MS Piłsudski
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MS Piłsudski (later renamed ORP Piłsudski) was a medium-size ocean liner of the Polish Merchant Marine, named for Marshal Józef Piłsudski, a national hero of Poland. While transporting troops, the ship was sunk off the coast of England during World War II.
History
She was built in Italy by the CRDA yard at Monfalcone, yard number 1126, for Polskie Transatlantyckie Towarzystwo Okrętowe ("Polish Transatlantic Shipping Company Limited" or PTTO), which in 1934 became Gdynia – Ameryka Linie Zeglugowe (Gdynia – America Line), with part of the payment being shipments of coal from Poland. The ship was named for Polish national hero, Józef Piłsudski.[1] Launched in December 1934, her tonnage was 14,294 tons gross, with a length of Script error: No such module "convert". and beam of Script error: No such module "convert".. She was propelled by two diesel engines driving a pair of propellers giving a speed of Script error: No such module "convert".. She was the older sister ship to Poland's most famous ocean liner, Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The PilsudskiTemplate:'s first skipper was Master Mariner Mamert Stankiewicz.
She entered the regular service as a liner on the trans-Atlantic route in September 1935, setting sail for a maiden voyage from Gdynia to New York. As a liner, she was very badly damaged by her first ocean storm. Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
War service and wreck
In 1939, she was taken over for war service by the Polish Navy and scheduled to be converted into an armed merchant cruiser. The plans of that conversion were dropped, the ship being instead converted into a troop transport ship. During her first wartime voyage on 26 November 1939 sailing out of Newcastle, she struck a naval mine (most likely) or was torpedoed (lack of confirmation in German sources). Template:Speculation inline, she sank off the Humber. Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Mamert Stankiewicz remained on the ship until all his crew had safely escaped. He later died of exhaustion and hypothermia.[2]
Legacy
The wreck is located at Script error: No such module "Coordinates". in Script error: No such module "convert".. The remains of MS Piłsudski were undiscovered for 40 years. In 2008 Polish divers visited the wreck site to search for answers as to why the ship was sunk.[2]
In the novel Eccentrics, written by W. Kowalewski and published by Marginesy-Publishers in 2015, the main character of the novel - a Polish swingman and dancer born in Lemberg, Fabian Apanowicz, takes part in the last peacetime voyage of the Pilsudski as a member of the ship's band, and after his return to Poland after the war, he tells the story of the unfinished voyage to his six years younger sister Wanda, a dentist in Ciechocinek (cf. W. Kowalewski, Excentrycy/Eccentrics, Marginesy Warsaw 2015, pp. 36–43).
In 2023, the Polish government released ‘MS Piłsudski – the underwater mission’ a film using audio visual technology to recreate the ship in its heydey and tell the story of the ship's demise.[3]
See also
References
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External links
- History of M/S Pilsudski and M/S Batory
- Official report of the sinking Template:Webarchive
- Diver report
- The MS Piłsudski - "The Polish Titanic" What Happened with the pride of the Polish Navy?
- Cruising Ships, W.H. Mitchell and L. A Sawyer, Doubleday, 1967
- Wielka Ksiega Statkow Polskich, vol 2, J. Micinski, M. Twardowski, B. Huras.
Template:Cantieri Riuniti dell'AdriaticoTemplate:November 1939 shipwrecksTemplate:Recreational dive sites Template:Gdynia America Line