USN · PT
PT-109
Photos and infoElco 80-foot torpedo boat of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 2, out of Rendova. On the night of 1–2 August 1943 she was one of fifteen boats sent to stop a run into Vila. She was idling in Blackett Strait with PT-162 and PT-169 after the radar boats fired and went home. The destroyer Amagiri cut her in two. Two men died in the break, Harold Marney and Andrew Kirksey. The other eleven made a speck of an island, then another. Solomon Islands scouts carried a message cut into a coconut, and before dawn on 8 August, PT-157 took them off. Asked later how he came to be called a hero, Kennedy said it was involuntary. They sank his boat.
| Class | Elco 80-foot class |
|---|---|
| Type | Motor torpedo boat (PT) |
| Hull | PT-109 |
| Builder | Elco, Bayonne |
| Launched | 1942-06-20 |
| Commissioned | 1942-07-10 |
| Fate | Sunk. Cut in two by the destroyer Amagiri in Blackett Strait on the night of 1–2 August 1943. Two men were killed. Whether Amagiri's captain aimed the bow is still argued. |
| Armament (class) | Eighty-foot motor torpedo boat. A gun forward and torpedo tubes along the deck. |
| Command |
|
Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.
The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.
U.S. Navy photo 19-N-33165. PT-109 stowed on the liberty ship Joseph Stanton for the trip to the Pacific. The hull number 109 is on the boat. Public domain.
The pictures on this page are the originals.
No color version yet. Colored pictures and film will be added here.
Command
Loss of PT-109
1943-08-02 · cut in two; two killed; eleven reached the islands
