3D visualisation showed the whole wreck of ORP "Kujawiak"

Thanks to technological achievements we can finally see the wreck of the Polish destroyer ORP “Kujawiak” in its full glory. The presentation, prepared with the use of 3D visualisation, allowed for the first time after 75 years to show the ship in its entirety. This is the first case where a Polish ship sunk in World War II has been documented in this way.

The visualisation made in 3D was possible thanks to the documentation gathered during the expeditions, carried out by members of the team “Wreck Expeditions”. It was they who discovered the wreck and carried out a number of explorations, as a result of which, among other things, the ship’s bell was discovered and excavated.

-- Advertisement --

[blockquote style=”2″]”To see a large wreck underwater we look at it in sectors – we see one part of the wreck, then we swim through and see another part of the wreck and have to imagine what the wreck looks like in its entirety. Thanks to the fantastic work of the divers, who created a 3D model, we can see the wreck from bow to stern”. – emphasised the vice president of Wreck Expeditions[/blockquote].

After being processed, the recorded video material was used to reconstruct the wreck of the Polish escort destroyer in 3D. This part was undertaken by specialists in this field and experienced divers – Kari Hyttinen from Finland, a specialist in photogrammetry, and Professor Chris Rowland from the University of Dundee in Scotland, a specialist in virtual reality.

During the six dives, they filmed the individual parts of the wreck one by one. The task was extremely demanding due to the location of the wreck. ORP “Kujawiak” is located at a depth of 90 metres, which makes its exploration possible only for very experienced technical divers.

[blockquote style=”2″]”Both divers descended to the wreck a total of six times, which in total amounted to as much as two hours of work on the wreck. This meant a total of as much as 18 hours of decompression, which is how much time they spent underwater,” said Peter Wytykowski.”[/blockquote]

The visualisation, apart from popularising the very history of the Polish destroyer, is also to serve research purposes, as it allows evaluating the condition of the wreck and the impact that its sinking and being on the bottom for 75 years had on it. As Wytykowski emphasises, it is also one of the few wreck models which were created using documentation gathered by people and not ROV robots.

A recording with Peter Wytykowski for PAP is available here.

[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”31298″]

On 22 September 2014, the Polish expedition “The Hunt for L72″ located and identified the wreck of the Polish destroyer ORP “Kujawiak”. On 16 June 1942, the vessel sank off the coast of Malta, where she was on escort duty. While protecting one of the transports, the L-72 hit a mine and went down. On that day 13 Polish seamen lost their lives.

During her short service, “Kujawiak” participated in missions in the Bristol Channel and the English Channel. The last wartime touch before sinking was the big operation “Harpoon”, during which she escorted supplies to Malta.

The keel for ORP “Kujawiak” was laid on 22 November 1939 in Vickers-Armstrong shipyard, High Walker, Tyne. The Hunt II type destroyer was originally planned to enter service with the Royal Navy as HMS “Oakley”. The situation changed when the Polish government placed an order for 18 ships of this type on 4 September 1939. The order for 18 ships of this type was placed by the Polish government on 4 September 1939. “Kujawiak” was one of the three from this order that went to our Navy.

The L-72 measured 85.34m long and 9.62m wide. The displacement of the vessel was 1050t. The ship was powered by two sets of Parsons steam turbines, 19000 shp; two Admiralty type boilers and two screws. This allowed her to develop a speed of 27 knots and translated into a range of 2000Mm at 20 knots and 3700Mm at an economy speed of 14 knots.

The whole unit was armed with 6 universal guns cal. 102 mm, 4 plot guns cal. 40 mm, 2-4 plot guns cal. 20 mm, 2 machine guns cal. 7.7 mm, 1-2 launchers and 2 depth bomb throwers.

Source: pap.pl