During the ceremony, the keel was represented by bottom section No. 512, measuring 9.2 meters in length and 15 meters in width. Formally speaking, the keel consisted of two bottom sections, numbered 511 and 512.
The keel was represented by bottom section No. 512, measuring 9.2 meters in length and 15 meters in width / Photos: Przemysław Gurgurewicz, MILMAG
Construction of the Ratownik vessel began on November 26, 2025, with the first steel cutting. After one year and just under eight months from today’s keel-laying ceremony, specifically on September 30, 2027, the ship is scheduled to be launched. Shipyard trials are planned to begin in 2028, with the completed vessel expected to be handed over to the customer by the end of 2029 (Start of Ratownik construction).
The construction contract was signed at the end of last year, on December 27, 2024, in Gdynia, at the premises of the Polish Naval Academy. The gross value of the contract amounted to 1.257 billion PLN (Ratownik – third time’s the charm).
The vessel currently under construction, designated as Project 108, is based on a design developed by MMC Ship Design & Marine Consulting of Gdynia, identified as design 887R or 570/II. In its updated form, the ship is expected to have a maximum displacement of 6,500 metric tons, an overall length of 96 meters, and a maximum beam of 19 meters. It is designed to achieve a top speed of 16 knots and a range of 6,000 nautical miles. The planned crew complement is 100 personnel, plus an additional nine specialist staff.
Traditionally, a commemorative medal was welded to the section serving as the keel
Ratownik will be adapted to embark the NATO submarine rescue system, NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), including a Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV) designed to save the crews of distressed submarines. A 60-ton-capacity shipboard crane will be installed on the stern, while a helicopter landing deck capable of accommodating aircraft weighing up to 15 metric tons will be located amidships. The vessel will also be equipped with two firefighting water monitors, each with a capacity of 1,200 m³/h.
The medal was placed in a prepared recess and covered with a commemorative plaque
The entry into service of the new vessel, planned for 2029, will allow the replacement of the Project 570 rescue ships ORP Piast and ORP Lech, which have been in service for more than 50 years. Although the ships underwent modernization under the Project 570M program between 1997 and 2000, this does not change the fact that their successors should have entered service many years ago.
The document confirming the keel laying was signed by Polish Register of Shipping Management Board member Katarzyna Sobczak-Bergmann, a representative of the Head of the Maritime Technology Authority of the Armament Agency, Cmdr Piotr Skóra, and the Ratownik program manager at PGZ Stocznia Wojenna, Marcin Małecki
The process to acquire new rescue vessels began more than a decade ago, in 2015. The analytical and conceptual phase was completed on July 20, 2017, and on December 27, 2017, a contract was signed for the construction of one vessel with an option for a second. The contract was valued at 755 million PLN, with delivery scheduled for the end of November 2022. However, just over two years later, on April 24, 2020, the Ministry of National Defence of Poland terminated the contract due to rising construction costs and delays to the completion schedule.
New negotiations regarding the Ratownik program began in July 2020. However, after 18 months of talks with the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), the entire procedure was canceled on February 21, 2022. Only the third attempt to procure a new rescue vessel, launched in December 2024, was ultimately successful. This outcome was linked to the decision to proceed with the program to acquire new submarines. That program, better known under the codename Orka, also belongs to the group of long-running procurements that have yet to be completed.
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