The Escape of the 2nd MTB Flotilla

Lt Laurence D Kilbee H.K.R.N.V.R. [MTB 08 & late of MTB 27]

MTB 08 blew up on the slip at Aberdeen when hit by a bomb splinter as the IJA bombed HMS Thracian on 16th December 1941

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Lt Kilbee transfered as C/O to MTB 08 on the 27th April 1940 after having been the C/O of MTB 27. After 08 blew up on the slip at Aberdeen on the 16th December 1941 he breifly took over as MTB Officer in Aberdeen before joining MTB 10 as 1st Officer. He was ordered ashore at the point of departure during the escape and was taken as P.O.W. While there he kept a diary and recorded the events of the battle of Hong Kong.

Laurence was a keen sailor being a member of the RHKYC & was one of the twelve members along with Ron Ashby who formed the HKRNVR on Trafalgar day 1937.

Photo from Laurence Kilbee's collection ©

For more information on Laurence Kilbee click here.

 

 

 

 

 

MTB 27, ex Kuamintong CMB Kuai 20 undergoing an XDO inspection in February 1940 with C/O Lt Kilbee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MTB 27 under way with Lt Kilbee in command in March 1940

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MTB 08 drawn by Lt Kilbee after being released from Japanese POW in 1945

 

Photo from Laurence Kilbee's collection ©

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lt L D Kilbee in 1940.

 

Photo from Lt Collingwood's collection ©