Exploring what lies beneath! Discover the Polish WWII destroyer sunk in the Southeast of Malta
Tragically, when the ship was attacked, 13 lives were lost.
Malta and Gozo might have a lot of places of interest to visit on dry land, but the islands also have many landmarks laying beneath its deep waters.
One such landmark is the ORP Kujawiak, otherwise known as a Polish Destroyer of the Second World War. It's foudn 97 metres under water, just 6km off the coast of south-east Malta and can be visited by trained scuba divers.
But fear not if you still wish to explore but don’t have any scuba diving expertise as thank to the 'The Virtual Museum: Underwater Malta' it can be viewed virtually here.
Although not in perfect shape, the ship remains quite intact providing quite an exciting exploration experience.
But how did the ship end up in Malta?
The destroyer left the shipyard from Poland under a Polish Captain and crew and by May 1942, it was sent to the Mediterranean theatre. During this time Malta was a massive target by the Axis, with the islands becoming the most bombed country in all the world during this tragic war. The Axis were trying to cut off Malta’s food supply with many convoys being bombed and the island left starving.
On the 15th June of 1942, a convoy and an escort sent from Gibraltar finally arrived near the South East Coast of Malta but as they slowly started making their way to Grand Harbour tragedy struck once again.
Three destroyers and minesweeper were heavily damaged, with ORP Kujawiak being one of them. It eventually succumbed to the damages, and it sunk. Tragically, 13 Polish crew members lost their lives.
Although some of the supplies of the convoy made it to the island it was still not nearly enough for the whole starving island.
The polish destroyer remained undiscovered in Maltese waters until 2014. That is until a joint Maltese-Polish team led by Peter Wytykowski set out to discover where it lay. Just four days later they got a hit and the location was found.
As a way to honour the fallen soldiers, in June 2022, a commemorative day was organised on the anniversary of the demise of the ship by the Polish Embassy to Malta and in close collaboration with the University of Malta.