GDYNIA, a Polish seaport and naval base, on the bay of Gdynia, opening out into Danzig bay, on the Baltic. It is 12 m. N.W. of Danzig, with which it is connected by railway. The Polish Government in building a railway to the port passing over territory entirely Polish, has also a scheme for a canal to the port from a convenient point on the Vistula, thus tapping the whole waterway system of Poland.
During the struggle with Soviet Russia in 192o, the Poles were unable to utilize Danzig for naval or military purposes, and this led them to build a port of their own at Gdynia. By 1924 they had built the southern mole, 55o metres in length, and a breakwater 175 metres long, forming part of the northern mole, together with a landing stage 15o metres long, a narrow gauge railway along the southern mole, an electric power station, water supply and other equipment. A contract for further construction was signed by a Franco-Polish syndicate, the date for the completion of the contract being Dec. 31, 193o .
Its main provisions are (1) the making of an entrance canal, II metres deep, to the harbour, (2) the construction of the har bour with a water area of about 500 ac. and 7,90o metres of quays, together with a basin eight metres deep and a pier for passenger vessels, the depth of water at the quays being from eight to io metres and (3) the digging of an inner basin or dock on the foreshore, with a water area of about 10o ac. and a depth of water at the quays of 1 o metres. The Polish Government proposes to spend a large sum on the equipment of the port, comprising large warehouses, a grain elevator, powerful cranes, railway sidings and paved roads. In 193o the port will have quayage for 30 large steamers and a handling capacity annually of 2,500,000 tons, but it will be constructed so as to permit of a great increase in its size and capacity. In 1925, 85 vessels, of 73,351 net tonnage, entered, and 79 vessels, of 69,981 net tonnage, cleared the port, exclusive of coastal shipping.