WARSAW — ORP Wicher, the first of three multi-role frigates planned under the Polish Navy‘s Miecznik modernization program, was officially launched into the waters of Gdansk Bay off the Baltic Sea on Thursday.
A christening ceremony for the vessel was attended by senior Polish officials, including President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Nawrocki noted that the launch of the Miecznik program in 2021 has been crucial for Poland’s domestic shipbuilding industry.
“With well-calibrated public finances and a strong Polish budget, we managed to create a project that sets a benchmark for the coming years and decades,” Nawrocki said.
The Miecznik-class frigates are intended to replace the country’s obsolete Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates and will form the backbone of the Polish Navy’s surface strike forces. Their missions will include defending naval installations and safeguarding critical infrastructure, such as wind farms, communications lines and the Baltic Pipe, which carries natural gas from the North Sea to Poland. The vessels are also expected to perform maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, air defense missions and support for amphibious operations.
After the launch, ORP Wicher proceeded to the outfitting and systems integration phase of its commissioning. The frigate is scheduled to be delivered to the Polish Navy in 2029. Work on the second frigate – ORP Burza – is ongoing; the process of construction and cutting of sheets began last year, and its launch is planned for September 2027. Construction of the third frigate – ORP Huragan – symbolically started in April, when the process of cutting sheets began. Program completion is scheduled for the end of 2031.
