COBI ORP Orzeł Set 4855

COBI's ORP Orzeł is a 1:300 model built from 193 blocks, 28.5 cm long, released in cooperation with the Naval Museum in Gdynia. The propellers and control surfaces move, and a display stand with a collector's plaque is included. All markings are printed.

The escape from Tallinn

In September 1939 Orzeł put into Tallinn with a sick captain. Estonia, under German pressure, interned her: the crew were disarmed, the breech blocks removed from the guns, the torpedoes taken off, and — crucially — every chart and navigation table confiscated.

On the night of 17 September the crew overpowered the Estonian guards, cut the mooring cables and took the boat out under fire from shore batteries. They then had to cross the Baltic and reach Britain with no charts at all.

They drew their own. Using memory, a small-scale atlas page and the navigator's knowledge, they reconstructed enough of the Baltic and the Danish straits to get through the Øresund submerged, past German patrols, into the North Sea and to Rosyth, arriving on 14 October. The two Estonian guards were put ashore in Sweden with civilian clothes and money.

In April 1940 she sank the German transport Rio de Janeiro off Norway, revealing to the Allies that the invasion of Norway was under way. She sailed on patrol on 23 May 1940 and never returned. Where and how she was lost has never been established.

In the COBI range

Set 4856 is her sister ORP Sęp at the same scale. The German boats U-47 (4858) and U-96 (4857) are also 1:300.

Specifications

Pieces: 193 · Scale: 1:300 · Age: 7+ · In cooperation with the Naval Museum in Gdynia
Model dimensions: 28.5 × 4 × 7.5 cm (11.2 × 1.6 × 3.0 in)