 1941
12.
Polish Navy
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The Polish Navy is the military branch of the Polish Armed Forces responsible for naval operations. The current navy consists of 113 ships and about 18,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel, the traditional ship prefix in the Polish Navy is ORP. The Polish Navy is one of the largest navies on the Baltic Sea and it is mostly responsible for Baltic Sea operations. Other duties include search and rescue operations covering parts of the Baltic, as well as hydrographic measurements, the Polish Navy has its roots in naval vessels that were largely used on Polands main rivers in defense of trade and commerce. During the Thirteen Years War, this force of inland ships for the first time saw real open sea combat. At the battle of Vistula Lagoon, a Polish privateer fleet defeated the Teutonic Knights Navy, the Second Peace of Thorn acquired for Poland the strategic naval city of Danzig, and with it the means of maintaining a large fleet on the Baltic. In 1561, following a victory over Russian Naval forces in the Baltic and this led to the development of a privateer port in Puck. Around the start of the 17th century, Poland became ruled by the House of Vasa, Vasa kings attempted to create a proper fleet, but their attempts met with repeated failures, due to lack of funds in the royal treasury. During the reign of Sigismund III of Poland, the most celebrated victory of the Commonwealth Navy took place at the Battle of Oliwa in 1627 against Sweden, the victory over Sweden secured for Poland permanent access to the Atlantic, and laid the foundations for expeditions beyond Europe. The plans for the independent fleet fell through shortly afterwards due to a badly executed alliance with the Habsburgs who in 1629 took over the fleet, the Commission of Royal Ships was created in 1625. This commission, along with the allocation of funds by the Sejm in 1637. Władysław IV Vasa, Sigismunds son and successor who took the throne in 1632, purchased 12 ships, the Fleet, however, was entirely destroyed in 1637 by Denmark, without declaration of war. Support for this navy was weak and it largely withered away by the 1640s, the ships were sold in the years 1641-1643. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, although the dominant force in Central and Eastern Europe during the 16th-18th centuries, the proportionally small Polish coastline and the limited access to the Atlantic never allowed for a massive buildup of naval forces to the level of colonial powers such as England and France. The Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century brought an end to the independent Polish Navy. Following World War I, the Second Polish Republic on 28 November 1918, by the order of Józef Piłsudski, commander of the Armed Forces of Poland, the token naval force was placed under the command of Captain Bogumił Nowotny as its first chief. The first ships were acquired from a division of the Imperial German Navy, in the 1920s and 1930s the Polish Navy underwent a modernisation program under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Jerzy Świrski and Rear-Admiral Józef Unrug. A number of ships were built in France, the Netherlands
Poland
Virtuti Militari, 4th Class
