Worek Plan The Worek Plan ( or " Operation Worek " , , literally " Plan Sack " ) was an operation of the Polish Navy in the first days of World War II , in which its five submarine s formed a screen in order to prevent German naval forces from carrying out landings on the Polish coast , and to attack enemy ships bombarding Polish coastal fortifications , in particular the fortified Hel Peninsula . The operation came to naught , as the Germans did not have any plans for naval landings . It caused the submarines to operate in a confined area near the shore in shallow waters , making them vulnerable to strong enemy anti - submarine forces . As a result , despite making a number of attempts , the submarines were unable to directly sink any enemy ships during the operation , although a mine placed by the " Żbik " did sink a German minesweeper . No Polish submarines were lost to enemy action , but they suffered progressive wear and tear , and technical problems , forcing the submarine commanders to break off their actions , effectively ending the operation by the middle of September 1939 . The Plan . The plan was created for the five Polish submarines " Orzeł " ( Eagle ) , " Wilk " ( Wolf ) , " Sęp " ( Vulture ) , " Żbik " ( Wild Cat ) and " Ryś " ( Lynx ) to use , in the event superior enemy surface forces took control of the Baltic Sea ( the Polish surface navy consisted only of four destroyer s and some minelayers ) . The submarines were to operate near the Polish coast , in the area of the Bay of Gdańsk and the Hel Peninsula . They were to engage enemy ships shelling the Polish coast or attempting to land forces on it . The plan explicitly stated that the submarines were to act according to international law , and single , unarmed ships had to be warned before being attacked . " Orzeł " was to take the position furthest inside Gdańsk Bay , from Jastarnia to the estuary of the Vistula river . East of " Orzeł " , in the entry to the Bay , was the place for " Wilk " . The remaining three submarines were to operate north of the Bay of Gdańsk : " Sęp " was further West near Rozewie , " Ryś " was further east , and " Żbik " in the middle . They had separate areas for recharging batteries during the night : " Orzeł " even deeper within the Bay of Gdańsk , and the other ships north of their positions . Execution . The Worek Plan was put into action with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 . Several hours after hostilities started , the submarines received communications by radio to open the envelopes containing orders to implement the Worek Plan . By the evening of the same day the last submarine ( " Sęp " ) arrived in its sector . All of the submarines attempted to engage the German forces , but they were all unsuccessful : German forces had numerical superiority and were supported by Luftwaffe units . Although the Polish submarines were frequently attacked with depth charges , none were destroyed . Eventually , after a series of failed attacks on both sides , the captains of the Polish submarines made individual decisions to abandon their sectors . Aftermath . " Orzeł " abandoned her sector on 4 September and on 15 September docked in the Estonian port of Tallinn for rest and repairs ( international law allowed 24 hours before the ship was to be interned ) . The ship was seaworthy and after the Estonians attempted to take control of her , she escaped and reached the United Kingdom by 14 October : this event is known as the " Orzeł incident " . She was eventually sunk in 1940 . " Ryś " , damaged and unable to engage Germans units , eventually was interned in a Swedish port from 17 September . " Sęp " was heavily damaged by a German destroyer on 2 September . She abandoned Plan Worek on the 4th and headed to Sweden , where she and her crew were interned from 17 September . " Wilk " was the first Polish submarine to arrive in the United Kingdom ; unlike Orzeł her captain decided not to dock at a continental port and risk internment , but to head straight for the British Isles , where " Wilk " arrived on 20 September . She survived the war . " Żbik " was the only Polish submarine to succeed in sinking a German vessel during the campaign . On 1 October one of the mines she had laid sunk the German minesweeper M - 85 . Increasingly damaged and low on provisions , she was interned in a Swedish port from 25 September . Assessment . The Germans had no intention to carry out the landings which the Worek Plan was designed to oppose . Further , only two out of five submarines were able to make it to an Allied ( British ) port . In retrospect , some military historians have argued that a much more effective way to deploy the Polish submarines would have been to send them out into the Baltic sea to attack German shipping .