ORP Wilia

History
Poland
Name:	ORP Wilia
Launched:	1906
Commissioned:	8 August 1925
Fate:	Transferred to Polish merchant marine as Modlin on 30 July 1940 Scuttled as part of an artificial harbour, 1944
General characteristics
Tonnage:	3570 Gross Register Tonnage
Length:	108 metres
Installed power:	1850 HP
Speed:	8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)

ORP Wilia (some sources use the spelling ORP Wilja) was a school ship of the Polish Navy of the Second Polish Republic.

Construction

The ship was built in 1906 as a freighter in the shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft in Flensburg, Germany. After changing several owners and names the ship sailed under the French flag as the Laurent Schaffiano.

Polish Navy

In 1925 the ship was bought by the Polish Navy. The Polish flag was raised on the ship on 8 August 1925 in the French port of Le Havre and the ship was renamed ORP Wilia, after the river Wilia. Initially the Polish Navy used her to transport arms and equipment, bought in France, to Poland. Later she served as a training ships for cadets. At the start of the Second World War the ship was in the port of Casablanca. On 30 July 1940 she was transferred to the Polish Merchant Navy which renamed her Modlin.

Fate

The ship served in that role until 6 June 1944 when she was scuttled off the coast of Normandy as a part of an artificial breakwater.

References