PT 109

[shipstamps]

The two President Kennedy memorial stamps illustrated show the late President at the wheel of his first command as a lieutenant (junior grade) of the U.S. Navy. He joined the Motor Patrol Torpedo Boat 109 at Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands, in April 1943, as her captain. The crew, or the majority of them, were joining their first ship from the training craft at home, where all the motor torpedo boats were spick and span, mostly new craft being run in.
When they joined the PT 109 at Tulagi they were taken aback by the dirty condition of the craft, which had been in combat in the tropics for months. When the PT 109 was moored at the shore, the heavy jungle bushes concealed her from enemy planes as was intended, but also bridged the way for formidable boarding parties of rats and cockroaches. When the engines were ordered to be started the best the men could do was to get one of the three going and Kennedy began to feel like the PT men in the song:
Oh, some PTs do seventy-five, And some do sixty-nine,
When we get ours to run at all We think we're doing fine.
It was several days after Lt. Kennedy joined her before she was in good enough shape to begin her turn on night patrols. These were largely precautionary at that time to make sure that no Japanese ships would attempt hit-and-run attacks on Guadalcanal.
ft. craft with four torpedo tubes, machine guns and an anti-aircraft gun, built by the Elco Naval Division of the Electric Boat Company, at Bayonne, N.J. After trials she was shipped to Balboa, Panama for further training of her crew.
In September 1942, the PT 109 was attached to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron No. 2 and loaded aboard a Liberty ship bound for Noumea. From there she was towed by an old 4-funnelled destroyer to Tulagi and was soon sent into action in the waters north of Guadalcanal. One night, while searching in the Cape Esperance area she was caught by the fire of shore batteries and was lucky to get home with three holes in her hull. She was constantly in operation until Kennedy joined her and was then a battle-scarred veteran, like her crew, who were all thankful they were being relieved.
Kennedy had been in command of the PT 109 for about two months when the craft was ordered to proceed from Tulagi to the Russell Islands, 80 miles away. This was a new base where there was a dock at which the PT boats could refuel without the back-breaking work of hauling drums aboard and pumping 100 octane gasoline into the tanks through chamois strainers. In mid-June 1943, the three 12-cylinder Packard engines, which had been overworked, were replaced with engines rebuilt at New Hebrides.
In July 1943 the PT 109 was ordered to Rendova, one of the large islands in the Solomons, in the middle of the main battle then being fought in the Pacific. The PT base was at Lumberi, on Rendova, where between 15 and 20 boats were moored in "nests" of three to a buoy.
From here the PT boats had to go out night after night. While on one of these patrols early in the morning of August 2, 1943, in Blackett Strait in the Solomon Islands, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri rammed and sank the PT 109 and Lt. Kennedy spent 30 of the next 36 hours in the water. Fortunately the bow of the vessel remained afloat, to which the 11 survivors were able to cling while drifting in the water, or lie insecurely on the sloping deck.
Eventually they had to swim to the nearest island. One of the men was so badly burned that Lt. Kennedy had to swim with the man riding on his back and alternately towing him. It took the survivors four hours to swim the 31/4 miles across Blackett Strait to Gross Island. There they remained for a week before being found by two Solomon Islanders employed as scouts by an Australian coastwatcher, Lt. A. R. Evans, R.A.N.V.R., who contacted the American base at Lumberi. Rescue operations were immediately put in hand and the crew of the PT 109 were given a great welcome when they got back to their base on August 8, 1943.
Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroism and leadership. On January 20, 1961, the crew of the PT 109 gathered in Washington to see John F. Kennedy inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States. One of his first Presidential acts was to give a hearty wave and big grin to the crew as they passed on a float in the inaugural parade aboard a PT boat numbered 109.
Stamps NC Sea Breezes 5/66

[aukepalmhof]

The wooden hulled torpedo boat was built by Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ for the USS Navy.
04 March 1942 was she laid down.
20 June 1942 launched as PT-109, she did belong to the 103 class of which hundreds were completed between 1942 and 1945.
Displacement 56 ton, dim. 24 x 6.30 x 1,07m (draught)
Powered by three Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, 3,600 hp., three shafts, speed 41 knots during trials.
Range, by maximum speed 6 hours.
Armament 1 – 40mm gun, 4 – 21 inch torpedo tubes, 1 – 37mm gun (added by crew in August 1943), 1 – 20mm and 2 – 50 cal. machine guns.
Crew 17
10 July 1942 delivered, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FIVE (PTRon 5) under command of Comdr. Henry Farrow.
19 July 1942 completed.

PTRon 5 was assigned to the Panama Sea Frontier from September 1942 until the spring of 1943, thereafter was it shipped to Solomon’s islands.
22 September 1942 Transferred to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (PTRon 2) the squadron was under command of Lt. George A. Brackett.
1942 PTRon 2 with six 77’ Elco boats and six 80’ Elco boats was shipped to the South Pacific.
The PT-109 was then active in the Solomon’s campaign, engaging in many strenuous night actions with the Tokyo Express in the defence of Guadalcanal.
23 April 1943 command of the PT-109 was taken over by Lt. John F. Kennedy at the PT base at Rendova Island.

While patrolling in the Blackett Strait on the southern side of the Kolombangara Islands around 2.30 a.m. of 2 August 1943 the PT-109 was rammed by the Japanese destroyer AMAGIRI and was cut in two, she sank gradually during the day in position about of 8 03 S 156 58E with the loss of 2 men of the crew.
The survivors abandoned ship to swim to an island some miles away.
08 August 1943 the crew of PT-109 returned to the Rendova PT base.

More info on this sinking is given on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Torpedo_Boat_PT-109

Solomon Islands 1976 20c sg322, scott?. 1993 30c sg775, scott756 and 1993 sg, $1.10 sg778,scott759 and $5 sgMS779, scott760
Guinea-Bissau 2012 40.000 fg (the tail ship is the La BOUDEUSE.)
Guyana 1993 $50 sg3652, scott2708b
Marshall Island 1995 55c sg600, scott591a
Nevis 1995 $1,25 sg?, scott919g
Palau scott461.
Paraguay 1965 15c sg?, scott887.
Sierra Leone 1995 250Le sg2321, scott1803f
St Vincent & the Grenadines 2008 $3 sgMS?, scott? 2007 $1 sg?, scott?

Source: Ships of the World by Lincoln Paine, and various web-sites.

[Arturo]

PT-109

Marshall Islands 1995, S.G.?, Scott: 591a.