PIORUN ORP (G65)

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a destroyer by John Brown at Clydebank, Glasgow for the Royal Navy.
26 July 1939 laid down.
07 May 1940 launched under the name HMS NERESSA, one of the N class
Displacement 1.690 ton, dim. 356.5 x 35 x 11.10ft. (draught).
Powered by Parsons turbines, 40.000 shp, twin propellers, speed 32 knots.
Range 5.500 mile by a speed of 15 knots.
Armament: 6 – 4.7 inch, 1 – 4-barrel 2pdr. pom pom, 2 - 0.5 inch MG, 10 – 21 inch torpedo tubes. 20 depth charges and two throwers.
October 1940 transferred to the Polish Navy, renamed ORP PIORUN (G65) (Thunderbolt).
04 November 1940 completed. Building cost £400.963.
After commission under command of Commander Plawski she joined the 7th Destroyer Flotilla at Scapa Flow, after a short training period used as an escort for the North Atlantic convoy duty in December 1940.
28 December returned to Scapa Flow for training and duties with the 7th Destroyer Flotilla.
25 January 1941 used to escort the battleships HMS NELSON and RODNEY and the battle cruiser REPULSE in the hunt for the German battle cruisers GNEISENAU and SCHARNHORST.
Due to heavy weather damage she had to return to the U.K.
23 February till 31 March 1941 under repair by John Brown Clydebank. When under repair there, the yard was attacked on 13th and 15th March by German air raids. The PIORUN put up a terrific barrage the first night, which may have caused the shipyard to get off comparatively lightly.

After her repairs transferred to the Western Approaches Command for escort duties of convoys. Her main duty was to escort convoys in the Atlantic and to Gibraltar.
May 1941took part in the hunt on the BISMARCK, she was withdrawn with some other destroyers from convoy WS 8B on 25 May 1941, and during that night she made a successful torpedo attack on the BISMARCK. She then lost contact and returned to Plymouth for re-fuelling, then returning to Greenock where she arrived 30 May.
Took part in the Halberd convoy to Malta from 24 till 30 September 1941.
Again under refit at the yard of John Brown from 18 November 1941 till 25 January 1942.

Then she joined the Third Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet and escorted some convoys, till she was loaned for three months to Western Approaches Command at the height of the crisis of the Battle of the Atlantic, till June 1943.
Then for a short period again at Scapa Flow before she joined the Mediterranean forces for the landings at Sicily, Calabria and Salerno in the 24th Destroyer Flotilla.
08 November 1943 she with other ships bombarded positions in the Gulf of Gaeta in support of the US Fifth Army.

26 November 1943 returned to the Clyde for repair of storm damage till 19 January 1944.
Again at Scapa Flow till March 1944 for training, then she joined the Third Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet for the next three months. During that time she escorted the aircraft carrier FURIOUS and SEARCHER and cruiser BERWICK during air attacks on shipping North of Kristiansund on 06 May 1944.
The freighter ALMORA and tanker SAARBURG were sunk for the loss of two British aircraft.

21 May 1944 she joined the 10th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth to support “Operation Overlord.”
06 June 1944 she was part of the covering force against enemy surface attacks in the entrance in the English Channel. On the night of 08 September 1944 together with other units of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla she intercepted the German destroyers Z32, Z24, ZH1 and T24 in a position north west of the Ile de Bas. In a confused action, torpedoes sank ZH 1 and Z32 was beached at the Ile de Bas and later blown up.
Five nights later the PIORUN and HMS ASHANTI attacked a German convoy between St Malo and Jersey.
M83 was sunk and six other M class ships damaged.
PIORUN was slightly damaged in the action.

Thereafter used for patrols through the summer of 1944 and on 12 August 1944 together with the cruiser DIADEM and destroyer ONSLOW she sank the German SPERRBRECHER 7 of 7.708 tons near La Rochelle.
20 September 1944 together with ORP BLYSKAWICA she supported a landing at Audierne in support of French resistance fighters.
Then again in the escort and patrol duties of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla.
29 January 1945 arrived at Pembroke Dock for a refit till 28 April 1945.
After repairs for a short period at 8th Destroyer Flotilla then 17th Destroyer Flotilla before joining the Polish Squadron on 03 June 1946.
July 1946 in reserve.
28 September 1946 transferred back to the Royal Navy at Harwich and renamed HMS NOBLE.
Under Polish flag she had sailed 218.000 miles.
Till 1953 at Harwich then towed to Chatham and in 1954 to the Tyne for laying up.
21 September 1955 approved for scrapping.
02 December 1955 taken over by Clayton and Davie Ltd, and arrived at the breakers yard at Dunston on Tyne the same day.

Poland 1970 40g sg2010, scott 1760. 1991 2000z sg3357, scott3040.

Source: Afridi to Nizam, British Fleet destroyers 1937 – 1943 by John English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ORP_Piorun

[Arturo]

Piorun Orp (G-65)

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Poland 1999, 55 Gr. StG.?