On Saturday, 6 June 2021, midshipmen of the 2nd academic year began their eight weeks long ship-based navigational practice at sea aboard ORP WODNIK. Midshipmen will practice navigation and most of all their seamanship, traveling thousands of nautical miles.
ORP WODNIK departed her home naval port of Gdynia on 12 June 2021. The warship servs as basis for nautical practice of Polish, Kuwaiti and Qatari cadets. Participating cadets are students of the Polish Naval Academy’s Navigation and Board Ordnance Faculty and the Mechanical - Electrical Engineering Faculty.
Polish and Qatari students representing the Navigation and Board Ordnance Faculty focus on nautical and celestial navigation exercises and practice. They will have a great opportunity to practice theory they were taught during classes at the Academy, such as ship positioning by observing and reading the celestial bodies location. Furthermore, they will participate in watchkeeping officer’s trainings and develop their knowledge in such areas as ship’s board navigational systems and equipment, radio-navigation, meteorology, oceanography.
Polish and Kuwaiti students representing the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Faculty, the future ship’s engineers, will acquaint themselves with the whole spectrum of ship’s engines and equipment, they will practice operating procedures, engineer’s watchkeeping duties, command and control procedures.
Ship-based nautical practice at sea summarizes each academic year of military education at the Polish Naval Academy. Prior to the nautical practice midshipmen attend the whole program of theory classes and numerous exercises with use of training simulators. Ship-based practical exercises at sea is time to verify theory in practice always supported by experienced instructors.
The training ship ORP WODNIK serves as educational platform for long-term nautical trainings at sea. Thousands of the Polish Naval Academy midshipmen and cadets were trained aboard the ship. She also took part in the operation Desert Storm in 1991 and her crew was awarded the Medal for the Liberation of Kuwait.
For more photographs please go to: