Welcome young trooper…to the Klepper canoe
Similar to that design used
By the Cockleshell Heroes during World War 2
It began with the Inuits, skin and wooden frame
If you look down at the Klepper
It’s almost the same
Built by a German in 1905
And here it is in the 70s
Still very much alive
Brits love their folding canoes
Especially in war
Into the 80s during the Falklands conflict
Covert recce is what it was for
I’ve jumped with the Klepper from a plane into the sea
By far the best vehicle for my buddy and me
Light and portable using stealth at night
We undertake a recce and return without a fight
The enemy unaware of our presence on their shore
Two Kleppers, two buddy pairs, our numbers only four.
Stripped down and bagged, the canoe lies in it’s lair
As we close with the enemy
For a recce as an SF pair
Carried on our backs with the rest of our kit
Our infil and exfil plays on our wit
Moving with double our bodyweight shows we have to remain fit
Now back inside our Klepper
Paddling back out to sea
Moving cautiously on a bearing
For that “not to be missed” submarine RV
Bob Shepherd 
Love the poem Bob, thanks for sharing 😊❤️🙏
Great stuff!
I remember demonstrating the Klepper canoe to HRH Prince Charles in early 1981 at a static equipment display in the old gym in Bradbury Lines, just before it was demolished to make way for the Stirling Lines rebuild. I had a short script that I had been provided with and was required to commit to memory. The end of the brief ended with me informing Prince Charles that the Klepper could be launched, i.e. floated off, a submarine. He looked pensive and then asked me if it hurt our ears when we were fired out from the torpedo tubes while seated in the Kleppers!
Tony, did you tell him that it only hurt on the first go…pardon?