The Polish Submarine ORZEŁ (Commander J. Grudziński) left Rosyth at 23.00 on 23 May 1940 for the northern half of zone A3 (submarine patrol area A3 was the area from 55Âş10' N to 54Âş30' N and from 03Âş30' E to the western edge of the German declared area, which was on longitude 04Âş25' E). The ORZEŁ is estimated to have arrived in A3 dark on 24 May.
In a signal on the afternoon of 1 June (Captain (S) 2's 1506/1) the ORZEŁ was ordered to leave A3 after sunset that day and proceed to patrol in zone A1 (A1 extended from 56Âş30' N to 55Âş45' N and had the same western and eastern limits as A3), where she was estimated to have arrived at about midnight. In a signal on the following forenoon (Captain (S) 2's 1002/2) the ORZEŁ was further ordered to proceed with dispatch at 09.00 on 3 June through position 57Âş N, 04Âş10' E to patrol in the vicinity of 57Âş N, 06Âş E, Where she was to relieve the Trident, due to leave patrol for Rosyth after dark on 2 June. The ORZEŁ was instructed to be dived by day when east of 05Âş E, which was as far as bombing restrictions extended. She is estimated to have arrived in her new patrol position on the evening of 3 June.
In a signal on 5 June (Captain (S) 2's 1603/5) the ORZEŁ was ordered to leave patrol at 22.00 on 6 June and return on the surface to Rosyth, where she was expected to put in on the morning of 8 June. When she failed to arrive, she was requested in signal at 1212/8 to report her position, to which there was no response. On 10 June, the ORZEŁ, then being two her position, to was presumed by the Admiralty to have been lost. Two days later the Polish naval staff in London announced her loss to the public. No signals had been received from the ORZEŁ after she had sailed for patrol, and no attacks on shipping in any of the ORZEŁ's patrol areas are reported in German records, from which it does not, however, follow that she was lost soon after her arrival in her initial patrol area.
There were no attacks by German air or surface anti-submarine forces that can account for the ORZEŁ's disappearance, which must thus have been due to mining or, more remotely, submarine accident. The ORZEŁ's route into her initial patrol area was free of mines, and she would not have encountered any either in her patrol areas or while moving between them. There were on the other hand, two recently laid minefields, whose existence was unknown to the British Admiralty, that lay directly between the ORZEŁ's final patrol area Rosyth. The two fields in question, designated 16a and 16b by Germans, had been laid on the nights of 17/18 May and 19/20 May respectively in the following positions:
Field 16a - from 56Âş37' N, 03Âş33' E to 56Âş51' N, 03Âş24,5' E,
Field 16b - from 56Âş54' N, 03Âş42' E to 57Âş08' N, 03Âş36' E.
The two fields comprised a total of 380 moored contact mines at a depth of 3 meters and 1040 explosive floats at a depth of 6 meters. The mines would thus have presented a hazard to the surfaced ORZEŁ, which had a draught of 4,2 meters.
The TRIDENT, returning a few days earlier to Rosyth from the same patrol area in the vicinity of 57Âş N, 06Âş E, had nevertheless arrived safely. She had surfaced at 22.49 in position 56Âş55' N, 06Âş25' E and had set a homeward course that passed through 56Âş43' N, 05Âş11' E, 56Âş36' N, 03Âş58' E and 56Âş28' N, 02Âş32' E, with the result that she passed about five miles to the southward of Field 16a. The routing instructions for the ORZEŁ's return to Rosyth have not survived, but from the submarine daily position report for 06.00 on 7 June it would appear she mined on 7 June in approximate position 57Âş N, 03Âş40' E.
Foreign Documents Section
Naval Historical Branch
Ministry of Defence
June 1996
The Polish Submarine ORZEŁ (Commander J. Grudziński) left Rosyth at 23.00 on 23 May 1940 for the northern half of zone A3 (submarine patrol area A3 was the area from 55Âş10' N to 54Âş30' N and from 03Âş30' E to the western edge of the German declared area, which was on longitude 04Âş25' E). The ORZEŁ is estimated to have arrived in A3 dark on 24 May.
