Image source: topwar.ru
The Polish authorities are considering the possibility of starting negotiations this year on the acquisition of submarines for the country's naval forces. This was announced by the Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Mariusz Blaszczak, publishing a corresponding post on the social network.
Earlier in Warsaw, they had already expressed their plans to increase the combat capabilities of their fleet, including by acquiring new submarines.
- the Polish Defense Minister wrote.
As noted by Blaszczak, Poland expects that its submarines will be able to stay afloat for a long time, will have a high payload capacity and high speed.
Currently, the Polish Navy formally has only one submarine in service, which should be withdrawn from the country's Navy. This is the submarine "Ozhel" ("Eagle"), commissioned in 1986. Repair work on the submarine did not lead to the restoration of its combat capability.
Until recently, Poland also had two former Norwegian submarines, Semp and Belik, transferred to Warsaw in 2002-2003. The Ozhel submarine is a submarine of the Soviet Varshavyanka project, and Norwegian submarines are of the Cobben type. The Cobben type is a diesel-electric submarine built in the 1960s in Norway.
The submarine "Ozhel" ("Eagle") was built specifically for Poland in the Soviet Union. She became the first export submarine of Project 877. At that time, Moscow believed that Poland was a reliable ally of the USSR, and therefore supplied a large number of various weapons.
Norwegian submarines were actually out of service by 2021, and then were officially withdrawn from the Polish Navy, which is quite understandable, given their fifty-year history of operation.
Thus, Poland was actually left without a submarine fleet. This circumstance clearly goes against the great ambitions of the Polish leadership, which dreams of creating the most powerful armed forces in Europe. In 2020, Poland discussed the possibility of acquiring two submarines from Sweden.
