ORP Orzeł
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | ORP Orzeł | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | submarine | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Poland | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Polish Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | Norwegian Campaign | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | North Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | England | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 117 km from land |
| Position | 54.9833, 1.0000 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
ORP Orzeł (Polish: "eagle") was an Orzeł class submarine of the Polish Navy that served during World War II. Built in the Netherlands for the Polish navy it entered service just before the beginning of the war. Escaping internment in Estonia, Orzel reached the UK and was assigned to a Royal Navy flotilla and patrolled the North Sea. In June 1940 Orzel failed to return to base and was declared lost probably having hit a mine.
Diving & visiting
Between 2008 and 2017 a number of Polish expeditions, both private and public-funded, searched the region of North Sea where she went missing with the hope of finding her final resting place. Wrecks of various other ships have been located, but Orzeł has not been among them, and the fate of the ship remains unknown.
In June 2013 the Polish Navy, following reports of a wreck of an unknown large submarine found in the North Sea, conducted one more expedition to check whether the ship could be Orzeł. The wreck was surveyed and identified as HMS J6. In 2017 another private expedition found a previously unknown wreck which they identified to be most likely HMS Narwhal based on sonar data.
Location
- Recorded position: 54.9833, 1.0000 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Sea
- Nearest coast: England
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article ORP Orzeł (1938) (revision 1380190911), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Search for the wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Sealion 78 km
- Filey Bay Wreck 118 km
- SM UC-70 1918 · 119 km
- HMS Falmouth 1916 · 131 km
- MS Piłsudski 137 km
- Seaton Carew Wreck 144 km
Other wrecks of the Norwegian Campaign
- HMS Ardent 1940
- HMS Diana 1940
- HMS Hostile 1940
- ORP Grom 1940
- HMS Ark Royal 1941
- HMS Punjabi 1942
- HMS Acasta
- HMS Afridi
- HMS Bedouin
- HMS Bittern
All 18 wrecks of the Norwegian Campaign →
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off England · North Sea