On July 27, 2023, at the Polish shipbuilding company Remontowa Shipbuilding (formerly the famous shipyard Stocznia Północna) in Gdansk, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Polish Navy of the lead of two ordered reconnaissance ships of the new generation of Project 107 (code Delfin), named Jerzy Różycki (construction number 107/1, planned tail number "261"). The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the lead ship took place at the shipyard on April 27, 2023. The second ship of this type will be named Henryk Zygalski (construction number 107/2, planned tail number "264").
Image of a promising Polish reconnaissance ship of the project 107 type Jerzy Różycki (c) Armament Agency of the Ministry of National Defense of Poland
Both ships were named after outstanding Polish mathematicians and cryptologists who, in the 1930s, hacked the encryption system of the German Enigma cipher machine and created a device for decrypting it ("cryptobomb")..
The general contractor for the construction of both ships under the Polish Delfin program is the Swedish group Saab AB, which in November 2022 signed a contract for their design, construction and operation support with the Armaments Agency of the Ministry of National Defense of Poland. The total value of the contract is about 620 million euros (2.91 billion zlotys),
Saab AB will deliver both ships and integrate advanced reconnaissance systems on them. The direct technical design of the ships for the shipbuilding part was carried out as a subcontractor by the Polish design bureau MMC Ship Design & Marine Consulting Ltd. in Gdynia, and the ships themselves are being built as a subcontractor by the Polish shipyard Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk. The Polish shipyard will be responsible for the completion and testing of the ships. The installation of special equipment on the ships will be carried out by Saab partly in Gdansk and partly in Sweden.
The delivery of the lead ship Jerzy Różycki is scheduled for 2026, and the delivery of Polish Navy ships and their commissioning are scheduled for 2027. They are to replace in the Polish fleet both currently operational reconnaissance ships Nawigator (tail number "262") and Hydrograf (tail number "263") of Project 863, which have been in service since 1975-1976 (and also built then at the shipyard Stocznia Północna). Both of them are part of the Group of reconnaissance ships of the 3rd Flotilla of the Polish Navy based in Gdynia.
The ordered Polish ships are actually a variant of the new Swedish reconnaissance ship A 202 Artemis, built for the Swedish Navy by Saab Group as a general contractor, also according to the scheme with the design and construction of the hull in Poland. In April 2017, the Swedish defense procurement agency Foersvarets materialverk (FMV) awarded the Saab group a contract worth 730 million Swedish kronor (about $ 70 million) for the construction of a new Artemis reconnaissance ship to replace the A 201 Orion reconnaissance ship, which has been in the Swedish navy since 1984, with delivery in 2020. Another 500 million kronor ($48 million) was estimated at the cost of special reconnaissance equipment of the ship, supplied directly by FMV.
The design of the Artemis ship for the shipbuilding part was carried out as a subcontractor by the same Polish design bureau MMC Ship Design & Marine Consulting Ltd. in Gdynia, and the construction of the hull was carried out as a subcontractor by the Polish shipyard Stocznia Remontowa Nauta SA also in Gdynia. The official laying of the ship was carried out on Nauta on June 19, 2018, and the launch on April 16, 2019. However, in the future, the work actually stopped due to the bankruptcy of the Nauta shipyard. Only in 2021, the ship was towed to Sweden for completion at the Saab Koskims shipyard in Karlskrona, and on November 2, 2022, Artemis finally entered sea trials and on April 28, 2023, the FMV was delivered. The final commissioning of Artemis for its intended purpose will take place only in 2024.
Artemis has a total displacement of 2,300 tons, a length of 74 m, a width of 14 m and a draft of 3.8 m. The electric power plant consists of four diesel generator sets with a capacity of 990 kW each. Two screw-steering columns are used for movement. The full speed is 14.4 knots, the crew is about 35 people.
The ceremony of laying the head Polish reconnaissance ship Jerzy Różyck project 107 at the Polish shipbuilding company Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk, 27.07.2023 (c) Jarosław Ciślak / Defence24.pl
Images of promising Polish reconnaissance ships of the project 107 type Jerzy Różycki (c) MMC Ship Design & Marine Consulting Ltd.
The new Swedish reconnaissance ship A 202 Artemis (c) Saab AB
Video:
