ORP Piorun (G65)

ORP Piorun as HMS Noble after World War II
History
United Kingdom
Name	Nerissa
Operator	Royal Navy
Ordered	15 April 1939
Builder	John Brown & Company, Clydebank
Cost	£400,963.16s
Laid down	26 July 1939
Launched	7 May 1940
Fate	Transferred to Polish Navy, October 1940
Poland
Name	Piorun
Namesake	Lightning
Operator	Polish Navy
Completed	4 November 1940
Acquired	Transferred to Polish Navy, October 1940
Commissioned	4 November 1940
Identification	Pennant number: G65
Fate	Returned to Royal Navy, 1946
United Kingdom
Name	Noble
Acquired	August 1946
Recommissioned	26 October 1946
Fate	Scrapped, 1955
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	N-class destroyer
Displacement	1,773 long tons (1,801 t) (standard) 2,384 long tons (2,422 t) (deep load)
Length	356 ft 6 in (108.7 m) (o/a)
Beam	35 ft 9 in (10.9 m)
Draught	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power	2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 steam turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	183
Sensors and processing systems	ASDIC Type 285 gunnery radar Type 286 radar surface-search radar
Armament	3 × twin 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 1 × single 4 in (102 mm) AA gun 4 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns 2 × twin 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine guns 1 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 45 × depth charges, 1 × rack, 2 × throwers

ORP Piorun was an N-class destroyer operated by the Polish Navy in World War II. The word piorun is Polish for "Thunderbolt". Ordered by the Royal Navy in 1939, the ship was laid down as HMS Nerissa before being loaned to the Poles in October 1940 while still under construction.

In May 1941 ORP Piorun located the German battleship Bismarck, and drew its fire, while other units of the Royal Navy task force caught up to sink the Bismarck.

After World War II, Piorun was returned to the Royal Navy and recommissioned as HMS Noble before being scrapped in 1955.