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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

Created 24 November 2001

 

 

Report of the Board of Enquiry into
The Sinking of HMS Kite On 21st August 1944 (continued)

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
Witness withdrew

LIEUTENANT JOHN ARTHUR DOUGLAS ROYAL NAVY
FIRST LIEUTENANT HMS KEPPEL

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
Witness withdrew

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
Witness withdrew

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
Witness withdrew

 

 

 

 

 


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