On Wednesday, August 17, the mine destroyer ORP Albatros - the second of six such ships that will become part of the 8th Coast Defense Flotilla - entered the Naval Port of Gdynia. The unit has already been handed over to the Navy, and the official start of service will follow the ceremony of the first flag raising.

Albatros is the second of the planned six modern mine destroyers being built for the Polish Navy by a consortium comprising the leader, Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A., part of the Remontowa Holding S.A. capital group, and members, Centrum Techniki Morskiej S.A. Research and Development Center and PGZ Stocznia Wojenna. Since November 28, 2017, the first of the series, ORP Kormoran, has been on duty as part of the 13th minesweeper squadron.

A month after the flag raising on ORP Kormoran, a contract for the construction of 2 more mine destroyers, namely Albatross and Mewa, was signed on December 27, 2017. The Armament Agency announced the commissioning of the latter by the end of the year. In June of this year, during the celebration of the Navy Day, at the Świnoujscie War Port, Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak signed a contract for the construction of 3 more mine destroyers, which will supply the 12th minesweeper squadron in Świnoujscie. Thus, the mine defense force will be thoroughly modernized and a total of 6 Project 258 Kormoran II ships will become part of the 8th Coastal Defense Flotilla.

The handover of the ships was preceded by several months of commissioning and acceptance trials, during which the naval platform and mine countermeasures equipment and systems were checked. Successful completion of the delivery and acceptance trials confirmed the ship's ability to perform its main tasks, which include: searching for, classifying, identifying and combating sea mines, reconnaissance of waterways, guiding vessels through mine threat areas, laying mines and remote control of self-propelled mine countermeasure platforms.