PGZ Naval Shipyard hands modernised minesweeper ORP Wigry back to the Polish Navy

New propulsion, power plant and military equipment

The scope of work covered a comprehensive replacement of the propulsion system together with a modern control system, the construction of a new shipboard power plant equipped with a power management system (PMS), and the fitting of new military equipment. An additional challenge was integrating several new systems into the vessel's existing infrastructure - among them a VSAT satellite communications system, a new workboat and a stowage compartment for sweep gear with horizontal and vertical handling arrangements. These elements increase the minesweeper's operational capabilities and improve working conditions for the crew.

The yard stresses that despite difficulties with the timeliness of equipment and material deliveries, the team once again kept to - and in fact shortened - the planned schedule. The quality of the work was confirmed during acceptance trials, in which the newly installed solutions were tested.

The fourth minesweeper with a new heart

ORP Wigry joins the group of Project 207 vessels that have received new propulsion systems in Gdynia. Major overhauls were earlier completed there on ORP Necko and ORP Nakło of Project 207P and on ORP Mamry of Project 207M, delivered in March 2025 ten days ahead of schedule. That work was carried out by a consortium of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, the Nauta repair yard and the PGZ Naval Shipyard under a contract signed with the Naval Port Command in Świnoujście in June 2022, and every vessel was returned to the fleet before its contractual deadline.

Project 207 base minesweepers are the largest class of warships ever built for the Polish Navy, numbering 17 hulls. They are distinguished by glass-reinforced plastic hulls and a design that minimises the magnetic signature, which is crucial in mine countermeasures operations. ORP Wigry belongs to the four-ship Mamry-type 207M sub-series, built between 1991 and 1994 at the then Naval Shipyard in Gdynia and fitted with more modern sonar, sweep and gun systems than their predecessors. Like her sister ships, the vessel serves in the 8th Coastal Defence Flotilla.

A bridge to the Kormorans

The modernisation of the Project 207 minesweepers remains an important element of maintaining the Polish Navy's mine countermeasures capability in the transition period before new vessels of the Kormoran II programme enter service. The fleet currently operates three mine countermeasures vessels of the type - ORP Kormoran, ORP Albatros and ORP Mewa - while three more, ORP Jaskółka, ORP Rybitwa and ORP Czajka, are under construction at the Remontowa Shipbuilding yard in Gdańsk. Until the new series is complete, it is the modernised Project 207 minesweepers that will carry out a significant share of the tasks of detecting and countering the mine threat in Polish waters and on shipping routes.