- ORP Orkan (G90)
-
For other ships of the same name, see ORP Orkan and HMS Myrmidon.
Career (United Kingdom) Name: HMS Myrmidon Namesake: Myrmidon Builder: Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Scotland Laid down: December 7, 1939 Launched: December 2, 1941 Decommissioned: November 18, 1942 Fate: transferred to the Polish Navy Career (Poland) Name: ORP Orkan Namesake: European windstorm Acquired: November 18, 1942 Commissioned: November 18, 1942 Decommissioned: October 8, 1943 Fate: sunk with 178 hands, 44 saved General characteristics Displacement: 1,935 tons standard Length: 362 ft (110 m) Beam: 36 ft 9 in (11.20 m) Draught: 14 ft 10 in (4.52 m) Propulsion: 2 boilers, 2 shaft geared turbines,
48,000 hpSpeed: 36 knots (67 km/h) Complement: ca. 200 Armament: Six 4.7-inch (119 mm) guns (3x2),
1 four barreled pom-pom (40 mm),
Eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2x4)ORP Orkan formerly HMS Myrmidon was an M-class destroyer of the Polish Navy during World War II. The name translates as "windstorm". She was sunk by U-378 on October 8, 1943 in the Barents Sea. There were 179 dead and 44 survivors.
Contents
Construction
She was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan, Scotland.
She was originally commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Myrmidon; she was transferred to the free Polish Navy based in Britain in December 1942.
Orkan served in the Arctic, In early 1943, the destroyer escorted the convoy JW-53 to Russia, returned with the convoy RA-52 and then operated as convoy escort in the North Atlantic. In July 1943, she transferred the body of the Polish Supreme Chief General Władysław Sikorski from Gibraltar to England.
Sinking
At 07.05 hours on 8 October 1943, the ORP Orkan (under Lt. Stanisław Hryniewiecki) was hit by a Gnat homing torpedo from U-378 while escorting the convoy SC-143 and sank within a few minutes. One officer and 43 ratings were rescued by the HMS Musketeer.
References
Royal Navy L classM classPolish Navy M classOrkan
Turkish Navy M classPreceded by: Hunt class · Followed by: Town class
List of destroyer classes of the Royal NavyCategories:- L and M class destroyers of the Royal Navy
- Ships built in the United Kingdom
- 1941 ships
- World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom
- M class destroyers of the Polish Navy
- World War II destroyers of Poland
- Ships sunk by German submarines
- Shipwrecks in the Barents Sea
- World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean
- Maritime incidents in 1943
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.