Amphibious Landing Ships of the Polish Navy

Today not a ship of the Polish Navy, but still an amphibious landing ship built in Poland.

After concluding production of the Pr.773 medium landing ships for the Soviet Navy (though their production for other export users - India, Libya and Iraq - continued for some time), Gdańsk's Stocznia Północna (Northern Shipyard) begun construction of larger landing ships, code-named Pr.775. First of these ships was commissioned on 1 july 1974, with whole series comprising of 28 vessels in three series (12 in I series, commissioned between 1 july 1974 and 27 february 1979, 13 in II series, commissioned between 31 august 1981 and 30 april 1988, and 3 in III series, commissioned between 12 october 1990 and 10 july 1991). First two series received NATO codename Ropucha 1, while the third series, with different armament and sensors received codename Ropucha 2.
One of these ships was transferred in 1979 to South Yemen (where it was decommissioned in 2002 and apparently converted into civilan transport ship), and another ended in the Ukrainian Navy after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Currently around 15 may remain in service in the Russian Navy (4 each in Northern, Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, 3 in Pacific Fleet).

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WOW! This look great! Can you do the Indian version?

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天滅中共全黨死清光!

Wow, thanks!

darthpanda wrote:

Can you do the Indian version?

I assume You're talking about Indian version of Pr.773? It's doable.

Very nice work, very impressive.

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Thank You Hood!

Dedicated to Darth Panda.

As previously mentioned, in the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s construction of Pr.773 landing ships continued for export markets. Indian Navy purchased 8 such ships - 4 Pr.773I commissioned between 1974 and 1975 (Ghopard - L14 - decommissioned 2008; Khesari - L15 - decommissioned 1999; Shardul - L16 - decommissioned 1997; Sharabh - L17 - decommissioned 2011) and 4 helicopter-capable Pr.773IM between 1984 and 1986 (Cheetah - L18; Mahish - L19; Guldar - L21; Kumbhir - L22; all remaining in service). Between 1976 and 1979 4 helicopter-capable Pr.773K were commissioned into Iraqi Navy (Atika - L72 - sunk 1991; Janada - L74 - sunk 1980; Ghanda - L76 - fled to Iran 1992, commissioned into Iranian Navy as Henshe, decommissioned and sunk 2000; Nouh - L78 - sunk 1991). Finally, between 1977 and 1978 4 helicopter-capable Pr.773KL were commissioned into Libyan Navy (Ibn El Hadrani - 112; Ibn El Qisi - 114 - decommissioned 1978 after accidental fire; Ibn El Umhaya - 116; Ibn El Furath - 118; due to collapse of the regular Libyan Armed Forces in the wake of civil war, status of of these is uncertain).

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In the mid-1980s land component of the Polish amphibious assault forces still consisted of the 7 Łużycka Dywizja Desantowa (7 ŁDD, 7th Lusatian Landing Division). Elevation of Mikhail Gorbachov to the position of the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 started gradual improvement in East-West relations. Sign of this improvement was renaming of the 7 ŁDD into 7 Łużycka Brygada Obrony Wybrzeża (7th Lusatian Coastal Defence Brigade) in 1986. This change was done purely for purpose of downplaying offensive task of the unit, as its internal structure and training remained completely unchanged.

More significant changes occured in 1989, when division's regiments were reduced to batallions, 11 Batalion Czołgów Pływających (11th Batallion of Amphibious Tanks) and 41 Dywizjon Artylerii (41st Artillery Batallion) were disbanded (though tanks in landing batallions remained) while staff, security and communications companies were merged into 7 Batalion Dowodzenia (7th Command Batallion). Starting from the next year, unit's purpose has also changed (corresponding with withdrawal of majority of landing ships from service) to coastal defence units (not just in name, but in actual purpose).

That period of unit's history lasted until 1995, when serviceability periods of PT-76 and TOPAS armored vehicles expired, forcing their retirement. That led to decision to disband the brigade, and use it as the base to form reserve 1 Gdańska Brygada Obrony Terytorialnej (1 GBOT, 1st Territorial Defence Brigade of Gdańsk). 1 GBOT itself was reformed in 2007 into 1 Gdański Batalion Obrony Terytorialnej (1st Territorial Defence Batallion of Gdańsk), which in turn was reformed year later into active 1 Lęborski Batalion Zmechanizowany (1st Mechanized Batallion of Lębork).

In the early 1980s landing ships of the Pr.770/771 types were nearing 20 years of service, and therefore time was coming to find their replacements. In 1984 an official decision was made regarding modernization of the amphibious forces until 1995, during which period it was supposed to achieve significant increase in transport capability (up to 180-212 vehicles in one cruise). These plans called for building of:
-12 medium landing ship Pr. 767 Brzegówka (Sand Martin);
-4 fire support ships Pr.768 Orłosęp (Bearded Vulture);
-1 landing command ship Pr.769 Jarząbek (Hazel Grouse);
-20 small landing ships, each capable of carrying 3-4 vehicles;
-12 landing cutters Pr.716 Droździk (Redwing).

Improving international situation in late 1980s, political changes in Poland after 1989 and later the end of Cold War led to downsizing and reorganization of Polish amphibious forces. As mentioned earlier, Pr.709 small landing craft were decommisioned between 1987 and 1990, Pr.770 medium landing ships between 1989 and 1990 while majority of Pr.771 medium landing ships between 1990 and 1991. At the same time, in 1990, 2 Brygada Okrętów Desantowych (2 BOD, 2nd Landing Ships Brigade) was renamed 2 Brygada Okrętów Transportowo-Minowych (2 BOTM, 2nd Transport-Mine Ships Brigade) and ultimately, in 1995, into 2 Dywizjon Okrętów Transportowo-Minowych (2 DOTM, 2nd Transport-Mine Ships Squadron), still under 8 Flotylla Obrony Wybrzeża (8th Coastal Defence Flotilla) in Świnoujście.

First vessels to be build under this program were landing cutters Pr.716 Droździk (Redwing, NATO code: Deba). First unit was launched in november 1987 and commissioned in august 1988, with two more units being commissioned in january and may 1991, respectively. End of Cold War and reductions of the Polish amphibious forces (together with whole armed forces) resulted in these three cutters being only ones commissioned into the Polish Navy, and together with renaming of their parent formation (2 BOTM/2 DOTM) they were also reclassified as transport cutters.

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Only other class of ships built under the 1984 program were medium landing ships Pr.767 Brzegówka (Sand Martin, NATO code: initially Bal-Com-11, later changed to Lublin, corresponding to actual name of the first ship). They were modern, but somehow unusual ships, characterized by their capability to be "joined" one behind the other, creating long "tunnel" for the carried vehicles along whole length. These ships are capable of carrying up to 9 T-72 main battle tanks or up to 17 trucks or smaller armored vehicles like BRDM-2, or - in minelayer role - two mine rails with up to 134 naval mines.
First ship of the class was launched in july 1988 and commissioned in october 1989, while the fifth ship was launched in june 1990 and commissioned in may 1991. All ships were named after significant Polish cities. The same reasons that cut short the production run of Pr.716 cutters led to cancellation of Pr.767's production after only 5 ships. Shortly after first three ships entered service, 2 BOD was renamed into 2 BOTM, which in turn led to reclassification of these ships into "transport-mine(laying) ships".

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Excellent drawings eswube.

Great additions. I hope we'll see the other ships of that late 1980s building programme too.

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Thanks for kind words!

@Hood
Unfortunately not in the foreseeable future. I only have acces to basic plan of the initial project of Pr.767 (which looked bit like downsized Pr.775 with helicopter pad), but I've never seen any drawings of Pr.768 or Pr.769 being published anywhere.

Their project number sequence suggests strongly that they would be somewhat similar to Pr.767, but that itself doesn't give much info.

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