The ''Grom''-class destroyers were two

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s, built for the

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by the British company of

J. Samuel White J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White (1838–1915). It came to prominence during the Victorian era. During the 20th century it built destroyers and other naval craft for both the ...

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

. They were laid down in 1935 and commissioned in 1937. The two ''Grom''s were some of the fastest and most heavily armed destroyers of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Design

Despite having ordered its previous pair of destroyers ( and ) from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, a country with which it had strong ties, Poland decided to acquire the second pair from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, possibly in recognition of the excellence of British destroyer designs at the time. The selected design resulted in large and powerful ships, superior to German and Soviet destroyers of the time, and comparable to the famous British of 1936. The main armament was changed from the 130 mm used on the to the standard British destroyer calibre of 4.7 inch (120 mm). However, the guns were not British, but were instead Swedish

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50cal QF M34/36, the same as those used previously on the minelayer .Whitley, p. 219

Original ''Grom'' class

There were two ships built: * - Sunk on 4 May 1940 in

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near

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

* - Currently preserved as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

Improved ''Grom'' class

Two more ships of this class (''Huragan'' and ''Orkan'') were ordered in 1939 to be built in

, but war broke out soon after the first was laid down. They would have been the first major modern warships to be built in Poland.

Operational service

Just before the war broke out, the two destroyers were evacuated to Britain to fight alongside the Royal Navy. Since they were designed for Baltic operations, they had to be modified to improve stability to operate in the rough waters of the North Sea and the Atlantic. ''Grom'' was sunk in 1940 and in December 1941 ''Błyskawica'', had its 4.7 inch guns replaced by eight 4-inch (102 mm) guns in twin mountings. Various other modifications of armaments and sensors were made during the war.

References

Bibliography

* {{WWII Polish ships Destroyer classes