ORP Mewa marks four months with SNMCMG1. Poland's first Kormoran II deployment runs to year-end

Legacy munitions and port approaches

The contingent's core task is to protect allied shipping by locating and destroying hazardous underwater objects, above all the munitions sunk during both world wars, which still pose a risk to navigation. The work also covers clearing port approaches and shipping lanes and building situational awareness across northern European waters, a direct Polish contribution to NATO's defensive capabilities.

The deployment rests on a decision by President Karol Nawrocki of 19 June 2026, issued at the request of the Council of Ministers and countersigned by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The contingent is drawn from the 13th Minesweeper Squadron of the 8th Coastal Defence Flotilla and is commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bartosz Blaszke, the ship's first commanding officer, who raised the Polish naval ensign aboard her on 14 February 2023. ORP Mewa joined the group just as the Czernicki 2026 contingent, under which Poland led SNMCMG1 for six months, was completing its mission.

From the English Channel to the North Atlantic

In July ORP Mewa took part in Sea Breeze 26-2 off Portland in the English Channel. In August her crew joined the multinational exercise Northern Viking 26 in North Atlantic waters, where later serials focused on practical mine countermeasures. Participants included German reconnaissance aircraft, Canadian warships and Belgian fighter jets.

Between phases of the deployment the ship called at London. Her berth at South Dock on the Isle of Dogs gave the crew a short period of rest, replenishment and preparation for the next stage.

A non-magnetic hull and an unmanned toolkit

ORP Mewa (603) is 58.5 metres long and 10.3 metres in beam, displaces 830 tonnes and has a hull built of non-magnetic steel. Two diesel engines drive two cycloidal propellers, giving the fine low-speed control that mine countermeasures work demands.

Mine hunting relies on a suite of unmanned underwater vehicles: the Saab Double Eagle, the Gavia, the Kongsberg Hugin and the Polish-built Głuptak in inspection and combat variants, used respectively to identify and to destroy underwater objects. Armament comprises the 35 mm OSU-35K gun system, three 12.7 mm WKM-Bm heavy machine guns and Grom man-portable air defence missiles.

Three more hulls under construction in Gdańsk

ORP Mewa serves in Gdynia alongside her sisters ORP Kormoran (601), commissioned on 28 November 2017, and ORP Albatros (602), commissioned on 28 November 2022. All three were built by a consortium led by Remontowa Shipbuilding and today form the backbone of Poland's mine countermeasures force.

Three further Project 258 minehunters are under construction at Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdańsk. Once they enter service, the Polish Navy will operate six ships of the class.