Lech (1904)
{{Short description|Polish Navy steam tugboat}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Lech NAC.jpg | image alt = Lech in 1932 | Ship caption = Lech in 1932 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = German Empire | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|German Empire|naval}} | Ship name = * Hercules (1904)
| Ship awarded = | Ship launched = 1904 | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship out of service = | Ship fate = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship motto = | Ship namesake = | Ship badge = | Ship builder = Schichau-Werke, Elbląg | Ship commissioned = 1904 | Ship laid down = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Polish Merchant Navy | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Poland|naval-1946}} | Ship name = Krakus | Ship awarded = | Ship launched = | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship out of service = | Ship fate = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship motto = | Ship namesake = | Ship badge = | Ship builder = | Ship commissioned = 1926 | Ship laid down = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Polish Armed Forces | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Poland|naval-1946}} | Ship name = Lech | Ship awarded = | Ship launched = | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = September 14, 1939 | Ship out of service = | Ship fate = sunk | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship motto = | Ship namesake = | Ship badge = | Ship builder = | Ship commissioned = 1930 | Ship laid down = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Polish People's Republic | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Poland|naval-1946}} | Ship name = Lech | Ship awarded = | Ship launched = | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = August 28, 1946 | Ship out of service = | Ship fate = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship motto = | Ship namesake = | Ship badge = | Ship builder = | Ship commissioned = January 1, 1946 | Ship laid down = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Polish People's Republic | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Poland|naval-1946}} | Ship name = BG-6 → H-6 | Ship awarded = | Ship launched = | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = April 1, 1983 | Ship out of service = | Ship fate = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship motto = | Ship namesake = | Ship badge = | Ship builder = | Ship commissioned = January 26, 1957 | Ship laid down = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = tugboat | Ship displacement = {{convert|280|t|LT|abbr=on}} | Ship length = {{convert|30.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|6.53|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship draught = | Ship draft = {{convert|3.57|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship propulsion = triple-expansion steam engine, 450 hp | Ship speed = {{convert|12|kn|abbr=on}} | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = | Ship armour = | Ship armor = | Ship aircraft = | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship honours = | Ship notes = | Ship type = | Ship crew = 12 }} |
File:Narcyz Witczak-Witaczyński - Uczestnicy turnieju tenisowego podczas rejsu po Zatoce Gdańskiej (107-823-5).jpg, July 1937]]
Lech was a steam-powered tugboat that served in the Polish Navy during the interwar period and, after World War II, until the 1980s under the designation H-6. Built in 1904, it initially operated under German shipowners as Hercules and Brussa, and later under the Polish shipowner {{Interlanguage link|Żegluga Wisła – Bałtyk|pl|Żegluga Wisła – Bałtyk}} as Krakus. It joined the Polish Navy in 1930 and was sunk during the 1939 September Campaign. After the war, it briefly returned to service in 1946 and, following a refit, resumed operations in 1957 as H-6. It was decommissioned in 1983, the last steam tugboat in the Polish Navy.
Construction and description
Lech was constructed in 1904 at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbląg, originally named Hercules. Its propulsion system featured a three-cylinder compound engine producing 450 horsepower (336 kW), driving a single propeller.{{Harvard citation text|Miciński|1996|p=163}}{{Harvard citation text|Danielewicz|1998|p=40}} Post-war, as H-6, the engine's output was reported as 500 horsepower.{{Harvard citation text|Danielewicz|1998|pp=42–43}} The tugboat achieved a speed of 12 knots.{{Cite book |last=Pertek |first=Jerzy |author-link=Jerzy Pertek |title=Wielkie dni małej floty |date=1976 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Poznańskie |edition=8th |location=Poznań |pages=64, 586 |language=Polish |trans-title=Great Days of the Small Fleet}}
The gross register tonnage was 159 GRT, though some sources report 149 GRT, with a displacement of 280 tonnes.{{Cite book |last=Piaskowski |first=Stanisław M. |title=Okręty Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1920–1946. Album planów |date=1996 |publisher=Barwa i Broń, Lampart |isbn= |location=Warsaw |page=58 |language=Polish |trans-title=Ships of the Republic of Poland 1920–1946: Album of Plans}} Sources vary slightly on dimensions. Recent publications list a length of 30.8 m, beam of 6.53 m, and draught of 3.57 m, or a length of 30 m and beam of 6.5 m. Older sources cite an overall length of 32 m (30 m length between perpendiculars), beam of 7 m, and draught of 3.8 m.
Service history
= Civilian service =
Before World War I, Hercules operated at the Schichau shipyard in Gdańsk.{{Harvard citation text|Miciński|1996|p=154}} Some sources suggest it served in the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) from 1914 to 1916 before returning to shipyard duties. From 1920, as Brussa, it was owned by Deutsche Levante Linie in Hamburg, or, per other sources, from 1921 by HAPAG in Hamburg. From 1922 or 1923,{{Harvard citation text|Miciński|1996|pp=154–155}} it belonged to Bugsier-, Reederei- und Bergungs AG in Hamburg.
In November 1926, the tugboat was acquired by the newly formed Polish company {{Interlanguage link|Żegluga Wisła – Bałtyk|pl|Żegluga Wisła – Bałtyk}} in Tczew and operated as Krakus until 1928, towing lighters transporting coal from Tczew to Baltic ports.
= Polish Navy service until 1939 =
In December 1928, the Polish Navy purchased the tugboat from the failing shipowner. After modernization, it entered service in 1930 as Lech within the Training Squadron.{{Harvard citation text|Miciński|1996|p=169}} It was the largest and most powerful tugboat in the Polish Navy at the time, stationed at the Oksywie naval base. It assisted in mooring maneuvers for large ships, towed artillery targets in the Gdańsk Bay, and was assigned to the training ship ORP Mazur. It also supported the torpedo range, transported troops to Westerplatte, and, with ice-strengthened hulls, broke ice during winter.
At the outbreak of World War II, Lech was the only tugboat assigned to the Land Coastal Defence under Colonel Stanisław Dąbek.{{Harvard citation text|Danielewicz|1998|pp=41–42}} Commanded by Senior Boatswain Stanisław Woiński, it left Oksywie on 1 September 1939 during a German bombardment, heading to Jastarnia with other vessels. There, it supported mine-laying barges in the Kuźnica Bay, some of which were former Żegluga Wisła – Bałtyk lighters. On 14 September 1939, German Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers from 4./Trägergruppe 186 sank Lech in Jastarnia port, along with {{Interlanguage link|ORP Mewa (1918)|lt=ORP Mewa|pl|ORP Mewa (1918)}}, ORP Czapla, and ORP Jaskółka.{{Cite web |last1=Rohwer |first1=Jürgen |last2=Hümmelchen |first2=Gerhard |title=Chronik des Seekrieges |trans-title=Chronicle of the Naval War |url=http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/39-08.htm#SEP |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=Württembergische Landesbibliothek |language=German}}
Its wartime fate remains unclear. Older sources reported its fate as unknown,{{Harvard citation text|Miciński|1996|p=175}} while it was likely salvaged by the Germans, though no record of its use exists. Unconfirmed reports suggest it survived the war ashore at Oksywie.{{Harvard citation text|Danielewicz|1998|p=42}}
= Post-war service =
According to recent findings, Lech was repaired and recommissioned into the Polish Navy on 1 January 1946, retaining its name.{{Cite journal |last=Rochowicz |first=Robert |date=2013 |title=Jednostki pływające Marynarki Wojennej w latach 1945–1949. Część 1 |trans-title=Floating Units of the Polish Navy 1945–1949, Part 1 |journal=Morza, Statki i Okręty |language=Polish |volume=18 |issue=135 |page=33 |issn=1426-529X}} However, it sank during a storm in Gdynia's Basin No. 1 (Presidential) in July 1946 and was struck from the navy list on 28 August 1946.
Subsequently salvaged and extensively refitted, it was recommissioned on 26 January 1957 as BG-6 (replacing the tugboat Pionier). In July 1957, it was redesignated H-6 under new naming conventions. Its bridge was rebuilt before 1978.{{Harvard citation text|Danielewicz|1998|p=45}} The tugboat was decommissioned on 1 April 1983, marking the end of steam-powered tugboats in the Polish Navy.{{Harvard citation text|Danielewicz|1998|pp=43–44}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite journal |last=Danielewicz |first=Waldemar |title=Holowniki Polskiej Marynarki Wojennej w latach 1920–1997 |trans-title=Tugboats of the Polish Navy 1920–1997 |journal=Morza, Statki i Okręty |volume=3 |issue=12 |date=1998 |pages= |issn=1426-529X |language=Polish |ref={{sfnref|Danielewicz|1998}}}}
- {{Cite book |last=Miciński |first=Jerzy |title=Księga statków polskich: 1918–1945 |trans-title=Book of Polish Ships: 1918–1945 |volume=1 |location=Gdańsk |publisher=Polnord, Oskar |date=1996 |pages= |isbn=83-86181-23-0 |language=Polish |ref={{sfnref|Miciński|1996}}}}