Polish Navy Commander-in-Chief vice admiral Andrew Karweta was among those who died in plane crash near Smolensk on 10^th of April 2010. Polish Navy is in sorrow and mourning. The flags were lowered to half mast on every ship, naval and aviation bases of the Polish Navy.

Vice Admiral Andrew Karweta was born on 11^th of June 1958 in Jaworzno in the Silesia region. In 1977, after graduating from Stanislaus Staszic High School in Chrzanow, he joined the Naval Academy in Gdynia. After graduating he was assigned to serve on MCM ships within 13^th Minesweeper Squadron, 9 th Coast Defense Flotilla in Hel. In 1986 he took command over his first ship ORP "Czapla", which, in 1987 and 1988 won the title of the best ship within the Flotilla. In 1989-1992 he commanded a group of ships as a commanding officer of ORP "Mewa". In 1992 he completed postgraduate studies in operational and tactical command post in the Naval Academy in Gdynia, and then returned to serve in the 13^th Minesweeper Squadron as the chief of staff.

Since 1996 until 2002 he was a commander-in-chief of 13^th Minesweeper Squadron and was the one who introduced the first Polish ship (destroyer ORP "Mewa") into the MCM NATO Forces (MCMFORNORTH). Commanding a team of Polish minesweepers he actively participated in the first major modernization of these forces and the formation of the first Polish minehunter. In 2000, during the "BALTOPS 2000" exercise he commanded over the NATO MCM forces. In 2002 he was sent to work in the command of Naval Forces NATO SACLANT in Norfolk (Virginia, USA), where he combined the duties of the Polish National Military Representative at the HQ SACLANT and the Deputy Head of the Department of Underwater Weapons. In 2003, after the dissolution of SACLANT, he was appointed to the position of National Liaison Representative for the newly formed ACT Transformation Command in Norfolk. After the three-year service in the NATO headquarters, he returned to Poland and became an assistant commander of the 8^th Coastal Defense Flotilla in Swinoujscie. In 2006 he was sent to Defense Policy Studies at the National Defence Academy in Warsaw, and a year later - to study at the prestigious Royal College of Defense Studies in London. On November 11^th 2007 he was nominated by the President to the position of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Navy.

IN HIS MEMORY…