peter7000 homepage, Toronto, Canada TS/S STEFAN BATORY - Polish Ocean Liner |
The captain of the famous Polish destroyer, ORP SLAZAK in WW II, died at age of 98 in Toronto, Canada on Dec 29, 2003. Kapitan slawnego polskiego niszczyciela ORP SLAZAK, podczas Drugiej Wojny Swiatowej, zmarl w wieku 98 lat w Toronto, Kanada, 29 grudnia 2003. |
Credited with saving the lives of more than 80 Canadians in World War II (Operation Dieppe, France), he was hailed as a hero both in Canada and in his homeland Poland. Za uratowanie ponad 80 kanadyjskich zolnierzy podczas Drugiej Wojny Swiatowej (Operacja na francuskim wybrzezu w Dieppe) uznany zostal za bohatera, zarowno w Kanadzie jak i w Polsce. |
Commander Romuald Nalecz-Tyminski & ORP SLAZAK Komandor Romuald Nalecz-Tyminski i ORP SLAZAK |
Below you can read two articles about that great man from the newspapers: Canadian "Toronto Star" and British "The Times". (Both articles were slightly edited-shortened by the author of this web site). There is also biographical note in Polish. Ponizej umieszczone sa dwa artykuly poswiecone wspanialemu Polakowi z gazet: kanadyjskiej "Toronto Star" i brytyjskiej "The Times". (Oba artykuly w jezyku. angielskim zostaly nieznacznie skrocone przez autora tej strony internetowej). Ponizej znajduje sie rowniez Nota Biograficzna w jezyku polskim. |
Polish hero saved 85 Canadians at Dieppe With guns blazing, he led rescue with his destroyer ORP SLAZAK Stephen Huebl, Staff Reporter - Toronto Star, Feb. 1, 2004 A skilled and accomplished seaman, Nalecz-Tyminski worked his way up the ranks during his life on the seas, commanding numerous warships on dramatic, danger-filled missions. "Nobody did more than he did to get the Canadians out," said Joe Ryan, a veteran of the Royal Regiment of Canada who fought at Dieppe, France. Ryan, 84, said he can still remember watching Nalecz-Tyminski as he manoeuvred his destroyer, the ORP SLAZAK, precariously close to shore to rescue the trapped Canadian soldiers at Dieppe. He later learned Nalecz-Tyminski disobeyed Royal Navy orders to stay back from shore. Today, 62 years after the famous 1942 raid, Ryan can still vividly describe the destroyer heading straight towards the beach, firing all of its guns at the enemy, before turning abruptly, churning up mud and rocks from beneath the water. "He was a very humble person," Ryan said. The SLAZAK was the only destroyer to come so close to shore, he said. "He didn't want to be a hero, but he certainly was in Dieppe." (...) Nalecz-Tyminski, who died in December at the age of 98, will be honoured by the Polish navy in May, when he will be buried in the Polish naval cemetery in Gdynia, Poland. After leaving Poland in 1939 Nalecz-Tyminski, was fighting for the Allies. He served alongside the Royal Navy as a member of the Polish Flotilla, which was based in Great Britain. In 1940 he became executive officer of the destroyer ORP BLYSKAWICA, which took part in the Norwegian Campaign and the evacuation of Dunkirk. From 1942 to 1944 he commanded the SLAZAK through dangerous and risky sea operations, including Dieppe, Sicily, Salerno and Normandy on D-Day. During the raid on Dieppe, Nalecz-Tyminski lost four of his crew members, but the SLAZAK avenged her own by bringing down five enemy planes. For his role in rescuing 85 Canadians mostly members of the Royal Regiment of Canada from the roiling waters off Dieppe, Nalecz-Tyminski was awarded Britain's Distinguished Service Cross. In 1945, Nalecz-Tyminski was promoted to commander 1st class and was put in command of the light cruiser ORP CONRAD, the Polish navy's largest ship. The CONRAD was assigned to a group of ships that sailed to the ports of Oslo, Copenhagen and Wilhelmshaven with mail and packages for the residents and refugees. "He was an excellent seaman," said 83-year-old Stanislaw Brodzki, who served under Nalecz-Tyminski on the CONRAD. "He had a way with the officers in every rank. He was very well liked by everybody." "He was a good-natured person," he said. "He was quite a distinguished guy who did a lot, not only for the Polish navy, but for Canada. He's not only a Polish hero, but a Canadian hero as well." Nalecz-Tyminski was reunited with his wife and daughter after the war in Germany, after they had been smuggled out of Poland. They went to Scotland then then to Pakistan, where Nalecz-Tyminski served as a captain in Pakistan's navy from 1951 to 1958. (...) Then the family settled in the Bahamas, where, for the next 20 years, Nalecz-Tyminski was port director and president of the Freeport Harbour Company on Grand Bahama Island. In 1979 he retired and moved to Toronto with his wife, Jadwiga, who now lives in Missauga. He helped form the Toronto branch of the Polish Naval Association and became an honorary member of the Royal Regiment of Canada for his heroism at Dieppe. (...) Aldona Rideau, 64-year daughter described her father as someone who was very healthy and athletic right to the end. "He believed in healthy living. He didn't drink, except for the odd one socially, and he didn't smoke," she said, adding that up to the age of 95 he would get up in the morning and do his exercises. In his youth, Nalecz-Tyminski was involved in boxing, pentathlon, yachting and fencing. Rideau said he was an avid fencer and had hoped to compete in the Olympics. In 1938 he won the Polish Forces Championships in fencing, and was well on his way to being able to compete in the 1940 Olympics, later cancelled because of the war. "The Olympics just left my reach," he told a Freeport magazine in 1977. Rideau said her father was active with the Polish Naval Association in his later years, helping to raise to money for the construction of the Polish Navy Museum, which will open this year in Gdynia, Poland. As a frequent guest of the Royal Regiment of Canada, she said, Nalecz-Tyminski often gave speeches recounting his many years at sea. "He was very much a historian," Rideau said. "He had a great love of history." In May, 2000, Nalecz-Tyminski returned to Poland where he was recognized for his war services and was made an honorary rear admiral by Poland's President Alexsander Kwasniewski at a ceremony in Warsaw. |
ORP BLYSKAWICA (Lightning) - Polish Navy Dystroyer, late '30 |
ORP BLYSKAWICA (Lightning) - Polish Navy Destroyer, 1936-1976; currently ship-museum in homeport Gdynia, Poland. Displacement: 2,010 tons, Length: 114m, Crew: 192 men, Speed: 39 knots, Power 54,000 HP. ORP BLYSKAWICA - Niszczyciel Polskiej Marynarki Wojennej, 1936-1976; obecnie okret-muzeum w macierzystym porcie Gdynia, Polska. Wypornosc: 2,010 tony, Dlugosc: 114 m, Zaloga: 192, Szybkosc: 39 wezlow, Moc: 54,000 KM. |
ORP SLAZAK (ex. BEDALE) - Polish Navy Destroyer, 1942-1946; Built in 1941, Loaned to the Polish Navy by British Royal Navy on April 30, 1942. She was returned on Sept 28, 1946. Then loaned to the Royal Indian Navy on April 27, 1953. Renamed GODAVARI (D-92), served as destroyer until April 1959 when she was finally bought by India. Reclassified as frigate served with old tactical number until 1979 when GODAVARI was scrapped. Displacement: 1,490 tons, Length: 85,34 m, Crew: 168 men, Speed: 27 knots, Power: 2x19,000 HP. ORP SLAZAK (dawniej BEDALE) - Niszczyciel Polskiej Marynarki Wojennej, 1942-1946; Zbudowany w 1941, Wypozyczony dla Polskiej Marynarki przez Anglie 30 kwietnia, 1942. Zwrocony Krolewskiej Marynarce Wojennej 28 wrzesnia 1946. Pozniej wypozyczony ponownie do sluzby pod flaga Indyjska, kwiecien 27, 1953. Nazwany GODAVARI sluzyl jako niszczyciel do kwietnia 1959, kiedy to zostal ostatecznie zakupiony przez Indie. Przeklasyfikowany na fregate, sluzyl z dawnym numerem taktycznym do 1979 roku, w ktorym zostal zezlomowany. Wypornosc: 1,490 tony, Dlugosc: 85,34 m, Zaloga: 168, Szybkosc: 27 wezlow, Moc: 2x19,000 KM. |
Romuald Tyminski was one of that small band of Polish naval officers who commanded his country's ships alongside those of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. His war was one of almost constant active sea service: he participated in the Norwegian campaign, was decorated for the Dieppe Raid, and took part in the Sicily, Salerno and D-Day landings as captain of a gunfire support ship. In between these tasks he was engaged on convoy escort duties. Romuald Nalecz Tyminski was born in 1905 in Szenderow, Podolia, which was then under Tsarist rule and is now part of Ukraine. After completing his basic military training in the newly independent Poland which emerged after the First World War, he opted to join the Polish Navy. In 1925 he entered the Polish naval college, then at Torun on the River Vistula, graduating in 1928. In the period when Poland was building up a navy to defend its short Baltic coastline, he served in a number of small craft and as second-in-command in the destroyer WICHER before being sent as second- in-command of the three-masted sail training schooner ISKRA. When it became clear to the Polish high command that war with Germany was inevitable, and that the Baltic would not be a safe place for its small navy, in May 1939 ISKRA, with a complement of officer cadets, was sent out into the outer seas on an extended training cruise. When war broke out she was off North Africa, eventually ending up at Casablanca in French Morocco. After the defeat of Poland in September 1939, Tyminski was sent to Greece where he was given the task of receiving Polish aircrew, who had escaped from their country via the Balkans, and arranging for them to be sent to Marseilles for further training and formation into operational units. This task completed, in December Tyminski landed in Southampton in command of a party of volunteers for the Polish Navy. Two days before the German invasion of Poland, four Polish destroyers had sailed from the Polish port of Gdynia into the North Sea, where they rendezvoused with British warships which brought them into Rosyth. These (together with two submarines which made a daring dash for freedom after the war had begun) formed the nucleus of the Polish Navy which was to serve alongside the Royal Navy for the rest of the war. In March 1940 Tyminski was appointed second-in-command of the destroyer BLYSKAWICA, one of the warships that had escaped. He was soon in action during the Norwegian campaign, a particularly hectic day being May 7, 1940, when BLYSKAWICA was attacked almost continuously over a period of seven hours by German bombers. From Norway, after a short respite, the Polish destroyer was again in the epicentre of the war, this time protecting the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Tyminski's first command was of the French patrol craft POMEROL, which had been appropriated by the Royal Navy after its crew elected to return to Vichy France. Then, early in 1942, he took command of the destroyer SLAZAK (ex. BEDALE) in which he was to serve for most of the rest of the war. After protecting East Coast convoys against the U-boat threat, SLAZAK was pitched into action during the Dieppe Raid of August 19, 1942. The naval forces came under heavy air attack during which Tyminski's ship had three of her crew killed. During these attacks, however, her anti-aircraft guns accounted for five enemy aircraft. SLAZAK rescued from damaged landing craft and from the water 85 Canadian troops (mainly from the Royal Regiment of Canada, which bore the heaviest casualties of any unit), and one downed RAF pilot. For his bravery and ship-handling skills Tyminski was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. After a posting to the Polish Naval HQ in London, Tyminski returned to SLAZAK in April 1943, and from then until D-Day was involved in gunfire support for most of the major amphibious landings on enemy-held territory in the European theatre. In between the Sicily, Salerno and D-Day landings SLAZAK was almost continually on convoy escort in home waters, in the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean, as well as blockading German-held ports on the French Atlantic coast. During this period SLAZAK was particularly noted for her record in rescuing downed airmen from the sea. Promoted to commander 1st class, in July 1945, Tyminski was given command of the Polish Navy's largest ship, the light cruiser CONRAD (ex. DANAE). The CONRAD was attached to a group of ships which were given the task of sailing to Oslo, Copenhagen and Wilhelmshaven, with clothes and medicine for starving inhabitants, refugees and prisoners of war. Tyminski remained in command of CONRAD until September 28, 1946, when her Polish flag was lowered and she was handed back to the Royal Navy and renamed DANAE. Like most of his compatriots, Tyminski chose not to go back to a Soviet-dominated Poland after the war. In December 1945 he had been reunited with his wife Jadwiga, who was smuggled out of Poland with his daughter, Aldona, whom he had never seen, since she had been born in German-occupied Poland in November 1939. In exile he spent several years in the merchant marine before joining the Pakistan Navy as a contract officer as did many other Poles after the disbanding of the Polish Forces in Exile after the war. He served with the Pakistan Navy from 1951 to 1959. For some years after that he worked in port management in the Bahamas, retiring in 1979 and settling with his family in Toronto. There, his part in saving so many Canadians at Dieppe was much appreciated and he was actively involved in the Royal Regiment of Canada veterans' association. He was gratified to see the rebirth of free Poland with the collapse of Soviet communism in the early 1990s. In May 2000 his war services were recognized by his country when he was raised to the honorary rank of rear-admiral by the Polish President, Alexsander Kwasniewski, at a ceremony in Warsaw. He died in Canada on Dec. 29, 2003. |
Commander Romuald Tyminski Polish destroyer captain who fought alongside the Royal Navy and was decorated for rescuing scores of Canadians at Dieppe The Times/TimesOnLine - London, England, Jan. 15, 2004 |
Najstarszy Polski Marynarz, Komandor ROMUALD NALECZ-TYMINSKI Odszedl na wieczna wachte Informacja ze strony internetowej Ambasady Polskiej w Kanadzie Ottawa, Kanada styczen 2004 We wtorek, 30 grudnia, w Kanadzie, w wieku 98 lat, odszedl na wieczna wachte najstarszy polski marynarz kontradmiral ROMUALD NALECZ-TYMINSKI. Byl jednym z najwybitniejszych dowódców polskich okretów II wojny swiatowej. Uczestniczyl w kampanii norweskiej, oslanial konwoje alianckie oraz operacje desantowe w Sycylii, Salermo i Normandii. Uroczystoci pogrzebowe odbyly sie w Kanadzie. Zgodnie z ostatnia wola Zmarlego jego prochy zostana zlozone w Polsce, na cmentarzu Marynarki Wojennej w Gdyni. Romuald Nalecz-Tyminski urodzil sie 13 listopada 1905 roku w Szenderowie na Podolu. W 1924 roku, wstapil do Unitarnej Szkoly Podchorazych w Warszawie. Rok póniej przeszedl do Oficerskiej Szkoly Marynarki Wojennej w Toruniu, która ukonczyl z druga lokata. Stopien podporucznika marynarki otrzymal 15 sierpnia 1928 roku. W latach 1932-1936 kontradmiral Nalecz-Tyminski by popularyzatorem sportu, sedzia i trenerem. Kierowal marynarskim sportem i sam aktywnie w nim uczestniczyl. Czynnie uprawial pieciobój nowoczesny, lekkoatletyke, strzelectwo, plywanie, szermierke i zeglarstwo. Sluzbe zawodowa rozpoczal w dywizjonie cwiczebnym na pokladzie kanonierki "General Haller", jako oficer flagowy dowódcy dywizjonu kmdr. ppor. Adama Mohuczego. Byl oficerem wachtowym na ORP "Czajka" i ORP "Mewa". Od 27 maja 1937 roku przez trzynascie miesiecy byl zastepca dowódcy na ORP "Wilia". Nastepnie dowodzil ORP "Smok" i Oddzialem Minowym Marynarki Wojennej. Przed wybuchem wojny byl zastepca dowódcy ORP "Iskra". 2 wrzenia 1939 roku wraz z podchorazymi przyplynal do Casablanki. 13 wrzesnia kierowal ratowaniem zalogi po eksplozji francuskiego krazownika minowego "Pluton". Pózniej zajmowal sie ewakuacja lotników z Casablanki, Pireusu, Landerneau pod Brestem. Od listopada do konca 1939 roku w obozie przejsciowym Coëtquidan dowodzil kompania rekrucka marynarzy. Od polowy marca do polowy lipca 1940 roku jako zastepca dowódcy niszczyciela ORP "Byskawica" uczestniczyl w kampanii norweskiej i ewakuacji rozbitych wojsk pod Dunkierka. Pierwszym okretem, którym dowodzil w czasie II wojny swiatowej byl francuski "Pomerol", który plywal takze pod polska bandera. Od wrzenia 1941 roku do konca lutego 1942 roku uczestniczyl w konwojach atlantyckich. 24 lutego 1942 roku wyznaczono go na dowódce HMS "Bedale", (póniejszy ORP "Slazak"). Zostal pierwszym dowódca okretu ORP "Slazak", oslanial na nim desant pod Dieppe we Francji (17-19 sierpnia 1942 r.), za co otrzymal elitarny brytyjski order Distinguished Service Cross. W wyniku bohaterskiego dowodzenia okretem, podczas desantu, zostalo uratowanych 85 kanadyjskich zolnierzy. Wlasne straty to 4 polskich marynarzy. Od konca pazdziernika 1942 roku do kwietnia 1943 roku sluzyl na ladzie. Byl pierwszym oficerem sztabu w "Komendzie Morskiej Poludnie". Od 18 kwietnia 1943 roku ponownie dowodzil ORP "Slazak". Tym razem bral udzial w konwojach gibraltarskich, osanial desant na Sycyli, eskortowal okret liniowy HMS "Warspite", ladowanie aliantów w Salerno i w Normandii. 13 wrzenia 1944 roku zostal kierownikiem Referatu Wychowawczo-Owiatowego w Kierownictwie Marynarki Wojennej. 30 czerwca 1945 rozpoczal sluzbe na ORP "Conrad", a 10 lipca objal dowodzenie tym okretem. Dowodzil nim do dnia opuszczenia polskiej bandery, tj. do 28 wrzesnia 1946 roku. Kontradmiral Romuald Nalecz-Tymiski byl uhonorowany najwyzszymi odznaczeniami - orderem wojennym Virtuti Militari, Krzyzem Walecznych z dwoma okuciami, Medalem Morskim z dwoma okuciami oraz brytyjskim Distinguished Service Cross. Po wojnie pozostal na emigracji i zamieszkal w Kanadzie. W czerwcu 2003 roku po raz ostatni odwiedzil Marynarke Wojenna podczas III Swiatowego Zjazdu Marynarzy Polskich. 6 stycznia, 2004 roku, w swieto Trzech Króli, w Kosciele Marynarki Wojennej w Gdyni Oksywiu, kapelani Marynarki Wojennej odprawili nabozenstwo w intencji kontradmirala Romualda Nalecza-Tymiskiego. |
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