BOA Barge 33 arrives in Gdynia. ORP Wicher will ride it to christening and launch

The semi-submersible barge BOA Barge 33 has moored at the quay of PGZ Stocznia Wojenna in Gdynia. The yard is beginning preparations to move ORP Wicher, the first frigate of the Miecznik programme, out of its hull assembly hall and onto the barge's deck. It is aboard this vessel that the frigate will travel to the site of its christening and launch.

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09 august 2026   |   12:34   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. PGZ Stocznia Wojenna

One of the world's largest heavy-lift barges

BOA Barge 33 ranks among the largest semi-submersible heavy-lift barges in the world. The vessel is 140 metres long and more than 60 metres wide with its stabilising towers fitted, and its 5,800-square-metre deck offers a carrying capacity of 30,200 tonnes at a deck strength of 31.5 tonnes per square metre. For comparison, a Miecznik-class frigate measures 138.7 metres in length, meaning it will occupy nearly the full length of the barge's deck.

Owned by Norway's BOA and registered in Trondheim, the barge was built in 2011 and took its current form in 2020 after a major rebuild at the Norwegian yard Kleven Verft, which widened it from 36 to over 60 metres and raised its deadweight to today's level. The vessel has served some of the world's largest marine civil-engineering projects: it floated off concrete breakwater caissons for the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas field off Mauritania and Senegal, and later caissons weighing up to 22,400 tonnes for Princess Elisabeth Island, the world's first artificial energy island in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

How a float-off launch works

Launching from a semi-submersible barge is a float-off operation. The ship is first moved onto the barge's deck, and the barge then takes on water ballast and submerges until the frigate's hull lifts free of its supports and floats on its own, ready to be towed clear. BOA Barge 33 can submerge its deck to 18 metres below the surface at the bow and 21 metres at the stern, with ballast pumps shifting 10,000 cubic metres of water per hour. The method is gentler on modern, electronics-laden warships than a traditional slipway launch, as the hull stays level throughout and is never exposed to launching stresses.

Before the frigate is moved aboard, however, the yard faces precise preparatory work. Ballasting is under way, along with the installation of the support structures on which the hull will rest. These cradles will hold the ship in a stable, precisely defined position throughout the transport.

ORP Wicher awaits its first entry into the water

ORP Wicher is the first of three Miecznik-class frigates being built at PGZ Stocznia Wojenna for the Polish Navy. The ship, 138.7 metres long, 19.8 metres wide and displacing 5,700 tonnes standard, is based on the British Arrowhead 140 design, itself derived from Denmark's Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates. The vessel will carry the TACTICOS combat management system, integrated with the involvement of OBR CTM, and air defence built around CAMM-family missiles. The yard's hull assembly hall is simultaneously home to the next ships of the series, ORP Burza and ORP Huragan.

The christening of ORP Wicher is scheduled for 12 August, with the launch to follow a day later. Once in the water, the frigate will move into the fitting-out and systems integration phase, with entry into service planned for the end of 2029.

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ORP Wicher BOA Barge 33 PGZ Stocznia Wojenna program Miecznik wodowanie fregaty

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