|
|||
|
|
By Mike Kemble (c) From information provided by Ray Holden, Clem Bray, Christine Chaplin, Lionel Irish, Mary Davies, Paul Masterson & Others Created 24 November 2001
|
|
|
|
Report
of the Board of Enquiry into Continuing the testimony of Able Seaman Frank Webb with question 171: Q171 What were the Ship's Orders, so far as you know, about the wearing of life belts? A171 Very strict Sir. You had to have them half inflated when you fell in in the morning Sir. Q172 Did you have to wear hem while you were asleep? A172 There was nothing compulsory about that Sir. Q173 How were you picked up by HMS Keppel? A173 I don't remember being picked up at all Sir. I woke up in sick bay on the Keppel Sir and that is all I remember. Q174 Did you notice any explosions after you got into the water? A174 Yes Sir, three or four. I thought it was depth charges going off myself, but I don't know. Q175 Have you any exact idea as to where the explosions occurred? A175 No Sir. Q176 You did not hear any orders given? A176 I saw the Captain come out on the upper deck Sir and heard him use foul language, then he went back again. Q177 That was outside his sea cabin? A177 Yes Sir. Q178 So the officers you saw were the First Lieutenant and the Captain and that was all? A178 Yes Sir. Except Sub Lieutenant Strubers in the water. He was Second Officer of the Watch. Q179 Where did the First Lieutenant normally sleep at sea? A179 In his cabin Sir as far as I know, but I had seen him on the upper deck between 6 and 6.30. He may have been on the bridge, I am not sure. Q180 What was he doing at the time you both went over the side? A180 Just standing there Sir. I jumped in first and then he jumped in and got hold of me. Q181 In fact you were supported in the water the whole time by your life belt? A181 Yes Sir. Q182 Did you hear either the First Lieutenant or the Captain give any orders at all? A182 No Sir, I only heard the Captain shout some foul language and that was all I heard him say. Examination of Witness terminated
LIEUTENANT JOHN ARTHUR DOUGLAS ROYAL NAVY Witness Called and Cautioned
Q183 Are you Lieutenant John Arthur Douglas, Royal Navy, of HMS Keppel? A183 Yes Sir. Q184 Were you serving in HMS Keppel on 21st August 1944. A184 Yes Sir. Q185 Will you tell the Board all you know of the loss of HMS Kite? A185 I was on the morning watch that day, HMS Kite, when I came on watch, was 45 degrees on the starboard bow, as far as I can remember about 5000 yards. We both had our displacers streamed, ours was tripped, and hers were not, they were in the rattling position. At about 5 o'clock I asked the Captain whether we could ask Kite to trip her PNM's because it was making a hell of a noise in our Asdics as we zig-zagged, and it seemed as if we could not pick anything up at all. He asked what our Asdics were like and I said "Poor", so we asked HMS Kite to trip her PNM's. That must have been about 5 o'clock as far as I can remember. HMS Kite reduced speed and dropped back on us; I think convoy speed at the time was about 6 1/2 knots. I gathered she had some difficulty with her PNM's, because she told us she was reducing speed. About 6.30 - I am not sure what the exact time was, but I think it must have been about 6.30, I was on the port side of the bridge. We have a sort of raised platform on the starboard side and I was standing on the lower portion when I heard two bangs and I picked up my glasses and looked at the convoy. I could not see anything, so I turned and look at Kite and all I could see then was her bow and everything else was obscured by the explosions. I could not see most of her hull at all. The Captain came on the bridge and I rang the alarm bells and we went hard to starboard and came down to 7 knots. Soon afterwards one of the lookouts reported an object in the water near HMS Kite and we all looked from the bridge, but we did not see anything. I got hold of the lookout afterwards and he said he thought it was a conning tower, but no one saw anything of it from the bridge. Anyway we swept over the area until the other ships came up. I think the submarine may possibly have gone under the wreck, anyway we did not pick it out. I should say HMS Kite sank within a minute, because by the time the Captain came on the bridge, which was within 10 seconds of my ringing the bell, she was already going and we did not see her at all. She seemed to go down in a matter of seconds. This is all I know about the actual torpedoing Sir. Q186 What speed were you doing at the time? A186 As far as I remember 9, 9 1/2 and 10 knots according to how we were maintaining station. Q187 What form of zig zag were you doing? A187 An independent zig zag Sir, 30 or 40 degrees either side. Q188 Continuous weaving? A188 We usually altered about every 10 minutes. There was no indication at all on our Asdics, no indication of torpedoes or anything. Q189 Was it your impression on board that there were definitely U Boats in the are? A189 Yes, in the vicinity, but not in the immediate vicinity Sir, not within 30 miles anyway, which I believe was the HFDF bearing. Q190 Did you drop any charges after the torpedoing? A190 No Sir, we set one, and then put it back to safe again. We did not drop any charges at all until later on. Q191 Did you trip the PNM's as soon as you increased speed? A191 No Sir Q192 Did you start them rattling when you increased speed? A192 No Sir we did not use them at al because they were not working particularly well. We had got them in the previous day, and as the Captain did not think U Boats were in the immediate vicinity, he got displacers out. HMS Kite had difficulty with hers, but she eventually got them going. We could not get ours going at all. We eventually left them out altogether thinking they would work later on after they had been running for a while. It was not until we got our other displacers out that we got them to work at all. Q193 As far as you knew yourself, what were the Asdic conditions like that morning? A193 As far as I know, average for those waters. They were generally bad throughout the trip and it is a rather difficult question really to assess them; comparing them with the Atlantic or somewhere like that, they were bad. Q194 Was there any temperature gradient at the time? Did you hear any standard echo? A194 Yes I believe they had one at 500 yards. Q195 Did you hear any unexplained explosions subsequent to HMS Kite being torpedoed? A195 Yes I heard about 2 minor ones, which I assume came from HMS Kite breaking up. Q196 Did they appear to HMS Keppel to be like depth charges going off? A196 Yes. Q197 When you came to pick up survivors, how many were floating in the water at that time? A197 My estimate was 30, but I must say that differs from other people's in the ship. Q198 Are others more or less? A198 The Captain said less, about 20. Q199 Did you have much difficulty in getting them out of the water? A199 Yes. Great difficulty. The oil was particularly thick. We lowered the whaler, which was the best way of getting them in, and then the boats crew found great difficulty in getting them in, it was so slippery. Q200 Would it have helped if they had been wearing ropes ends round themselves? A200 Yes Sir, it would have helped very much indeed. I feel very strongly on this point Sir and have made a report on it. Q201 Were all the survivors picked up wearing identity discs? A201 No they were not; only with one or two exceptions. Examination of Witness terminated
SUB LIEUTENANT RAYMOND WILLIAM HALL, ROYAL NAVY VOLUNTEER RESERVE - HMS KEPPEL Witness Called and Cautioned Q202 Are you Sub Lieutenant Raymond William Hall RNVR? A202 Yes Sir Q203 Were you serving in HMS Keppel on the 21st August 1944? A203 Yes Sir Q204 Will you tell the Board all you know about the loss of HMS Kite? A204 I was Second Officer of the Watch and keeping a lookout all round. We were not looking in the direction of HMS Kite at the time, but heard an explosion and looked round and saw HMS Kite enveloped in smoke. That is all I know about it really, Sir, because then I went down to the plot to my action station. Q205 What were the Asdic conditions reported to be like that morning? A205 Rather poor Sir, we could not hear very much, most of the time, because of HMS Kites foxers. Q206 Were HMS Kite's foxers rattling immediately before the explosion or not? A206 We could hear them Sir, we had a signal about a quarter of an hour before that she was reducing to 6 knots to recover her displacers. Q207 You did not personally see anything that resembled a U Boat? A207 No Sir Q208 Did you stay on the plot until you started the rescue operations? A208 I stayed during the rescue operations as well, Sir. Q209 Did you notice any explosion subsequent to HMS kite being torpedoed? A209 There was an explosion Sir, about 2 or 3 minutes afterwards. It sounded much deeper than the others; under water explosion rather than torpedo explosion. Q210 Only one? A210 Well, I could not be sure about that Sir. Examination of Witness terminated
PETTY OFFICER JOHN RICHARD LEWIS PAYNE D/JX 154993 Recalled Q211 Have you any idea what time you reduced to 6 knots? A211 As far as I can remember, about half an hour before the explosion Sir. Q212 Did you see much debris flying after the explosion? A212 Yes Sir, a lot of debris went up but I could not distinguish what it was. Q213 You did not see any depth charge equipment flying in the air? Q214 No Sir. Examination of Witness terminated
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © Mike Kemble
|
|
|
|
Copyright © mike kemble Home | Walker RN | U boats | Merseyside | U534 | U344 | |
|||
