Remontowa Shipbuilding has started Production of The Second Sigint-Class Ship
On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at the Remontowa Shipbuilding SA shipyard, belonging to the REMONTOWA HOLDING Capital Group, the first steel was ceremonially cut for the construction of another SIGINT (signal intelligence) type radio-electronic reconnaissance ship for the Polish Navy. This is the second unit of this type built at this shipyard as part of the program codenamed Delfin.
The ship will be named ORP Henryk Zygalski - in honor of the outstanding Polish mathematician and cryptologist who contributed to breaking the code of the German Enigma encryption machine.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the National Security Bureau, the Armament Agency, Saab, the Remontowa Shipbuilding shipyard, as well as the Polish Navy, the DNV classification society and other companies cooperating in the implementation of the project.
On behalf of the ship contractor, Dariusz Jaguszewski, President of the Management Board of Remontowa Shipbuilding SA, spoke. The Head of the National Security Bureau, Secretary of State Jacek Siewiera, also addressed the meeting, while Vice President Lars Brännström spoke on behalf of Saab. The head of the Armament Directorate of the Naval Inspectorate of the General Command of the Armed Forces, Rear Admiral WÅ‚odzimierz Kulagin, also gave a short speech.
Then, program director Jörgen Olsson and the head of the Naval Technology Headquarters at the Armament Agency, Commander Piotr Skóra, launched the plasma cutting machine together, thus inaugurating the start of production. The certificate confirming the achievement of this stage of contract implementation, which crowns the agreement on the ship's technical design, was signed by project manager Magnus Nielsen from Saab, Commander Piotr Skóra, PaweÅ‚ Szmigiel from DNV and Krzysztof Radzikowski, project director at Remontowa Shipbuilding.
This is the second SIGINT ship being built at the Remontowa Shipbuilding shipyard as part of the Delfin program. The keel of the first one, which will be named ORP Jerzy Różycki, was laid on July 27, 2023.
Both are being built as part of the contract for the design, construction, delivery and logistic support of two electronic reconnaissance ships, signed in November 2022 between the Armament Agency and the Saab concern, which commissioned the construction of these units from the Polish shipyard.
Remontowa Shipbuilding SA will build complete, ready-to-operate floating platforms, equipped with all devices and systems. It will also conduct necessary tests, including a full range of HAT (Harbor Acceptance Tests) and Sea Acceptance Tests (SAT) tests.
The ships are intended to obtain intelligence data in the full range of Navy tasks. They will replace the Project 863 units currently operated by the Navy: ORP Nawigator and ORP Hydrograf, built in the mid-1970s at the Northern Shipyard. Bohaterów Westerplatte in GdaÅ„sk, i.e. in the current Remontowa Shipbuilding.