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amphibious ships and craft operate from Swinoujscie. Eighteen small submarine chasers, 36 patrol and 62 port security boats, and one service craft are operated by the Maritime Frontier Guard in close cooperation with the navy.

3. Training

Naval training is conducted under the general supervision of the Main Inspectorate of Training. Personnel receive essentially the same training as those in the Soviet Navy. Programs are well planned and well executed and are adequate for the needs of the service. Three months of basic training for all conscripts is carried out at Ustka. The most promising men remain at Ustka for further instruction at the Naval Specialist Training Center prior to assignments to ships. The remainder are assigned to shore billets, the specialty training for which is also carried out at the Ustka establishment. Enlisted men return periodically to the Ustka school or other petty officer schools for more advanced specialty training.

Two schools have been established at Ustka to qualify young men to enter the navy as noncommissioned officers without serving first as conscript recruits. One, the Navy Junior Commander School, is open to those who have completed 9 years of education. Those with 7 years of schooling are eligible for the Navy Professional Petty Officer School. Qualified conscripts and other naval enlisted personnel are also eligible for these schools. Graduation entitles one to status as a professional, rather than a temporary, petty officer. Another new school, the Navy Warrant Officer School, started operations in 1968 under the direction of the Higher Navy School at Oksywie.

Officer candidate training is centralized at the Higher Navy School at Oksywie, which provides a 50-month college-level course for line officers and a 56-month course for engineer officers. Short refresher courses for junior officers, both regular and reserve, are also given at this school. Advanced courses are given after hours by the Navy Center for Social and Military Science at Gdynia. Selected officers of all grades also attend advanced naval schools in the USSR, especially before receiving command at sea. Most important among these is the Order of Lenin Naval Academy in Leningrad, comparable to the US Naval War College. Naval officers also attend appropriate joint armed forces academies in Poland when the level of need is insufficient to justify establishment of a separate naval facility.

4. Logistics

The Polish shipbuilding industry is capable of supplying small naval combatants, minesweepers, amphibious ships, auxiliaries, and service craft for the navy. Repair facilities are adequate for repairing all ships in the inventory. Naval construction in recent years has included the Polnocny class medium landing ship, the Obluze class small submarine chaser, the Moma class surveying ship, the Amur class submarine repair ship, and the Wisla class motor torpedo boat. Of these, the Polnocny, Moma, and Amur are built primarily for export to the USSR. Combatant construction has been accomplished at Gdansk North Shipyard and the Oksywie naval base. Auxiliaries are built at Szczecin Shipyard and the Gdansk North Shipyard.

Naval repairs are carried out at all major ship repair yards and the Oksywie naval base. All classes of ships are serviced, including submarines, minesweepers, and destroyers.

Polish shipyards are extremely versatile and, in the event of wartime mobilization, could adequately shift to naval construction and repair support. In addition, many of the commercial vessels build for domestic use are designed for conversion to troop and military supply transports and this could be effected at all major yards.

Most component parts for new vessels are domestically produced. The largest foreign supplier is the Soviet Union, which provides steel plate, armament, engines for landing craft, and some radar and navigational gear.

Most naval storage depots and repair facilities are located in the Gdynia area. Other stores are maintained at Hel and Swinoujscie.

5. Naval Air Arm

The naval air arm is a small, land-based force under the supervision of the Deputy Commander of the Navy for General Military Matters. It operates independently of the Polish Air Force but is dependent on the air forces for the supply of aircraft, spare parts, equipment, and the training of personnel. Its overall function is to take part in naval operations, either independently of or in conjunction with the seaborne forces. Its wartime tasks may be reconnaissance, gunfire direction for ships and coastal artillery, minelaying, close support of amphibious operations, attack, and screening of ships. In the event of an air attack on Poland, it may also be used to supplement the national air defense forces, in which case control would pass to the national air defense commander.

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070031-4