On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, the first steel for the construction of another SIGINT (signal intelligence) type radio-electronic reconnaissance ship for the Polish Navy was ceremoniously cut at Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk, part of the REMONTOWA HOLDING Group. This is the second vessel underway at this yard within the Dolphin programme.
The ship will be named ORP Henryk Zygalski – to commemorate the eminent Polish mathematician and cryptologist who contributed to breaking the code of the German Enigma cypher machine.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the National Security Bureau (NSB), Armament Agency, Saab, Remontowa Shipbuilding, the Polish Navy, DNV Classification Society and other companies cooperating on the project.
On behalf of the shipbuilder, Remontowa Shipbuilding CEO Dariusz Jaguszewski spoke. The Head of NSB, Secretary of State Jacek Siewiera, also addressed the gathering, while Deputy CEO Lars Brännström spoke on behalf of Saab. The Head of the Armament Directorate at the Navy Inspectorate in the Polish Armed Forces General Command, Rear Admiral Vladimir Kulagin, also gave a short speech.
Subsequently, the programme director, Jörgen Olsson and the head of Maritime Technology at the Armament Agency, Navy Captain Piotr Skóra, jointly triggered the plasma cutting machine, thus inaugurating the production commencement. The certificate to acknowledge reaching that milestone finalising the ship’s technical design agreement was signed by the project manager Magnus Nielsen from Saab, Navy Captain Piotr Skóra, Paweł Szmigiel from DNV and Krzysztof Radzikowski, the project director at Remontowa Shipbuilding.
This is the second SIGINT vessel under construction at Remontowa Shipbuilding as part of the Dolphin programme. The keel for the first ship, to be named ORP Jerzy Różycki, was laid on July 27, 2023.
Both are being built under a contract for the design, construction, delivery and logistical support of two radio-electronic reconnaissance ships, signed in November 2022 between the Armament Agency and the Swedish company Saab, which entrusted the Polish yard with the production.
Remontowa Shipbuilding is constructing complete, ready-to-operate floating platforms with all equipment and systems. It will also conduct the necessary trials, including the full scope of HAT (Harbour Acceptance Tests) and SAT (Sea Acceptance Tests).
The ships are designed for intelligence missions in the full range of the Navy’s tasks. They will replace the units of project 863, currently operated by the Navy: ORP Nawigator and ORP Hydrograf, built in the mid-1970s, at the Northern Shipyard in Gdansk, i.e. the present Remontowa Shipbuilding.
Photos: Sławomir Lewandowski/ PortalMorski.pl