WWII Shipwrecks of Artic Norway, Part I

by Mirek Standowicz ORP Grom

Ship Wrecks of Norway is a product of three different diving expeditions completed in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Part I is about Polish destroyer ORP Grom (ORP stands for warship of Poland and Grom means “thunderclap”). Grom was ordered from the British J. Samuel White shipyard in Cowes, laid down in 1935 and commissioned in 1937. Grom was thought of as a large destroyer, similar to flotilla leaders. Her and her sister ship, Blyskawica (“Lightening”), were two of the fastest, most powerful and heavily armed destroyers on the seas, reaching peeds of 39 knots (72kmh/45mph)—faster than any other contemporary design. During her operations in the Norwegian Campaign Grom was thought of by German soldiers as the most hated of all the allied ships deployed to the area[1]. This hatred was founded by the fact that the Grom took an intense interest in all hostile movements on shore and was reputed to spend hours lurking around the coast in order to kill even a single German. On May 4th, 1940 Grom carried out what turned out to be the last of her many Naval Gunfire Support missions in the Narvik area of the Rombaken fjord. Her loaded midship torpedo launcher was struck by a bomb from a German plane and the torpedo exploded, causing the hull to break into two and the ship to sink almost immediately with a loss of 59 sailors.

Most of the presented images have never been seen before by the public.