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By Mike Kemble (c) From information provided by Ray Holden, Clem Bray, Christine Chaplin, Lionel Irish, Mary Davies, Paul Masterson & Others
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On 26th November 2003, I travelled down to Braintree in Essex at the invitation of Ray Holden to attend what was described to me as a presentation with Lionel Irish, one of only two remaining survivors of the sinking of HMS Kite on 21st August 1944. The other being Reg Holmes. I did not know but HMS Kite "belonged" to Braintree as, in 1942, Braintree had held a War Week to raise enough money to "buy" a warship. The ship in question was HMS Kite. I arrived in Braintree just before the rush hour started and soon found the hotel in the centre of town. Ray and his sister, Lionel and his wife, arrived shortly afterwards and I finally got to meet Lionel. Lionel is a hero, as were his shipmates, but he does not want this attention, preferring to remain, modestly, in the background. He greeted me most warmly and offered me a glass of "Pussers" to which I looked puzzled. It was rum - of the highest quality. Typical sailor!! We talked, the five of us, for a while and then retired to prepare to go out for a meal where we were joined by Rob Rose of the Braintree Museum and his girl friend Gemma. A joke here for Lionel - What has 4 children and laughs a lot?
After the meal, which was very kindly provided by Ray Holden, we finally made our way back to the hotel, 5 minutes away, where Lionel entertained Rob and Gemma with a Cornish joke! Lionel hails from Hayle, Cornwall, pardon the pun, where, coincidently, my sister now lives, in Praze. Lionel insisted I had another glass of that potent rum. before I retired to bed. The following morning we had breakfast and headed to the Town Hall, from where the others went to look at the town and I headed to the museum where I met Rob and checked the HMS Kite section in the museum and took some photographs. I saw a very fine Roll of Honour which Ray Holden had donated to the town. I then returned to the Town Hall where I met Alan McMillan who had flown over for the event from Dublin.
At about 1030 the others returned to the Town Hall and, after a cup of tea, Rob Rose took us over the museum to meet the Press. A nice lady from the Essex Chronicle, a gent from Anglia TV and some other reporters mingled about interviewing members of the party. Here we were joined by the two sons of one of the 9 survivors, Frank Webb. One of them, Rob, flew in from Canada for the occasion. The other brother was Steve. In a classroom next door were a group of children, dressed in Victorian clothes attending a Victorian style class, very picturesque. A little later on, Lionel, myself and Ray were taken outside where Lionel and Ray were properly interviewed and the three of us photographed for the press and TV. Lionel was naturally rather reluctant to divulge much of what he actually went through in those freezing Arctic waters, but opened up in answer to the questioning. He answered many queries that floated about and put a few "mysteries" to rest. A special thank you to that annoying taxi driver in Braintree who persisted in blowing his horn during the interview - deliberately I might add. I hope you live to realise the error of your ways.
After the Press had got their articles and video and images, we returned to the museum for a while to chat with many of the people who had turned up. I learnt from one gent how the Braintree Museum exhibition came about. He had been left a folder in someone's will and when he opened it found documents and photographs on HMS Kite. These, he donated to the museum and now stand in perpetual memory of both the Braintree Sloop and her brave crew.
On returning to the Town Hall we had the formal presentation from Lionel Irish to the museum and people of Braintree of a heavy brass plaque depicting the crest of HMS Kite. The inscription: PRESENTED BY LIONEL IRISH SURVIVOR OF HMS KITE IN MEMORY OF ALL HIS LOST SHIPMATES.
Just one of the newspaper articles of this event. This is a large file so it may take some time to download if your using a telephone line modem. I have others but they are too large to scan properly. My thanks to Andrew Gladwell, Braintree District Council, for this and other cuttings of this momentous day. This cutting is from the Evening Gazette, Braintree & Witham, dated Mon December 1st 2003. Reporter: Ben Attenborough. Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem
which forms part of the title of a booklet "The Price of Admiralty" by C J
Thompson MA "We have fed our sea for a
thousand years
Braintree District Museum — Information Sheet No 1 Braintree and HMS Kite
The Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic After the fall of France in May 1940. Germany was able to send submarines to attack the allied fleet from their bases at Brest and St Nazaire direct into the Bay of Biscay. The Bay was therefore an area of some considerable strategic importance with both navies employing sophisticated means to detect and destroy vessels. By 1943, German submarines were operating in groups to reach an area of the mid-Atlantic known as the Atlantic Gap. Here, they could operate with relative ease although they had to remain submerged in waters that were regularly patrolled by surface escort groups like the one that Kite had joined in early 1943. It was at this point that Captain Walker took command of Kite. At the end of July, Kite rescued survivors from German submarine U462 and the group also sunk U461 and U504. In late October 1943, the group continued its escort duties resulting in the sinking of two U-boats off the Canadian coast near St. Johns. Meanwhile, Kite had been repaired at both Londonderry and Liverpool. On 8-9 February 1944, three more U-boats were destroyed off the West coast of Ireland with Kite playing a major part in the sinking of U-734. Towards the end of February, she was transferred to Greenock where she became part of the 7 Escort Group.
D-Day At the time when Kite started her Arctic convoy duty, the power of the Luftwaffe and surface vessels was on the decline and they were no longer deemed to be a major threat. Kite was detailed to escort the JW.59 group which was the first convoy to depart after D-Day. On 21 August 1944, members of the German Trutz submarine group placed themselves across the route of convoy JW.59. A German Junkers Ju88 aircraft reported the convoy east of Jan Mayen Island. The Trutz Group then started to attack the convoy. U-344 closed in on the warships and with torpedoes launched, the Kite was hit by two of them and began to sink fast in the icy seas. The Kite took just 90 seconds to sink and with her she took the majority of her crew. Just a handful of survivors were to be seen in the unforgiving sea. Aftermath The icy and hostile waters of the Arctic meant that there would be few survivors from Kite’s crew of 226. Only 16 men (most sources claim only 14 rescued) were pulled from the sea by the Keppel. Of these, 7 (or 5) died of wounds or exposure before the ship docked. Just 9 men survived the sinking of the Kite. The survivors were:
Able Seaman Bonsall
HMS Kite
Displacement 1350 tons Visit Braintree District Museum where a small display tells the story of the Kite and its adoption as Braintree’s own warship. Braintree District Museum is open Monday to Saturday l0am to 5pm including Bank Holidays. Telephone number (01376) 325266. Reproduced by kind permission of Robert Rose. Nov 27th 2003.
Braintree:
http://www.braintree.btinternet.co.uk/braintree.html Dec 2003. Received an email from John Murray who reports on the following piece of information: Just been rereading some of the Kite history again. Came across a book you mention "The Price of Admiralty" by CJ Thompson who at one point in his description of the sinking, indulges in quite unnecessary inaccuracy by writing "the small ice-covered warships heaving in freezing seas". Yes, even in August the sea was pretty cold, but there was no ice visible, in the water or on the ships. I' m not sure what he knew about sloops - he must have been thinking of corvettes or even armed trawlers! The sea was almost an oily calm that morning , visibility was good and the temperature was anything but cold - probably about 8 or 10 degrees (centigrade) - I was on morning watch on B gun deck when the sinking occurred on the other side and just astern of the convoy. John served aboard HMS Keppel.
I have written a book in which HMS Kite has her own chapter. You may purchase it from
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Copyright © Mike Kemble
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Copyright © mike kemble Home | Walker RN | U boats | Merseyside | U534 | U344 | |
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