At Close Quarters
PT Boats in the United States Navy

by

Captain Robert J. Bulkley, Jr.
USNR (Retired)

with a Foreword by
President John F. Kennedy

and an Introduction by
Rear Admiral Ernest McNeill Eller, USN (Retired)
Director of Naval History

Naval History Division
Washington: 1962

 

Torpedoes Away!


"PT boats filled an important need in World War II in shallow waters, complementing the achievements of greater ships in greater seass. This need for small, fast, versatile, strongly armed vessels does not wane."

-- JOHN F. KENNEDY


Contents

Foreword vi
Introduction ix
Preface xiii
Part I. Into Action -- Pearl Harbor and the Philippines  
1. The Lineup 1
2. "They Look Like Japs" 2
3. Manila Bay 3
4. The Fleet Withdraws 6
5. SS Corregidor 7
6. "Motor Torpedo Boats Are Rapidly Deteriorating" 8
7. Visit to Binanga 9
8. End of the 31 11
9. Gunnery Actions 13
10. Return to Subic 14
11. The 32 in Action 14
12. Subic Again 15
13. The General Departs 16
14. The 32 19
15. President Quezon 19
16. Engagement Off Cebu 21
17. "We Could No Longer Fight" 24
18. And Then There Were None 25
19. End of the Squadron 26
20. "Two Hundred Boats If Possible" 27
Part II. Development -- A New Type Emerges  
1. What Is a PT? 29
2. Ancient History 38
3. World War I and After 40
4. Scott-Paine and Vosper 42
5. Renewed Interest 43
6. The Design Contest 44
7. PT 9 45
8. The Elco Contract 47
9. The Squadrons 48
10. The 77-Foot Boat 50
11. Southern Waters and Lend-Lease 51
12. PTC's 51
13. The Plywood Derbies 52
14. Standardization 56
15. Reshuffling the Squadrons 58
16. The Training Center 59
17. Taboga 64
18. Shakedown 66
19. Commissioning Details 67
20. Ferrying Command 68
21. Tenders 68
22. Bases 73
23. Hellcat and Elcoplane 76
Part III. Guadalcanal and Beyond -- The Solomons Campaign  
1. Midway: Between Two Campaigns 79
2. To the South Pacific 82
3. The Struggle for Guadalcanal 84
4. Meeting the Tokyo Express 86
5. The Battle of Guadalcanal 91
6. After Tassafaronga 95
7. Evacuation 103
8. A Lull in Operations 105
9. Loss of the Niagara 109
10. The Stanvac Manila 112
11. The McCawley 114
12. Transition 116
13. First Action at Rendova 117
14. Costly Errors 119
15. They Didn't Pass the Word 120
16. The 109 124
17. Barge Hunting 128
18. Vella Lavella 134
19. Daylight Strikes 135
20. End of the New Georgia Campaign 137
21. Treasury and Bougainville 139
22. A Brush with Torpedo Bombers 141
23. Destroyers Again 143
24. Shore Batteries 145
25. To Green Island 146
26. Collision 148
27. Action in Empress Augusta Bay 149
28. Rabaul 151
29. March and April 1944 152
30. The Rugged Life 154
31. Task Group 30.3 157
32. A Trap 159
33. Task Group 70.8 161
Part IV. Southwest Pacific -- Conquest of New Guinea  
1. To the Buna Campaign 167
2. The Cruise of the Hilo 168
3. Tufi 172
4. Task Group 70.1 175
5. Battle of the Bismarck Sea 180
6. Some Barges and a Fire 182
7. Douglas Harbor and Morobe 183
8. Thursday Island 185
9. Kiriwina, Woodlark, and Nassau Bay 188
10. Actions in Huon Gulf 191
11. Lae, Salamaua, and Finschafen 196
12. Morobe: October and November 198
13. A Letter From General Berryman 205
14. Tenders, Staff, and Logistics 206
15. Kiriwina 212
16. Dreger Harbor 213
17. Action on a Reef 215
18. A Submersible 216
19. Planes at Arawe 217
20. Actions Along the New Guinea Coast 219
21. Expansion 222
22. Destruction in Hansa Bay 224
23. The Admiralties 227
24. Rein Bay and Talasea 231
25. New Britain: South Coast 234
26. Saidor 236
27. Aitape 239
28. Mios Woendi 240
29. Operations in Geelvink Bay 248
30. Amsterdam Island 254
31. End of the New Guinea Campaign 257
Part V. The Aleutians -- A Battle Against Weather  
1. A Race for Islands 261
2. MTB Division 1 262
3. Squadron 13 265
Part VI. The Mediterranean -- Torpedo War  
1. Squadron 15 277
2. North Africa 278
3. Bizerte 282
4. Sicilian Invasion 285
5. Palermo 287
6. Invasion of Italy 292
7. Maddalena and Bastia 295
8. Winter Operations 299
9. Collision With a Minesweeper 301
10. Anzio 302
11. TB Destroyers 303
12. Fun With Rockets 305
13. Operation Gun 307
14. Expansion 311
15. Corvettes and Destroyers 312
16. Elba 315
17. Capture of an MAS 320
18. The Thunderbolt 321
19. Southern France 322
20. The Advance Landings 323
21. Diversionary Operations 324
22. Mines 327
23. Porquerolles 329
24. The Gulf of Fos 329
25. Explosive Boats and Human Torpedoes 334
26. Last Days at Bastia 337
27. Leghorn 339
28. Torpedoing the Harbors 345
29. The Last Patrols 346
Part VII. The English Channel -- D-Day and After  
1. D-Day and the Mason Line 349
2. The Channel Islands 359
3. The Eastern Flank 362
4. End of the Campaign 364
Part VIII. Southwest Pacific -- Return to the Philippines  
1. Morotai 367
2. Rescue in Wasile Bay 368
3. Losses 371
4. Containing and Harassing 373
5. Battle of Surigao Strait 376
6. Air Attacks 390
7. Leyte and Cebu 395
8. First Days at Mindoro 402
9. A Japanese Task Force 406
10. Mindoro Convoy 408
11. Task Group 77.11 411
12. Mindoro Patrols 412
13. Bases and Logistics 415
14. Lingayen Gulf 420
15. Return to Manila Bay 422
16. Palawan 425
17. Zamboanga 426
18. Panay 427
19. East to Davao 428
20. Tarakan 432
21. Tawi Tawi 434
22. Brunei Bay 436
23. Balikpapan 437
24. MTBRonsPac 438
25. Surrender 441
26. The End and the Beginning 445
Postscript 448
Appendix A -- Composition of the Squadrons 449
Appendix B -- PT Losses 486
Appendix C -- Awards and Citations 489
Appendix D -- Casualties 510
A Note on Sources 520
Index 533

--xxi--

Illustrations

(Illustrations identified by numbers preceded by 80-G or 19-N are official U.S. Navy photos in USN collection in National Archives; those numbered with NR&L(MOD) prefixes are in the historical collection in U.S. Naval Photographic Center, Washington, D.C.)

Torpedoes Away! Frontispiece
The Philippines (chart) 4
Commander Bulkeley receives Medal of Honor 27
PT's wake a thing of beauty 30
PT assembly line at Higgins 31
Elco's upside-down construction, Bayonne 32
A PT's galley feeds a hungry crew 33
Loading a Mark VIII torpedo 35
A Mark XIII torpedo launched 36
Depth charge explodes in wake of PT, Panama 37
The Navy's first PT unloaded 46
PT 9 paces PT 3 49
The aluminum PT 8 50
PT 20, first of Elco 77-footers 53
PT 95, first Huckins 78-footer 56
PT 84, early Higgins 78-footer 57
PT 601, a late Elco 80-footer 58
PT 40, Guadalcanal veteran, returns to Melville 61
Repair Training Unit students, Melville 62
PT's in Panama: Taboga Harbor 63
Boats of Squadron 9, three abreast on tanker 64
Squadron 5 boats fueled at sea 65
Commissioning Squadron 23 67
First tender, Niagara 69
LST-type PT tender Silenus 70
PT tender Oyster Bay 71
Acontius, C-1-A-type PT tender 72
PT 564, 70-foot Higgins Hellcat 77
The Solomons (chart) 80
Squadron maneuvers, Panama 83
Inspecting bottom of PT, Solomons 90
"Calvertville," Tulagi PT base 107
Bombed tender Niagara burns 111
PT 117 with gaping hole in bow 121
PT 164, bow demolished, Rendova 121
Shops at Torokina Base, Bougainville 139
Bread ovens from oil drums, Torokina 140
Bow of PT 167, holed by "dud" torpedo 142
Commander Warfield briefs PT captains, Bougainville 153
A Japanese storehouse ablaze, New Ireland 164
The Southwest Pacific area (chart) 166
Tufi, first PT advance base, New Guinea 174
Muddy Kana Kopa, New Guinea's first PT base 177
Lowering hot food over side of tender 179
PT's hidden under trees, Morobe River 185
A PT on marine railway, Thursday Island 186
Native working party, Fergusson Island 189
A PT disembarks troops, Nassau Bay 190
PT's leave at dusk to patrol Huon Gulf 192
A shower in jungle at Morobe 193
Boat captains report to intelligence, Morobe 195
PT crew inspects Japanese 5-inch gun, Lae 197
Relaxing under camouflage net, Morobe River 199
"Sack drill" on board New Guinea PT 201
Hilo in Buna Roads 207
LST-type tender's A-frame lifts PT 208
PT raised in pontoon drydock 209
Tug and exotic tow, Amsterdam Island 211
PT crewmen came young: Dreger Harbor 214
Crane barge lowers new engine into PT 242 223
Informal dinner attire, New Guinea 235
Torpedo dump, Mios Woendi 247
Evaporator and water tower, Mios Woendi 250
Camp Taylor, Mios Woendi, largest PT base in New Guinea 252
PT's nose up on beach to set up base, Amsterdam Island 255
PT's from Mios Woendi in daylight strike 258
The Aleutians (chart) 260
Unloading a Squadron 13 PT, Seattle 266
Squadron 13 PT's proceed northward 267
Mess hall, Adak PT base 268
Adak base with tender Tatoosh 269
PT wakes off Attu 271
PT's with built-up sides to resemble landing barges 273
Tractor hauls PT up ramp for repair, Adak 274
The Mediterranean (chart) 277
PT launching, Higgins, New Orleans 278
PT torpedo storehouse, Palermo 289
Two PT's, Salerno Harbor 293
PT laying smoke, Salerno (Ancon in background) 294
PT's at Maddalena with surrendered corvette 296
PT 211 with rocket launchers, Bastia 297
MAS 562, captured Italian MTB 321
PT's at St. Maxime, Gulf of St. Tropez 335
The English Channel (chart) 348
PT's cross Channel, D-Day 351
PT 505, mined off Normandy 353
PT's to rescue of mine victims: Glennon and Rich 354
Rich hits another mine 354
PT 504 and ML 116 pick up Rich survivors 355
PT 199 carries Admiral Stark to beachhead 356
PT maneuvering off German fort, Cherbourg 357
Southwest Pacific area (chart) 366
Commander Preston receives Medal of Honor 370
PT 194 refuels from tender, en route Leyte 378
Foredeck of PT 152 after Surigao Strait 382
PT 321 rescues Japanese after Surigao 389
PT's stand by during bombing, Leyte Gulf 391
LCI survivors of kamikaze strike rescued by PT's 391
Oyster Bay knocks down her third kamikaze 392
Wreckage of PT 320, Leyte Gulf 393
PT 323, almost cut in half by kamikaze 395
MacArthur in PT 525, Tacloban 396
Japanese lugger in flames off Cebu 399
PT's returning from Palomplon landings, Christmas 1944 401
PT 297 picks up LST crew hit by kamikaze, Mindoro 404
Cyrene lifts PT aboard for major hull repairs 416
Two PT's docked at once by Cyrene 417
PT Base 17, Bobon Point, Samar 419
Japanese suicide boat, Lingayen Gulf 421
PT 376 to rescue of paratroopers, Corregidor 423
PT's approach Corregidor beach under sniper fire 424
A 5-inch rocket blazes from a PT in the Philippines 433
PT advance base, Brunei Bay 436
Loading PT Squadron 37 into LSD Oak Hill, Espiritu Santo 440
Brunei PT's evacuate internees from Kuching 443

--xxiv--



Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation