On October 21, 2017, a ceremony was held in Gdansk to hand over to the Algerian Navy a large sail-motor training ship built by the Polish shipbuilding and ship repair company Remontowa Shipbuilding SA El Mellah (tail number"938", the name translated means "Sailor").

The sail-motor training ship El Mellah, built by the Polish shipyard Remontowa Shipbuilding SA, was transferred to the Algerian Navy. Gdansk, 21.10.2017 (c) Przemysław Gurgurewicz / www.altair.com.pl

The implementation of the contract by the Remontowa Shipbuilding shipyard to build a large sail-motor training ship for the Algerian Navy was announced at the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the enterprise on June 28, 2015. Ship El Mellah was launched on November 7, 2015 and became the 1000th ship and vessel launched at Remontowa Shipbuilding in its history. Until 2011, this enterprise (now owned by the Grupa Remontowa group) was called Stocznia Północna and at one time was known for the construction of a series of medium and large landing ships and auxiliary vessels.

Sea trials El Mellah have been carried out since November 2015. The ship is due to sail to Algeria in November 2017 and will become a training ship for the Algerian Naval Academy.

The project of a training sailboat for the Algerian Navy was developed in 2012-2013 under a separate contract by the famous Dutch shipbuilding design bureau Dykstra Naval Architects in partnership with the Polish design bureau Choren Design & Consulting (project B-103/1 according to the Polish nomenclature), with the chief designer The ship was designed by the famous Polish sailing ship designer Zygmunt Horen. The designer of the ship's decoration was Midcon Designer Ltd. It was initially assumed that the construction of the ship would be carried out by the shipbuilding association Damen Shipyards Group (similar to the training sailboat designed by the same bureau Shabab Oman II for the Omani Navy). However, in the end, the Polish Remontowa Shipbuilding received the construction contract.

Training sailboat El Mellah for Algeria is a large ship with a displacement of 1820 tons, equipped with a three-masted frigate sailing rig with total area 3000 sq m. The length of the ship including the bowsprit is 110 m, the width is 14.5 m, the height of the upper deck above the waterline is 8.6 m. The capacity for crew and cadets is 222 people, including 120 cadets and 18 teachers. It is stipulated that a third of the cadets may be women.

The sail-motor training ship El Mellah, built by the Polish shipyard Remontowa Shipbuilding SA for the Algerian Navy, is being tested (c) Remontowa Shipbuilding SA

The sail-motor training ship El Mellah, built by the Polish shipyard Remontowa Shipbuilding SA for the Algerian Navy, is being tested in a joint voyage with the Polish sail-motor training ship Dar Mlodziezy, 08/21/2017 (c) Przemislaw Kozlowsky / www.am.gdynia.pl

The sail-motor training ship El Mellah, built by the Polish shipyard Remontowa Shipbuilding SA for the Algerian Navy, is being tested, 07/15/2017 (c) Piotr B. Stareńczak / www.portalmorski.pl

Soon Poland will have only one submarine left - the Soviet Kilo class.

By 2015, Poland may be left without a navy. This conclusion is contained in a secret report of the Polish Navy for the National Defense Commission of the lower house of the Polish parliament. Ships and submarines are rapidly becoming obsolete, and there is no money to modernize and replace them due to the purchase of American F-16 fighters.

In total, the Polish naval forces now number 41 ships. The core of the fleet's combat potential consists of two large missile frigates, three small missile ships, a corvette and five submarines.

The confidential report, the text of which was accessed by Gazeta Wyborcza journalists, states that over the past twenty years the Polish Navy has not received a single new ship. According to the report's authors, by 2015 the Polish Navy, most of ships of which were produced in the second half of the 1960s, will be forced to write off most of its combat units. In seven years, the service life of two missile frigates, two small rocket ships and four submarines. This will lead to the “loss of combat effectiveness” of the fleet.

The report states that the basis of the striking power of the Polish Navy is formed by two large missile frigates, Pulaski and Kosciuszko. Both were launched in 1980. In 2001, Poland received them from the United States. They are armed with relatively modern Standard and Harpoon missiles. The problem, as stated in the report, is that in 2014 the US stopped production of spare parts for ships of this class. Difficulties are also associated with the fact that the frigates use Kaman Super Seasprite helicopters. The US Navy abandoned them back in 2001. According to the authors of the report, keeping old helicopters in service is very expensive.

It should be noted that even now the operation of these ships is not a cheap pleasure. According to the Polish publication NIE, cleaning up the American “gifts” cost Polish taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. The fact is that after twenty years of use, frigates needed major renovation. The Americans saved on it by transferring the ships to the Poles and at the same time making money on spare parts, technical assistance and personnel training.

The situation with submarines is no better. The youngest of the four Cobben-class submarines that were transferred to Poland by Norway is 40 years old. The originally intended service life is 25 years, but they are still in use today. The fleet is now testing serious problems with spare parts for submarines: those that exist are already running out.

The report states that most submarines are no longer repairable. Over the years of operation, due to the fight against rust, the walls of the housings have seriously become thinner. In a few years, it may happen that the only Polish submarine on the move will be the Soviet Kilo-class submarine Orel, built in 1986.

According to the authors of the report, in order for the Polish Navy to maintain combat readiness, $8-10 billion must be invested in it within 10 years. However, as noted by the Polish media and members of parliament, until 2015 the budget for military needs will have different priorities : Several billion dollars must be paid for F-16 fighter jets purchased from the United States. Therefore, there will be no free funds.

Besides this, there is another problem: the order fulfillment time. Construction of an average warship takes about five years. That is, the decision to start work must be made now.

When the contents of the report became public, a commission in the upper house of the Polish parliament appealed to the government. Deputies want the latter to approve " National program construction of ships" (NPSK). The appeal from parliamentarians states that if this is not done and the renewal of the Polish Navy does not begin, then after 2018 the Polish military fleet will not be able to fulfill its tasks.

The need for the birth of the NPSC has been discussed in Poland for quite some time. Last fall, the deputy commander of the Navy announced that such a program was being prepared, and 15-17 billion zlotys ($7.5-8.5 billion) were earmarked for its purposes until 2020. It is interesting that back in May 2006, it was planned to allocate twice as much money for the modernization of the Navy.

However, it is obvious that last year’s cut version of the program is an elusive goal. Parliamentarians understand this too. Therefore, there are no ambitious demands in the appeal to the government. Deputies want to support the Navy in such a way “as to preserve only the minimum potential of the naval forces.”

The situation is indeed very serious. According to Janusz Zemke, head of the national defense commission of the lower house of the Polish parliament, “for the first time we are faced with a situation where one of the military branches can simply cease to exist.”

Grzegorz Holdanovich, editor of one of the publications devoted to military topics, assesses the state of the Navy as critical. In his opinion, this is a consequence of the delusion of the mid-1990s, when it was common to think that “nothing threatens us and we can postpone modernization to a later date.”

Polish media note the paradoxical nature of the current situation: according to NATO plans, it is Poland that is responsible for the state of affairs in the Baltic. Germany and Denmark base their fleets in the North Sea. In a certain sense, this plays into Russia's hands. If a NATO outpost on the Baltic Sea is in a deplorable state, that’s good. There is only one “but”: the problem of the aging fleet is very relevant for the Russian navy.

The first ship will be called Lwów. The Polish Shipping Company decided to give this name to the new ship, which will soon be launched after completion of construction at a shipyard in China. The vessel will have a carrying capacity of 39 thousand tons.

Context

Lvov is not Poland, Crimea is not Russia

Peter and Mazepa 09/25/2017

Poland wants to return Lviv

Haqqin.az 09.11.2017

Lviv is turning into a garbage dump

The Guardian 04/26/2017

Lithuanians “conquer” Lviv

Delfi.lt 09/20/2016

Other ships will be named after the former Polish cities of Tarnopol and Vilno, located today in Western Ukraine and Lithuania. This was announced by Paweł Brzezicki, a representative of the state-owned Polish Shipping Company.

“We are changing the names of ships that are already ready at Chinese shipyards... For the whole of western Poland, these names are pleasant and nostalgic...” Brzezicki emphasized.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the Polish training sailing ship was named Lviv. According to Brzezicki, the names of the new Polish ships will not provoke a scandal or controversy at the political level.

“A total of five ships will be built. The first of them is “Lviv”. This is a politically neutral name. For many years, one of our ships was called “Lviv Eaglets” (Orlęta lwowskie is the name of the Polish militias who took part in the defense of Lvov with weapons in their hands during the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-1919 - editor's note). And this did not surprise anyone; the same can be said about the name “Lviv,” says Brzezicki. The German fleet has the icebreaker Stettin (named after the now Polish city of Szczecin. This city was part of Prussia from 1720 until the 20th century - editor's note).

Alexander VANIN

The syndrome of lost power must be treated with understanding. However, this completely forgivable weakness of our closest Western neighbors at times develops into a morbid mania, which cannot but cause concern.

Here's a recent example. On February 10, 2017, the Polish National Security Bureau presented a strategic concept for the country's maritime security. This document is quite “raw”, that is, it is difficult to find in it more or less clear parameters for the construction of the future Polish fleet. There is only one constant - the threat supposedly emanating from Russia. Allegedly, Moscow is carrying out “militarization” in the Baltic Sea and on its shores, associated primarily with the development of Russian military potential, in particular, with the possibility of containing and preventing access to the Kaliningrad region, which leads to an increase in the importance of the armed forces as a tool used in international relations in the region". Another Russian, or rather anti-Russian, horror story is “Russia’s monopolistic position in the supply of energy raw materials, the too strong dependence of some states on imports from the Russian Federation, as well as on the Russian transport infrastructure.”

In other words, if Russia supplies its oil and gas to foreign markets, and also exports other goods that are in demand abroad, and makes it possible to use its communications for the transit of goods from foreign countries - this is bad. And if Russia strengthens its defense capability in the Kaliningrad region, around which the North Atlantic bloc is organizing military games with a simulated invasion of this enclave cut off from the rest of the country, this is completely out of hand.

The drafters of the concept recommend creating naval forces in Poland " average number", for example, close in composition to the Norwegian Navy (23 combat units). This “medium” fleet should be able to operate not only in the Baltic Sea, but also away from territorial waters in cooperation with “large fleets”. By “large fleets,” obviously, we mean the US Navy, since there are no other “large” ones in the North Atlantic Alliance today. Even the once great British Royal Navy has now turned into a very modest association of 48 pennants. Of course, the total naval forces of NATO are very powerful, but they are not sufficiently balanced and are not always able to respond to the challenges of the time.

The strategic concept notes that the Polish fleet must be modern while reducing the number of ships that do not “meet the required combat level.” What exactly is meant by this is difficult to say. Therefore, in order to understand, let’s see what the Polish Navy – Marynarka Wojenna, as they are called – represents today.

The Navy includes two Oliver H. Perry class frigates, decommissioned American Navy and transferred to Poland after the country joined NATO. Their combat effectiveness was initially questioned. More than ten years ago, at the Balt-Military-Expo exhibition, which is held in Gdansk, I heard from Polish officers that these ships need constant repairs to maintain technical readiness, since something breaks on them all the time, and this is often difficult , especially in sailing conditions. In their opinion, former American frigates generally need Marynarka Wojenna like an umbrella for a fish, since in the Baltic conditions they are easily detectable targets, and, therefore, in the event of hostilities they will inevitably be sunk by enemy anti-ship missiles.

Among the relatively large surface ships, the Polish fleet also has the Kaszub corvette of project 620 with a total displacement of 1183 tons of national construction. It went into operation in 1987. The corvette was designed with the participation of the Zelenodolsk Design Bureau and is a Polish analogue of the Soviet small anti-submarine ships of Project 1124. Its armament mainly consists of Soviet models: a 76-mm universal artillery mount AK-176, two twin-tube 533-mm anti-submarine torpedo tubes and two RBU-6000, MANPADS "Arrow". Of Polish “origin” are only three twin 23-mm Wrobel anti-aircraft artillery mounts, however, made on the basis of the Soviet ZU-23-2 of the 50s of the last century. Recently, a new Polish 35-mm Tryton assault rifle was installed on the ship for testing. Kaszub, of course, can still serve, but its weapons and electronic equipment do not meet NATO standards.

According to the list, there are five submarines in the Polish fleet: the Orzei diesel-electric submarine of project 877E "Warsawianka", which entered service in 1986, and four former Norwegian Kobben-class submarines with a displacement of 485 tons, built in the mid-60s of the last century by a West German shipyard Nordseewerke under project 207. These submarines are outdated, especially the Kobben type, whose age has already reached fifty years. Therefore, they are actually written off. Orzeі will remain in service until 2022 - mainly for training NATO anti-submarine forces, since the characteristics of the submarine, as you might guess, are close to those of the diesel-electric submarines of the Russian fleet.

Project 660 Grom attack corvette.

Marynarka Wojenna has five Project 767 medium landing ships (Lublin type) with a total displacement of 1,750 tons, built at the turn of the 80-90s of the last century. They are capable of transporting nine amphibious transporters and up to 135 marines. These KFORs are actively used in NATO exercises and can lay mines.

The Polish Navy has almost two dozen basic minesweepers designed and built in socialist times. Their weapons and equipment are morally and physically outdated.

The most combat-ready units of Marynarka Wojenna should be recognized as three missile boats Project 660 (Orkan type), which are classified as corvettes in Poland and NATO. They were created in the GDR with the active participation of specialists from the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau as project 151 (Balcom 10 - according to NATO classification). Their total displacement is 369 tons, length is 48.9 m, maximum speed speed - 36 knots, cruising range - 1620 miles. The RKA was supposed to be armed with the Uran missile launcher, a 76-mm AK-176 artillery mount, a six-barreled 30-mm AK-630 assault rifle and two Strela-2M MANPADS. At the time of the collapse of the GDR at Peenewerft in Wolgast, there were 10 Project 151 RKA hulls in various stages of readiness, to which the “uraniums” had not yet been delivered. After removal of armament and re-equipment, the German authorities handed over two boats to the German Coast Guard, and sold three hulls to Poland, where they were completed according to Project 660 and named Orkan, Piorun and Grom. The remaining RCAs, which were in a low degree of readiness, were dismantled.

RBS-15 Mk3 missile launchers on the Project 660 Piorun corvette.

In 2006, with the participation of the French concern Thales and the Swedish company Saab, the modernization of three Polish Project 660 corvettes began, which lasted almost ten years due to problems with financing. As a result, this trio received modern systems combat control, Sea Giraffe 3-D radar and eight RBS-15 Mk3 missiles. They can hit not only sea targets, but also coastal targets at a distance of more than 200 km. That is, these ships pose a serious threat to the ships of the Baltic Fleet and facilities in the Kaliningrad region.

Another element of concern is the NSM (Naval Strike Missile) coastal missile systems produced by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace. Since 2013, these DBKs have been deployed on the Baltic Sea coast adjacent to Kaliningrad. Stealth NSM missiles with a 125-kilogram warhead and a firing range of up to 185 km are also designed to destroy surface and coastal targets.

After the Polish Navy acquired Orkan-class corvettes with RBS-15 Mk3 anti-ship missiles and deployed a ballistic missile system with NSM missiles, Warsaw’s hysterics about the S-400 Triumph air defense missile systems deployed to the Kaliningrad region by Russia as a response measure, operational-tactical ones, are surprising. missile systems“Iskander-M”, “Bastion” ballistic missile system with supersonic anti-ship missiles “Onyx”, capable of firing at coastal objects, and in the Baltic - small missile ships of Project 21631 “Buyan-M” with multifunctional “calibers”.

Launcher of the NSM BMK in a firing position.

It should be noted that since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, that is, for more than a quarter of a century, Marynarka Wojenna has not been replenished with a single new warship, except for the multi-purpose logistics support vessel Kontradmiral Xawery Czernicki with a total displacement of 2390 tons and a 14-knot speed . It was rebuilt from a Project 130 demagnetization vessel, the assembly of which was carried out in Gdansk by order of the USSR Navy, and after the collapse Soviet Union was frozen. This is an auxiliary vessel designed to transport various cargo in containers, transporting 140 military personnel, who, thanks to the presence of a helipad, can be transferred to the shore by helicopters. Kontradmiral Xawery Czernicki took part in anti-piracy missions in the Horn of Africa, that is, it was used as an expedition ship. The presence of a twin 23-mm Wrobel artillery mount provided quite reliable protection against attacks by filibusters of the Arabian Sea. However, it cannot be considered a warship.

However, attempts were made to strengthen the Polish Navy. On November 28, 2001, at the Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej shipyard in Gdynia, the corvette Slazak was laid down, the lead of Project 621 Gawron II in a series of seven units. The German project MEKO A-100 was taken as its prototype. With a total displacement of 2050 tons, a length of 90.1 m, a maximum speed of 29.5 knots, it was supposed to carry two quad launchers of Saab RBS-15 Mk3 anti-ship missiles, an ESSM or Mica air defense system, a 76-mm OTO Melara artillery mount, torpedo devices for firing MU90 Impact anti-submarine torpedoes, a Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopter located in a hangar. That is, Slazak was fully responsible modern requirements requirements for corvette-class ships.

However, things didn't work out. During the ten years of virtual downtime that passed after the “liberation from the yoke of socialism,” Polish shipbuilders lost their qualifications. But they used to build quickly and efficiently. Suffice it to recall that the large landing ships of Project 775, carrying out the lion's share transportation on the so-called “Syrian express” line, supplying the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic with ammunition and other means of logistics, were built in Poland. A significant part of the auxiliary ships of the Russian Navy comes from there. But now everything has changed.

The cost of assembling Slazak was rising, and the process was moving slowly with no end in sight. Finally, in February 2012, when the price of the corvette reached 1.5 billion zlotys (360 million euros), then Prime Minister Donald Tusk, now the chairman of the European Council, closed the Gawron II program. However, some time later, Slazak, in which a lot of money had already been invested, was decided to be completed, but as a patrol ship. The composition of its weapons has seriously changed. Now the former corvette will be equipped with a 76-mm Oto Melara cannon, four Grom MANPADS, a 30- or 35-mm machine gun and four 12.7-mm machine guns. Helipad will remain, but there will be no hangar for the rotorcraft.

But even this simplified version takes an extremely long time to complete. Factory production is planned to begin this year sea ​​trials Slazak, and by the beginning of 2018, transfer the ship to the fleet.

At the same time, when Donald Tusk stopped funding the Gawron II program, a plan for a complete renewal of the Polish Navy by 2030 was announced. It was assumed that the annual volume of purchases for the needs of Marynarka Wojenna should be kept at the level of 900 million zlotys (216 million euros), which would allow “to ensure a qualitative leap with limited financial resources" The plan included the construction of three submarines, which were classified as “strategically important”, three “coastal defense” ships - light corvettes with a displacement of 1000 tons each, three basic minesweepers of the Kormoran II type, three patrol ships with mine countermeasures capabilities, two electronic reconnaissance ships, two rescue ships and seven support ships. It was also planned to purchase six new anti-submarine and six search and rescue helicopters, six unmanned aircraft(three ship-based and three shore-based), ten remote-controlled mine action systems to equip minesweepers, as well as two air defense systems to provide air defense to the main fleet base.

Four years have passed since then, but apart from the lead minesweeper-mine detector Kormoran, nothing has been built, and even that has not yet completed testing. Its total displacement is 850 tons, length is 58.5 m, width is 10.3 m, draft is 2.7 m, maximum speed is 15 knots, cruising range is 2500 miles. The crew consists of 45 people, another 7 are marines or combat swimmers. The main armament of the ship is Double Eagle mine action devices from the Swedish company Saab, as well as contact and non-contact trawls. The artillery is represented by a twin 23-mm Wrobel anti-aircraft gun, which in the future is expected to be replaced by a 35-mm Tryton assault rifle. In addition, there are four Grom MANPADS and four 12.7 mm machine guns. It is expected to spend 1.2 billion zlotys ($332 million) on the construction of all three minesweepers. But no one can say for sure when this will happen. As before, money for naval construction is allocated extremely reluctantly, although the nationalist Law and Justice party currently ruling in the country has declared its intention to restore the former greatness of Poland's shipbuilding industry.

“Law and Justice” could not look with indifference at the shipbuilding program of the hated Donald Tusk, former leader the Civic Platform party, which is in opposition to the current authorities. This is also one of the reasons for the emergence of a new strategic concept for the country’s maritime security. “The proposed fleet model requires, among other things, the receipt of multi-purpose frigates capable of providing air defense, changes in the structure and activation of the fleet in allied operations,” the document says. “This is the only way Poland, they say, is able to neutralize potential threats, including from Russia, and also demonstrate allied solidarity.”

We know how the Polish shipbuilding industry coped with the construction of corvettes. It is unlikely that things will go smoothly with large-displacement frigates. Quite the opposite. And there won’t be enough money in the country’s budget for them, even if they have to be ordered abroad, which is fundamentally unacceptable for the nationalists from Law and Justice.

The authors of the concept explain their passion for frigates as follows: “In a conflict due to unfavorable geographical conditions in the Baltic Russian Federation will try to use primarily air attack capabilities to influence NATO countries, as well as Sweden and Finland - without the need to primarily use naval forces and conduct an amphibious operation." Therefore, frigates with wider air defense/missile defense capabilities are more suitable for Marynarka Wojenna. But the Polish fleet must conduct not only defensive, but also active offensive operations in the waters adjacent to Russian ports, which are located in the northeastern part of the Baltic, that is, in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. “In case of cooperation with NATO forces, or at least with Finnish and Swedish forces,” the concept states, “these exits can be easily blocked by the Polish Navy in cooperation with air forces capable of destroying ships.” The war at sea against Russia needs to be intensively waged in four areas: on the water surface, under water, in the air and in cyberspace. Therefore, “Poland must receive offshore platforms which are best suited for joint operations between the navy and the air force,” that is, frigates.

That's it - they talked about interaction with NATO countries, but turned towards Sweden and Finland, which are not members of the North Atlantic Alliance. They started with the Kaliningrad region, which was making it difficult for Warsaw to live, and ended with an assault on the northern capital of Russia. This is what the mania for losing a great power can lead to. It should only be recalled that two world wars swept across Poland like a bloody wheel. If a third one is unleashed, no stone will be left unturned from this country.