The two Groms were some of the fastest and most heavily armed destroyers of World War II.

Despite having ordered its previous pair of destroyers (ORP Burza and ORP Wicher) from France, a country with which it had strong ties, Poland decided to acquire the second pair from the United Kingdom, possibly in recognition of the excellence of British destroyer designs at the time.

The selected design resulted in large and powerful ships, superior to German and Soviet destroyers of the time, and comparable to the famous British Tribal class of 1936.

However, the guns were not British, but were instead Swedish Bofors 50cal QF M34/36, the same as those used previously on the minelayer ORP Gryf.

Just before the war broke out, the two destroyers were evacuated to Britain to fight alongside the Royal Navy.