ORP Błyskawica's Heroic Stand

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This video is dedicated to Captain Wojciech Francki and the crew of ORP Błyskawica.
ORP Błyskawica (Lightning) is a Grom-class destroyer which served in the Polish Navy during World War II. It is the only Polish Navy ship to have been decorated with the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest military order for gallantry, and in 2012 was given the Pro Memoria Medal. Błyskawica is preserved as a museum ship in Gdynia and is the oldest preserved destroyer in the world. Błyskawica is moored next to the Dar Pomorza.
She was the second of two Grom (Thunderbolt)-class destroyers built for the Polish Navy by J. Samuel White, of Cowes, in 1935-37. The Grom class were two of the most heavily armed and fastest destroyers in World War II.
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[@HiddenHistoryYT]

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[@carcharinus6367]

Great thanks for commemorating this episode related to the brave polish destroyer.During the fighting near Narvik, ORP Błyskawica beat the Germans more that once *("Verfluchte Polnisch Zerstorer"...)!*

[@EchoesofWarYT]

The Polish were very brave in WW2!

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Yes they were!

[@jasse803]

ORP Blyskawica, what a legendary ship. She is proudly resting in the War Museum in Gdynia, where you can visit her. Poles fought on all fronts of WWII. All according to old polish motto "For your freedom and ours". Or, as Witold Urbanowicz of legendary 303 Kosciuszko Squadron has said: We do not beg for freedom. We fight for it! Big thanx for this vid!

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)

[@ericcriteser4001]

Wonderful and thanks for sharing. I would have enjoyed hearing a bit about how it came to be preserved at the end, though considering you showed it today. Would have been a nice wrap up.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Appreciate the suggestion, will adjust for future videos! Thanks for watching and have a fantastic week :)

[@reddirtroots5992]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. The ship looked to be nicely restored.

[@HiddenHistoryPlaysYT]

Incredible ship and crew!

[@orwellboy1958]

Thanks for another great production. A story from just up the coast from me, from my home I can almost see the IOW. Have a great week my friend.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Greatly appreciate you! Have a fantastic week as well :)

[@TheBrettWay]

the production quality just gets better and better wow incredible work

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Just trappin out the Tommy knapsack

[@user-ke4vx1tt6j]

A snipet of history I just learned about. Thanks for your video.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Greatly appreciate you! Thanks for watching and have a fantastic week :)

[@carcharinus6367]

I invite you to Gdynia - where you can still visit the museum ship, ORP Błyskawica!

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

I definitely need to get there at some point! Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your week :)

[@j.dunlop8295]

The polish fighter pilots were also great heros of the battle of Britain, real tigers! The Poles lost the greatest percentage of population, of any country in WW2! With Putin, they've really preparing! 🙏✌️

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Indeed they were! Still a topic that I need to get to. Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)

[@frglee]

Very good video - a story that well deserves to be told, lest we forget the heroic Polish contribution to the British war effort.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)

[@simonjones3863]

Excellent story, delivered well. ++

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Greatly appreciate it! Thanks for watching and have a fantastic week :)

[@BRSBRS-uy6vv]

These are such terrific videos !! Thank you very much

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Greatly appreciate it! Thanks for watching and have a fantastic week :)

[@jamesdeen3011]

Neville Chamberlain should never have sacrificed Poland. The British, French and Poland would have stood a better chance together. Those brave men kept Cows and the ship yard from utter destruction.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Poland has gotten a rough deal far too often!

[@navyreviewer]

Good job. Thats a fraction of the story of a ship whose name im convinced means "i didnt hear no bell"

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Greatly appreciate it! That is fitting 😂 She definitely has quite the story, then leaving Poland could be an entire video itself. Nice content yourself btw!

[@Ragefps]

Lessons from history: Never mess with Polish Destroyers! Loving the new presentation style btw. Just on the narration of the testimonies of people involved I believe IMO having full paragraphs of their accounts rather than word by word would be better and save heaps on editing time. Still overall your presentation style has really improved.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Ya I need to do an ORP Piorun video still! And glad that you enjoyed it! Going to probably be uploading a little less frequently to put more emphasis on production quality, been hiring some people to hopefully speed up the process of everything 😅 It’s actually funny that you mentioned the paragraph vs lines for the accounts. I wanted to do rolling paragraphs with each word popping up as they say it, but straight up I didn’t figure out how to do it yet lmao. Ironically the word by word was super quick and easy since premier pro can transcribe your audio for you. But ya for the next video and from now on I want to have the full paragraphs being shown,l instead of “word by word”, but I gotta figure out how to do that first lmao. Gonna mess around with it rn actually 😂 As always, appreciate you watching! If you ever have any other recommendations or critiques for improving things always feel free to share! Always looking to improve things for the viewer. Have a great week :)

[@Ragefps]

@@HiddenHistoryYT Premier pro must be amazing. I only had Videopad and to do rolling text like that would mean a new frame every word! Really am enjoying the new visuals and thankyou for taking my comments the right way. The only other thing was years for some of the more obscure events in your WW2 newsletter but you have already done that. Love your enthusiasm for history, Keep up the good work and I will try to give you constructive criticism where I can :)

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

@@Ragefps Greatly appreciate you! If you make content I highly recommend the Adobe suite!

[@grahambain9250]

I do love hidden history.

[@mikerobb7443]

So do most serial killers, lol

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

I love you

[@Tucker_George]

Loved the animations in this one. 😎

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Love you

[@VoicesofWW2YT]

beast

[@HarryWHill-GA]

Bravo Zulu (Well Done) to the Polish Navy.

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Indeed! Thanks for watching and have a great week :)

[@markpaul-ym5wg]

I love the new introduction scene.Its makes for a great refit.Thanks HIDDEN HISTORY.😊😊😊

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! As always thanks for watching and have a great week :)

[@Cserediak]

Wojciech Francki is my great grandfather, and i used to hear this story growing up, great video. Even tho you butchered my family' name haha

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Lmao well I am quite embarrassed by that and I just double checked the Polish pronunciation and I am WAY off. Greatly sorry about that, not sure how I messed that up so bad. He seemed like a great man from what I read! Very brave and smart commander! Greatly appreciate you watching and hope you have a fantastic week :)

[@TJ-USMC]

"Semper-Fi"

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Thanks for watching and have a great week :)

[@MrKen-wy5dk]

9:09 B-17s bombing an English city?

[@HiddenHistoryYT]

Ha good spot, actually didn’t notice that. Footage is taken from a wartime film on the bombing of London