Polish submarine hero had strong Malta links

Polish mariner Andrzej Klopotowski, one of the greatest submarine commanders of WW II who passed away in September, had strong ties with Malta, his obituary in a Polish newspaper reveals.

The commander, who received Poland's highest decoration for his military valour, spent the last 10 years of his life in Malta.

In 1943, Cdr Klopotowski took command of ORP Dzik (Warthog), which together with ORP Sokòl, were nicknamed the "terrible twins" and operated successfully in the Mediterranean from Malta.

He carried out her first patrol in the Aegean Sea and supported the Allied landings in Sicily and in the Adriatic.

Cdr Klopotowski died in September and was given a hero's burial. The ceremonial funeral service took place at the Gdynia naval cemetery.

Born in September 1917, Cdr Klopotowski graduated from the Polish Naval Officers' School in 1938 and his first assignment was on the troop carrier ORP Wilja as the navigation officer.

As a second officer in charge of underwater weapons on ORP Blyskawica, which he affectionately called "my beloved iron", Cdr Klopotowski took part in 1939 in the first Polish attack on German U-boats in the English Channel and later in the Norwegian Campaign.

After the war, on his father's advice, Cdr Klopotowski did not return to Poland but settled down in the UK. He only returned to his home country in 1991 and was an active member of the Naval Association, participating in all the conventions it organised.

In 2002, Cdr Klopotowski wrote the book My War, in which he described the daring attack of his vessel on the Italian port Navarino, where an enemy's destroyer was sunk. Apart from receiving Poland's highest decoration for his military valour, the order of Virtuti Militari, Fifth Class, the British also awarded Cdr Klopotowski the Distinguished Service Cross and the Norwegians the Medal for Narwik.