Diving on the site
The main part of the ORP “Wicher” destroyer lies on a flat seafloor at a depth of 4-5m. Due to military actions and sapper operations the wreck is open along the hull. The sides are now buried in the sand and opened outward. The board is unfolded and everything that was previously inside the ship is now uncovered. Diving on the wreck and looking from the stern area we might see two support structures sticking up 2 meters from the ground that look like aircraft wings. Two shaft lines cross the remains of the wreck going along the port and starboard side ending with huge steam engines that form the highest point of the wreck. Swimming further along you encounter huge steam containers laying on the side of the wreck. They look like oil tanks. Further on the wreck goes deeper along the bottom line and his main part disappears into the ground at around 9m. A bit higher from this place, following the wreck’s topside across from the starboard to port side we will. See a mosaic of black and white tiles of what seems to be the floor of some room, most likely the kitchen or the dining area. Starboard side, looking towards the deeper waters you’ll see fragments of the wreck scattered by the explosion. They can be found up to 17m deep
The Wicher wreck is a simple dive spot because of its shallow depth but because of the explosions and scattered remains it can pose a navigational challenge for even the most seasoned divers
Story
ORP Wicher is one of the 4 Polish interwar Navy destroyers. Ordered in France, Chantiers Naval Français Shipyard in Blainville. It was created based on French Bourrasque (Simoun) class destroyer plans. The ceremonial placing of the keel took part on 19 February 1927. On 8 July 1930 Wicher got incorporated into the Navy. The first commander of the ship was Tadeusz Morgenstern-Podjazd, who seven days later led the destroyer to Gdynia where it became a flagship of the torpedo division. Between 8 and 13 August 1930 it escorted the “Polonia” passenger ship which hosted president Ignacy Mościcki on his visit to Tallinn. In March following year Wicher traveled through Lisbon to Funchal and then back to Gdynia with marshal Józef Piłsudzki who was receiving treatment on Madera. This marked the first trans-oceanic cruise of a battleship in the history of the Polish Navy. In 1932 Wicher played and important role in so-called “Danzig crisis” by forcing the senate of Free city of Danzig to restore the polish fleets’ rights of port d’attache, allowing Gdańsk to be treated as the origin port with all of it’s benefits.
In august a crew of polish ships, with Wicher as the flagship of commander Józef Unruga, made a visit to Stockholm. After the sister ship “Burza” got introduced to the Navy, a Destroyer division was formed. In July 1934 the division went to Leningrad with an official visit, marking the first and only time visiting the soviet harbor in the interwar period. As a representative squadron of the Polish Navy, in the following years the division was visiting various ports officially and unofficially, among which: Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kilonia, Lipawa.
In may 1937 Wicher stopped being the flagship of the division, handing this honor to the new destroyer “Grom”. The last foreign trip Wicher took was to Tallinn and Riga in August of 1937. before the outbreak of the war, it became the only ship from the division that was not incorporated into the operation Peking - evacuation of the ships to Great Britain as it was supposed to stay by the seaside, covering the operation Rurka
After the Aero-naval fight on 01.09.1939 after which Wicher was left unscathed, on 3.09 around 6:50 it took part in a fight with German destroyers going in the direction of Piława - the ships retreated.
Due to the effectiveness of the Polish ships, the enemy decided to attack using the Luftwaffe. First assault around 9:00 was performed by 11 Ju-87 planes which damaged ORP Gryf, another attack at 14:00 was concentrated on Wicher. 14 Ju-87 attack. After being hit with 4 bombs the ship is starting to flood, turning on its port side it sinks.
After the German forces took Hel harbor, the wreck was moved near the previously sunken Gryf
In the end the ship was hauled outside of port and set on shallow waters outside the breakwater laying on a flat keel with the superstructure and stacks visible above the water. In 1945 as the German soldiers were leaving Hel, they set explosive charges under the superstructure on the bow which destroyed a major part of the wreck. In the after-war period the parts that were standing above water were exploded by polish miners with the remains still laying on the bottom of Gdańsk bay near the breakwater
Technical specifications
„Wicher” had a total length of 106,9 m, max width of 10,5 m and average submersion reaching 3,3m. Total displacement was 1910 tons. Its propulsion was provided by two steam turbines by Parsons with a combined 35000 HP which operated through two drive shafts. Steam for the turbines was provided by three petroleum fuelled Yarrow-Normand type tri-drum watertube boilers placed in two boiler rooms.
The turbines and boilers were produced in Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Saint-Nazaire. The fuel stock of 330 tonnes was enough to provide energy for 3000 Nm at the economy speed of 15 knots. The max speed of 33 kn was slightly exceeded during sea tests when the ship achieved the speed of 33.8kn
Main artillery armaments of the destroyer were 4 single Schneider-Creusot cannons wz.1924 cal. 130 mm, two of each placed at the bow and the stern in superpositions. Maximum angle of elevation was 35°, range when shooting 32.5kg ammunition was 18100m and the total mass of the cannon was 12700 kg. Two Vickers wz.28 cal. 40mm cannon constituted the ships anti-air artillery with each of them having a max. elevation of 85°, theoretical rate of fire 200, practical 120 shots per minute with a range of 5700m flat 3980m at an elevation. After 1935 two additional dual Hotchkiss 1930 Machineguns, caliber 13.2mm were added. The Vickers cannons were mounted on the deck, on both sides of the stern superstructure and the machine guns had their spot above the bridge.
Two dual torpedo tubes cal.550mm with reductors to 533mm and 450mm calibers were placed in the line of symmetry, behind the last stack. Between them was a reflector tower.
Two depth charge launchers, each with 20 200 kg bomb stock were installed in tunnels below the deck on the stern. At the beginning of its military service until 1934 the ship also held two Thornycroft depth charge launchers with 6 100kg bomb stock each. On the deck were mounted two mine channels for 60 wz. 08 contact mines total.
The warship used to have three radiostations: main “SM1K”, High-frequency “RKD/K” , emergency “Y” and R-J RDF antenna. A full time crew was made up of 10-12 officers and 150 NCOs and sailors
Text by: Jakub Zaniewski
Translation: Szymon Rydzewski
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