ORP "Orzeł": The Submarine's Escape from Tallinn Without Maps

In September 1939, the Polish submarine "Orzeł" was interned in the Estonian city of Tallinn. The Estonians took its maps, gun locks, and most of its torpedoes. A few days later, in the middle of the night, the submarine escaped from the port under fire, crossed the entire Baltic Sea and the Danish straits without maps, and reached Great Britain. The navigator drew maps from memory and from a list of lighthouses that the Estonians overlooked.

This is one of the most famous stories of the Polish Navy, but it also has lesser-known chapters. The escape served as a pretext for Moscow to pressure Estonia. A few months later, "Orzeł" sank a ship that could have warned Norway about the German invasion. And in June 1940, the submarine disappeared with its entire crew, and its wreck has not been found to this day.

The Ship Bought Largely with Public Donations

"Orzeł" was built by the Dutch shipyard De Schelde in Vlissingen. The keel was laid in August 1936, and the submarine was launched on January 15, 1938. The godmother was Jadwiga Sosnkowska, the wife of General Kazimierz Sosnkowski. On February 2, 1939, the Polish flag was raised on the submarine. uboat.net, ORP Orzeł.

The submarine was largely financed by the public. The fundraising began in the 1920s within the military community as a foundation for a submarine named after Marshal Piłsudski, and was later conducted by the Maritime Defense Fund. Ultimately, the fund collected 8,368,265 zł, which was transferred to the state. The contract also provided for the supply of parts from Polish factories. A. Kotecki, review of H. Jando's monograph, "Independence and Memory", 2017. Engineer Kazimierz Leski, later a famous intelligence officer of the Home Army, worked on the construction of "Orzeł" and its twin "Sęp" in Holland. Przystanek Historia (IPN) on Kazimierz Leski.

On February 10, 1939, on Navy Day, the submarine was ceremoniously welcomed in Gdynia. According to the press at the time, about 30,000 people attended, and General Sosnkowski unveiled a plaque on the submarine's conning tower. The submarine left the shipyard in Vlissingen on February 4 and arrived at the roads of Gdynia on February 7. The first commander was Commander Henryk Kłoczkowski. Dzieje.pl, interview with the director of the Naval Museum.

September 1939 and Internment in Tallinn

At the beginning of the war, "Orzeł" patrolled the Baltic Sea as part of the coastal defense plan. On the evening of September 14, 1939, it entered the port of Tallinn. Interia, "The Great Escape of Orzeł". The official reason was the illness of the commander, Commander Henryk Kłoczkowski, and a malfunction. According to uboat.net, the only malfunction was a faulty air compressor. Kłoczkowski went ashore and ended up in the hospital. uboat.net. The Estonians did not find any serious malfunction, and on September 15, they interned the submarine. Ander Asberg, ERR (Estonia), 2020.

The Estonian authorities began to disarm the submarine. They took all the maps, gun locks, ammunition, and some torpedoes. Magdalena Bałdyga, "ORP Orzeł", Przystanek Historia (IPN). Initially, the Estonians agreed to a one-day stop, but then delayed the submarine's departure. They cited a German merchant ship in the port and the principle that vessels from warring states could leave a neutral port with at least a 24-hour interval. During this time, the commander managed to burn secret documents. Interia. According to Soonpää's diary, 14 torpedoes were unloaded from the submarine. ERR. The Poles did what they could to counteract. According to Interia, they cut the steel cable of the crane that was unloading the torpedoes, so several were not taken. The bosun, pretending to fish, probed the depth of the port. According to Interia, the radio operator also caused a short circuit that electrocuted an Estonian guard during the dismantling of the radio station. This detail is mentioned by only one source. Interia.

Escape at Night from September 17 to 18

The command was taken over by the deputy commander, Captain Jan Grudziński. uboat.net. On the evening of September 17, the Poles activated the gyrocompass, explaining the noise to the Estonians as the work of a fan. At night, they incapacitated the guards, and one of the sailors cut the power cable from the land with an axe, causing the lights in the port to go out. Interia. According to Estonian historian Küllo Arjakas, the escape began around 3:00 AM when the mooring lines were cut and the engines were started. ERR, diary of Karl Soonpää from September 17 and 18, 1939, with historian's commentary.

At the port exit, the submarine ran aground but managed to get off. Przystanek Historia (IPN). It was fired upon by the fortress on Aegna Island, and Tallinn declared an alarm. The Estonian submarines nearby could not immediately pursue. Arjakas adds that they would not have caught "Orzeł" anyway: the Polish submarine could reach about 19.4 knots, while the Estonian ones only about 13.7 knots. According to him, Tallinn fired 14 shots at the fleeing submarine. ERR.

Vodka and Naivety

Estonian state controller Karl Soonpää bitterly noted in his diary that the Polish crew was allowed to stay on the submarine and that vodka was served there. He wrote that "we blessed the naivety of our sailors." A rifle was later found on the quay, indicating a scuffle with a guard. ERR, Soonpää's diary.

Two Estonians Who Returned Home via Stockholm

In their escape, the Poles took two Estonians with them. According to Soonpää's diary, they were two guards, while according to Arjakas, it was a guard and a sailor. A few days later, the Poles released them in a boat near Swedish Gotland. Both returned home via Stockholm and Helsinki. ERR. Sources differ on the day: September 21 or 22, 1939. uboat.net.

Popular texts often mention the detail that the Poles gave the Estonians $50 for the journey and a bottle of alcohol. This information comes from one book, and we have not found it in the sources we accessed, so treat it with caution.

Maps Drawn from a List of Lighthouses

The Estonians took all maps from the submarine, but they overlooked the list of lighthouses. Based on it, the navigator, Lieutenant Marian Mokrski, drew replacement maps, also using the Baltic pilotage. Operational history of ORP "Orzeł" on the Polish Navy website. Thanks to them, "Orzeł" crossed the Baltic Sea and the Danish straits. Przystanek Historia (IPN). In some texts, the authorship of the maps is attributed to the first officer, Lieutenant Andrzej Piasecki, but sources indicate navigator Mokrski.

For several weeks, the submarine roamed the Baltic Sea. On October 7, Grudziński decided to head to Great Britain. On October 8, "Orzeł" ran aground near Swedish Trelleborg, and on October 9, it lay on the seabed near Ven Island all day to pass through the Sund strait at night. uboat.net.

The Escape That Served as a Pretext for Moscow

For Estonia, the escape ended in a serious crisis. The day after it, the commander of the Estonian fleet, Valeva Mere, and the chief of staff, Rudolf Linnuste, were dismissed. On September 19, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov summoned the Estonian ambassador, accused Estonia of sympathizing with Poland, and announced the entry of Soviet ships into the waters near Tallinn. The Soviet agency TASS accused the Estonian government of aiding the escape. According to Minister of War Paul Lill, the decision to dismiss the commanders was made without much discussion. Karl Soonpää noted in his diary that for the first time he felt that the situation could become dangerous. ERR, Soonpää's diary from September 19, 1939, with historian's commentary. According to Arjakas, the incident was an opportunity for Moscow to implement the secret protocol of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact.

Estonian researcher Ander Asberg also describes a suppressed episode. Around September 19, the Estonian minesweeper Suurop, which was searching for "Orzeł", dodged a torpedo. Asberg believes it was fired by a Soviet submarine, and the Estonian authorities remained silent about the attack. At the end of September, the Soviet ship Metallist sank in the Narew Bay, and Moscow attributed it to a "Polish submarine." Asberg considers this a staged provocation. Shortly thereafter, Estonia had to sign a pact with the Soviet Union that granted it military bases on its territory. Ander Asberg, ERR, 2020.

Today, a plaque commemorating "Orzeł" hangs on the wall of the Estonian Maritime Museum at Pikk 70 in Tallinn. Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Estonia.

Arrival in Great Britain Without a Gun

On October 14, 1939, around 11:15 AM, "Orzeł" met the British destroyer HMS Valorous at the entrance to the Firth of Forth. The destroyer escorted the Polish submarine to the Rosyth base, where "Orzeł" arrived around 3:00 PM, almost a month after escaping from Tallinn. uboat.net. The submarine had a damaged hull and torpedo tube covers after two groundings. The deck gun was inoperative until May 1940 because the Estonians took its parts. Therefore, "Orzeł" fired warning shots from machine guns. There.

The submarine was visited in Dundee by Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief General Władysław Sikorski and the head of the Polish Navy, Admiral Jerzy Świrski. Operational history of ORP "Orzeł". The repair lasted from November to mid-December 1939. At the turn of December and January, "Orzeł" escorted convoys between Scotland and Norwegian Bergen, and from January 1940, it set out on further patrols in the North Sea. From January 18 to April 18, it undertook four patrols, and the fifth, from late April to May 11, in the area of Norwegian Stavanger. The repair was carried out at the Caledon shipyard in Dundee. uboat.net. A British liaison officer, signalman, and telegraphist served on board. Operational history of ORP "Orzeł".

The Ship That Could Have Warned Norway About the Invasion

On April 8, 1940, in the morning, "Orzeł" stopped the German ship Rio de Janeiro near Norwegian Lillesand, sailing without a flag. Grudziński sent a message: "Leave the ship immediately, we will torpedo in 5 minutes." Przystanek Historia (IPN). The first torpedo was fired at 11:45 AM when the ship was 1.8 nautical miles outside Norwegian territorial waters. uboat.net. The ship sank after being hit by torpedoes. Sources differ on how many torpedoes were fired.

Rio de Janeiro was a ship with a capacity of 5261 BRT, built in 1914 in Hamburg. It was sailing without a flag and riding high in the water, which raised suspicions. uboat.net. According to IPN, there were about 200 infantrymen, 100 airmen, horses, vehicles, guns, and ammunition on board. Przystanek Historia (IPN). The museum in Lillesand states that about 150 people died, including 97 anti-aircraft artillery soldiers, and 80 horses. Museum in Lillesand. According to Norwegian television NRK, there were 380 people on the ship, and 183 were rescued. Survivors told Norwegian rescuers that they were heading to Bergen. X-Ray Mag via NRK. This was the day before the German attack on Norway. The Norwegian encyclopedia Store norske leksikon states that the Norwegian authorities were informed but did little and did not announce mobilization. Store norske leksikon.

Lillesand is considered the place where the war in Norway began, and a memorial stone stands in front of the town hall. Museum in Lillesand. The wreck of Rio de Janeiro was found in 2015 by Norwegian divers from Agder-Tech and the Adykk diving center from Kristiansand, at a depth of 135 meters. The wreck was recognized as a war grave. X-Ray Mag. The German invasion team to which the ship belonged was commanded by Rear Admiral Hubert Schmundt, the same one who attacked the Polish coast in September 1939. "Independence and Memory", 2017.

The Last Patrol in May 1940

On May 23, 1940, at 11:00 PM, "Orzeł" set out on its sixth patrol, in the area west of the Jutland Peninsula. It was supposed to return on June 8. On June 5, the command sent an order to return to Rosyth, but the submarine did not respond. uboat.net. "Independence and Memory", 2017. It did not return and did not respond to calls. On June 11, the Naval Command in London announced that the submarine "should be considered lost." 63 crew members perished. Grudziński posthumously received the Gold Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari. Przystanek Historia (IPN).

Hypotheses About the Sinking

• British Minefield: In 1962, the British Admiralty indicated a British minefield as the cause, where a strong explosion was recorded on May 25, 1940. uboat.net.
• German Minefield: Another hypothesis speaks of a German minefield, then unknown to the Allies, where a Dutch submarine O-13 likely sank a few days later. There.
• Eight Hypotheses: A 2015 monograph from the Naval Museum analyzes eight possible causes, from a mine and accident to an attack by a ship or aircraft, including Allied ones. "Independence and Memory".
• Friendly Fire: The SANTI search team considers an attack by British aviation and believes that the submarine sank in the early days of the patrol. They point to an explosion recorded during the patrol of the British submarine HMS Taku in a neighboring area as a clue. British Poles, 2023.

Search for the Wreck Since 2006

Polish expeditions have been searching for "Orzeł" since 2006. SANTI Find the Orzeł. In 2013, it seemed that the submarine had been found, but the wreck detected by ORP "Czajka" turned out to be the British submarine J6. It was mistakenly sunk on October 15, 1918, by the British trap ship Cymric, and the Admiralty revealed this matter only in 1969. Defence24, 2013. In 2015, an object resembling a submarine turned out to be a school of fish on sonar. TVN24, 2015.

In August 2023, the tenth SANTI expedition set sail from the Dutch IJmuiden, traveled about 2200 km, and searched 149 positions in the North Sea, in the area of former German minefields. On the first day, it found the wrecks of four submarines, but none was "Orzeł". SANTI, 2023 expedition, Divers24, 2023. In 2017, the SANTI team found the wreck of the British submarine HMS Narwhal. In November 2018, the fifth expedition traveled 1162 km from the Danish Thyborøn and checked 43 positions, also without success. Portal Stoczniowy, 2018. Over the years, the team has found about 400 wrecks, including the British submarine HMS L10 from World War I. British Poles. In June 2025, the IPN reported that the wreck of "Orzeł" had not been found to this day. IPN, exhibition "ORP Orzeł (1938–1940)".

Monument in Rosyth, Films, and Other "Orzeł" Submarines

A monument depicting the meeting of "Orzeł" with HMS Valorous, along with a memorial garden and commemoration of the 63 crew members, is planned in Rosyth, Scotland. In April 2025, the project was at the planning application stage. British Poles, 2025. The Polish Consulate in Edinburgh prepared a short documentary "Still on Patrol" about the history of the submarine. Polish Consulate in Edinburgh. In 2022, a feature film "Orzeł. The Last Patrol" was also made.

The name "Orzeł" has been carried by subsequent Polish submarines, including a unit commissioned in 1986. "Independence and Memory". If you live in the UK, the story of "Orzeł" is a good excuse to visit Rosyth and the Firth of Forth, where the submarine ended its escape.

Myths and Errors About "Orzeł"

What Could Not Be Confirmed

• Details of Farewell to the Estonians: $50, a bottle of alcohol, and a letter to the fleet commander come from one book.
• The Day of the Estonians' Release: September 21 or 22, 1939.
• Number of Torpedoes on Board after disarmament: 6 or 4.
• Time of Escape: around 2:00 AM or around 3:00 AM.
• Fate of Commander Kłoczkowski: according to Interia, he was sentenced a few years later for neglect of duty and demoted, but we have not confirmed the details of the verdict in another source.
• Expeditions from 2024 to 2026: we did not reach detailed accounts. It is only certain that by June 2025, the wreck had not been found.