Trust the sea, it will save you. President of Poland Karol Nawrocki visits the Formoza special operations unit

A report, a CQB display and a shared workout

The President was accompanied by the head of the National Security Bureau, Bartosz Grodecki, and the Commander of the Special Forces Component, Major General Michał Strzelecki. The unit's commanding officer, Commander Jan Kwiatkowski, delivered the report and briefed the head of state on Formoza's history, current tasks, weapons and equipment. The visit was informal, and its programme included a dynamic display of CQB - close-quarters battle - tactics.

Footage published by the President showed the agenda went beyond protocol: Karol Nawrocki sailed aboard one of the unit's vessels and joined the commandos for a workout, both strength training and boxing. In his post he invoked the unit's motto: trust the sea, it will save you.

- My thanks to the soldiers of Formoza for concrete talks and an even more concrete workout - said President Karol Nawrocki.

Combat divers from Oksywie

Formoza is one of the most specialised units of the Polish Armed Forces and among NATO's more significant maritime special operations units. Its lineage reaches back to 1975, when a Special Operations Division was formed within the Polish Navy, operating for years as the Special Frogmen Groups and the Navy's Special Operations Sections. In 2007 the unit was transferred to the Special Forces, initially as the Naval Special Operations Unit, and since 2011 it has borne the name Formoza - after the former German torpedo testing station off Gdynia's Oksywie shore, which sailors nicknamed after the island of Taiwan.

The unit's domain is combat diver operations: maritime, counter-terrorist and reconnaissance missions in the water environment, but also on land and in urban terrain. Formoza commandos gained experience on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and routinely train with special forces from the United States, France and Croatia, among others. The unit's patron is Lieutenant General Włodzimierz Potasiński, commander of Poland's Special Forces, who died in the Smolensk air disaster.

Drones for the commandos

The President's visit coincided with a modernisation milestone within the unit itself. Formoza recently signed a contract worth close to PLN 7.8 million for mini-class unmanned aerial systems adapted to the maritime environment. The deal covers not only the platforms but also logistics equipment and operator training - another sign that the unmanned revolution is reaching every component of the Polish armed forces, the maritime one included.