HMS Kite (U87)

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Career (UK) RN Ensign
Name: HMS Kite
Namesake: Kite
Builder: Cammell Laird
Launched: 13 October 1942
Commissioned: 1 March 1943
Fate: Sunk by U-344 on 21 August 1944
General characteristics
Displacement: 1,350 tons
Length: 299 ft 6 in (91.3 m)
Beam: 38 ft 6 in (11.7 m)
Draught: 11 ft (3.4 m)
Propulsion: Geared turbines, 2 shafts
4,300 hp (3.21 MW)
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 7,500 nmi (13,900 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h)
Complement: 192
Armament: 6 × 4-inch (102 mm) AA guns (3 × 2)
4 × 2 pdr AA pom-pom
12 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA (6 × 2)
Service record
Commanders Captain Frederic John Walker
Victories U-449, U-462, U-504, U-226 (1943)
U-238 (1944)

HMS Kite (U87) was a Modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy, once commanded by the famous U-boat hunter Captain Frederic John Walker. She was one of several ships of that class that took part in the famous "six in one trip" in 1943 (in which six U-boats were sunk in one patrol).

She was built at Cammell Laird shipyard, Birkenhead, on the banks of the river Mersey (she was to later to be based across the river in Gladstone Dock, Bootle). She was launched on 13 October 1942 and commissioned on 1 March 1943.

She took part in the sinking of five U-boats together with several sister ships:

On August 20, 1944 Kite was escorting the aircraft carriers HMS Vindex and HMS Striker, which in turn were escorting convoy JW-59 to Northern Russia when the convoy was sighted in the Barents Sea by German aircraft. Soon a pack of U-boats attacked the convoy and one U-boat was sunk by Fairey Swordfish aircraft from one of the carriers. Two more were sunk by other destroyers.

At 06:30 on August 21, Kite slowed to 6 knots (10 km/h) to untangle her "foxers" (anti acoustic torpedo noise makers, towed astern). The decision to do so, rather than severing the foxers' cables and abandoning them, was made by her temporary commander, a submariner. At that speed Kite was a sitting duck, and she was hit by two torpedoes from U-344 (commanded by Oberleutnant Ulrich Pietsch) and sank.

Of Kite's crew of 10 officers and 207 ratings, 60 survived the attack, but from the freezing Arctic water only 14 sailors were picked up alive (by HMS Keppel, HMS Peacock and HMS Mermaid). Five of the rescued died on board Keppel, leaving only nine to make it to shore. As of 2004, there are two living survivors.

U-344 was sunk the next day by depth charges from Swordfish planes from Vindex.

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Coordinates: 73°01′N, 3°57′E

The U boats sunk in the 6 in 1 patrol were as follows: U592 - 31 January (Type VIIC) U762 - 8 February (Type VIIC) U734 - 9 February (Type VIIC) U238 - 9 February (Type VIIC) U424 - 11 February (Type VIIC) U264 19 February (Type VIIC)

The U334 was sunk by one swordfish from Vindex, piloted by Gordon Bennett, which dropped out of the cloud, surprising the U Boat on the surface, a single depth charge exploded beneath the U boat, sending her down with all hands.

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