HMS Kite (U87)
HMS Kite in March 1943
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| 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 | |
| Class and type: | Modified Black Swan-class sloop |
| Displacement: | 1,350 tons |
| Length: | 299 ft 6 in (91.29 m) |
| Beam: | 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,500 nmi (13,900 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 192 |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Part of: | 2nd Support Group |
| Commanders: |
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| Operations: | |
| Victories: | |
HMS Kite (U87) was a Modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy, commanded by Lt Cdr Segram RN and 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 1944 (in which six U-boats were sunk in one patrol).
Named after the bird of the same name, 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.
Kite took part in the sinking of five U-boats together with several sister ships:
On 20 August 1944 Kite was escorting the aircraft carriers Vindex and 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 21 August, Kite slowed to 6 knots (11 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, Lt Cdr Campbell, 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.
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