Other Information
HMS Kite was a modified “Black Swan” class sloop.
On 20 August 1944 HMS 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 Swordfish aircraft from one of the carriers. Two more were sunk by other destroyers.
At 06:30 on 21 August, HMS Kite slowed to 6 knots to untangle her “foxers” (anti acoustic torpedo noise makers, towed astern). She was hit by two torpedoes from U-344 and sank.
Of HMS Kite’s crew of 10 officers and 207 ratings, 60 survived the attack, but only 14 men were picked up alive by HMS Keppel from the freezing Arctic water.
Five of the rescued died on board leaving only nine to make it to shore.
U-344 was sunk the next day by depth charges from a single Swordfish plane.
