PT-137 was an 80-foot Elco from the Elco Works at Bayonne: about 56 tons, three Packard gasoline engines, roughly 40 knots, and a crew of about 14 to 17. She was placed in service on 25 September 1942 in Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 7.
On the night of 24-25 October 1944 Lieutenant (junior grade) Isadore Michael Kovar had her in Lieutenant Commander Robert Leeson's section, with PT-134 and PT-132, off Panaon on the western side of the southern entrance. Leeson rode PT-134. He was not captain of PT-137. The boats were among 39 under Commander Selman S. Bowling. The boats of that night fired 34 torpedoes and made two hits. The hit that can be named is this boat's.
Her auxiliary generator failed, so she had neither radar nor radio. Two destroyers nearly slipped past before Kovar saw them. His one overtaking shot missed astern. At 0335, as Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima's force retired, he spotted a destroyer coming back down the strait, closed to about 900 yards, and fired one torpedo. He watched it pass under the destroyer's beam. The underwater concussion jarred the boat, but there was no visible explosion. Starshell lit her, and several salvos followed before the destroyer entered the smoke.
The torpedo ran on and hit the light cruiser Abukuma in the boiler room. About 30 to 37 men were killed. The cruiser dropped to 10 knots and fell out of formation. Kovar could not see Abukuma when he fired. The Navy Cross citation calls the target a destroyer named Abukuma. The ship type in that citation is wrong. The shot was aimed at a destroyer and hit the cruiser beyond her. Abukuma reached Dapitan. B-24s of the Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces sank her the next day, with about 250 of her crew. That sinking is not credited to PT-137, and it is not credited to one bomber. Kovar received the Navy Cross.
Later that morning Mogami's secondary battery drove her off while PT-491 attacked the cruiser. She transferred to Squadron 33 on 15 February 1945 and was stripped and destroyed on 24 October 1945. She was not sunk in the battle.