- Yes
- No
History: ORP Bałtyk is a tanker and part of the Polish auxiliary fleet. It is the third vessel in the Polish navy to bear this name. Designed by Kamil Rogalski, the ship was built at Dąbrowszczak Naval Shipyard in Gdynia with the NATO reporting name of Baltyk and project name ZP-1200. Her role is to transport and store liquid fuels, diesel oil and lubricating oil, while supplying ships with these in ports, roadsteads, or at sea.
She was originally going to be one of 4 tankers of the class to support the Polish naval forces but ended up being the only tanker built due to the financial problems Poland was facing at the time.
Part of the 3rd Ship flotilla, Bałtyk would have a relatively uneventful career, taking part in the 1999 exercise STANAVFORLANT. She then underwent a modernization in 2000 followed by an extensive 13 month modernisation in 2015/2016 though this only changed the supply system. This was carried out by Net-Marine in Szczecin and Bałtyk had returned to service on September 24th 2016.
As of writing, ORP Bałtyk is still in service as the only tanker however in 2025, the SUPPLY programme’s implementation was announced, which seemingly aims to get another tanker to replace Bałtyk.
Above is a ZU-23-2M Wróbel (from ORP Gardno (1983)) which is present on ORP Bałtyk.
Specifications:
Crew- 38
Displacement- 2984t
Armament- 4x 23mm ZU-23-2M Wróbel anti aircraft guns (two twin mounts)
Length- 84.75m
Width- 13.07m
Draught- 4.8m
Max speed- 28km/h (Total of 4010hp between 2 engines)
Sources:
Marian Kluczyński. A Lonely “Warrior”. Modernization of the Tanker ORP Bałtyk .
Jarosław Ciślak, Jacek Krzewiński. NATO STANAVFORLANT Ship Group in Gdynia .
