Page 321 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

COMBAT ACTIONS OF THE POUSH NAVY VESSELS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 307

London on 24 September 1941, P.oland became formally involved in the war against
ltaly. Probably, not everyone knew that declaration as Lt. (N) Borys Karnicki-
Commanding Officer of the submarine Soko/- in order to ha ve a clear conscience
and to conform with normally accepted standards declared war against ltaly in a
humorous way- that is by sending a letter arranged in a knightly manner, to the
enemy. The letter was placed inside a 76 mm artillery shell and projected from
the submarine at a small island near Naples (Isola di Nisida?) on 26 October. On
28 October, during a patrol near Ischia, the submarine launched 4 torpedoes to-
wards the auxiliary cruiser Città di Palermo probably scoring one hit. On the way
back on 2 November, she sank the ltalian Transport ship Balilla (2463 GRn with
artillery fire near the island of Marettimo. For those particular exploits, Generai
Sikorski ....;. The Polish Prime Minister, who was staying in Malta at that time -
decorated Lt. (N) Karnicki with the Cross of Virtuti Militari, Class Five, and he
handed the Jolly Roger to the crew of the submarine.
The next patrol of the submarine Sokol took piace in the waters around Pelo-
ponnese and it was also a success. On 19 November, she was trapped in a protecti-
ve steel-net at the entrance to the naval base of N avarino. However, she managed
to escape despite escort vessels charge. She returned there 2 days later and la!!ched
3 torpedoes through the clearing between two island - i.e. Sfacteria and Pilos -
towards one of the two destroyers anchored in the bay. lt was probably the de-
stroyer Ascari. Two detonations were heard but the Italians did not confirm the
hit. On the night between 19 and 20 November, the submarine launched 3 torpe-
does towards a small convoy, but it is not certain if any of those did hit the target
(2 explosions were heard). The following patrolling missions were conducred by
the Sokol in the Bay of Tarent between December 1941 and January 1942; and,
in February, she carried out her tasks within Tunesian and Libyan waters where
she sank the sailing vessel Giuseppina (392 GRT) on 12 Februa.ry. The return of
the Sokol to Malta coincided with massed raids of the Luftwaffe and ltalian Air For-
ce over the island, which occurred between 17 March and 16 Aprii. On 17 Aprii,
the Sokol damaged severa! times managed to reach Gibraltar unaided and with only
o ne propeller working. After a minor repair, she set out for Great Britain o n the
same day.
In )une 1942, the next Polish Navy vessel which reached the Mediterranean
Sea was the destroyer Kujawiak. However, her service had adramatic end. Included
into a convoy heading for Malta (Operation "Harpoon .. ) the Kujawiak attempting
to aid the damaged British destroyer HMS Badsworth ran into an ltalian mine after
midnight 16 June and sank near La Valetta at 01.20 (13 seamen were Killed, 7
were wounded).
The succeeding Polish naval nad merchant vessels returned to the Mediterra-
nean Sea in November 1942 during the Allies landing in North Africa (Operation
"Torch .. ). They constituted parts of the British convoy and landing task groups.
The destroyer Blyskawica protected convoy KMF A l an d landing a t Beer Beaches