Allied Warships

HMS Kilbirnie (Z 01)

Patrol vessel of the Kil class

NavyThe Royal Navy
TypePatrol vessel
ClassKil 
PennantZ 01 
Built byPullman Standard Car Co. (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) 
Ordered10 May 1942 
Laid down14 Oct 1942 
Launched2 May 1943 
Commissioned16 Jul 1943 
End service 
History

Laid up in reserve at Sheerness, England in June 1945.
Returned to the U.S.N on 10 December 1946.
Sold in 1947 to Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab, Stavanger, Norway and rebuilt as a coastal passanger ship and renamed Haugesund.
Sold in 1973 to Libera Navigazione Lauro S.A.S., Naples, Italy and renamed Sicilia Ponte.
Sold in 1982 to Fila Societa per Azioni, Italy and renamed Tucalif.
Scrapped in Italy in August 1997.

 
Former nameUSS PCE 827

Commands listed for HMS Kilbirnie (Z 01)

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and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1T/Lt. Eric Rawdon Humphrey Seddon, RNVRNov 1943Aug 1944
2T/Lt. Charles Trevor Letts, RNVRAug 1944

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Notable events involving Kilbirnie include:


11 Feb 1944
HMS Unswerving (T/Lt. M.D. Tattersall, RNVR) and HMS Tantalus (Lt.Cdr. H.S. Mackenzie, DSO and Bar, RN) made rendes-vous with HMS Kilbirnie (T/Lt. E.R.H. Seddon, RNVR). They then set course for Gibraltar. (1)

7 Apr 1944
HMS Vampire (Lt. C.W. Taylor, RNR) conducted A/S exercises off Gibraltar with HMS Kingston Chrysolite (A/Skr.Lt. J. Main, RNR), HMS Loch Oskaig (T/Lt. E.A. Norris, RNVR), HMS Pink (Lt. W.K. Tadman, RNR) and HMS Kilbirnie (T/Lt. E.R.H. Seddon, RNVR). These were followed by night A/S exercises with aircraft. (2)

3 Jan 1945
HMS Vampire (Lt. C.W. Taylor, RNR) conducted A/S exercises off Gibraltar with HMS Pennywort (T/Lt. J.C.E. Down, RNR) and HMS Kilbirnie (T/Lt. C.T. Letts, RNVR). (3)

10 Jan 1945
HMS Ballinderry (Lt.Cdr. E.F. Aikman, RNR) and HMS Kilbirnie (T/Lt. C.T. Letts, RNVR) together pick up 51 survivors from the British merchant Blackheath that was torpedoed and damaged by German U-boat U-870 west of Gibraltar in position 35°49'N, 06°03'W.

Sources

  1. ADM 199/1822
  2. ADM 173/19337
  3. ADM 173/20229

ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.


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