ORP „Wicher“ – the Polish destroyer

ORP "Wicher" - a Polish destroyer of the interwar period and the beginning of the Second World War. The keel of this ship was laid in February 1927, launched in July 1928 and entered into the Polish Navy in 1930. The length of the ship was 107 meters, width - 10.5 meters. Displacement - about 1900 tons, maximum speed - about 31 knots. At the beginning of service the armament consisted of: 4 X 130 mm guns, 2 X 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and 6 X 550 mm torpedo tubes. ORP “Wicher” was the first ship of the destroyer class of the same name. The prototype of these ships was the French "Bourrasque" type destroyer project. ORP “Wicher”, although not a very modern ship, when she entered service, undoubtedly raised the quality of the Polish Navy to a new level. However, the ship also had its shortcomings. First of all, it was relatively slow, it also had some stability problems, and the cruising autonomy was relatively small. During the service, efforts were made to correct these shortcomings. ORP “Wicher” was built at the “Chantiers Naval Francais” shipyard in Blainville-sur-Orne, France. At the beginning of the service it was included in the squadron of torpedo ships and became its flagship, from 1932 - when the ORP "Burza" began its service - the Counter Torpedo Squadron was formed with it. Between the wars, ORP "Wicher" visited the ports of many countries, especially the Baltic Sea basin, with courtesy visits, and in 1931 Marshal Józef Piłsudski returned to Poland from his vacation in Madeira. The ship participated in the initial stage of the September campaign and coastal defense, but in 1939 September 3 was sunk in time of German air raid.

A well-designed and highly detailed warship model of medium complexity, intended for intermediate to advanced modelers. The model recreates the destroyer’s appearance for September 1939, when the German-Polish war began.