| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Patrol vessel |
| Class | Kil |
| Pennant | Z 01 |
| Built by | Pullman Standard Car Co. (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) |
| Ordered | 10 May 1942 |
| Laid down | 14 Oct 1942 |
| Launched | 2 May 1943 |
| Commissioned | 16 Jul 1943 |
| End service | |
| History | Laid up in reserve at Sheerness, England in June 1945. |
| Former name | USS PCE 827 |
Commands listed for HMS Kilbirnie (Z 01)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | T/Lt. Eric Rawdon Humphrey Seddon, RNVR | Nov 1943 | Aug 1944 |
| 2 | T/Lt. Charles Trevor Letts, RNVR | Aug 1944 |
You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.
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
- ADM 199/1822
- ADM 173/19337
- ADM 173/20229
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.