Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109

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PT-109 redirects here. For the movie starring Cliff Robertson, see PT 109. For the Jimmy Dean song, see PT-109 (song).

United States Ship PT-109 was a PT boat commanded by Lieutenant (j.g.) John F. Kennedy (later United States President) in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions after the sinking of the PT-109 both solidified his "war hero" status in his political career, and may have contributed to his long-term back problems.

The boat and infamous incident would become a cultural phenomenon inspiring many books, movies, television series and collectible objects and toys far beyond its modest military historical impact. Interest would peak during the JFK presidency, but interest continues in the 2000s with the discovery of the wreck by Robert Ballard.

Lt. Kennedy on the PT-109 in 1943.
Career United States
Ordered:	1942
Laid down:	July 1942 at Bayonne, New Jersey
Launched:	1942
In service:	1943
Out of service:	1943, sunk
Status:	run down by destroyer, torpedo tube located in 2002
Homeport:	Rendova, Tulagi, Solomon Islands
General Characteristics
Displacement:	56 tons (full load)
Length:	80 feet (24.4 m) overall
Beam:	20 ft 8 in (6.3 m)
Draft:	3 ft 6 in (1.06m) maximum (aft)
Propulsion:	three 12-cylinder gasoline engines 1500 hp each (three shafts)
Speed:	41 knots (76 km/h) maximum (trials)
Endurance:	12 hours, 6 hours at top speed
Complement:	3 officers, 14 enlisted men (design)
Armament:	4 21-inch torpedo tubes (four Mark 8 torpedoes), 20mm cannon aft, 2 twin-.50cal machine gun turrets, 37mm anti-tank gun mounted forward (field modification)
Armour:	wood
Nickname:	John F. Kennedy's PT-109
Honours and awards:	Skipper was future president of United States, only two crew lost

[edit] The PT Boat

The PT-109 belonged to the PT 103 class, of which hundreds were completed between 1942 and 1945 by the Elco Naval Division of Electric Boat Company at Bayonne, New Jersey. The Elco boats were the largest U.S. PT boats during World War II, longer than many famous sailing ships such as the Golden Hind. They had strong wooden hulls of 2 inch thick mahogany planks, not plywood. Three 12-cylinder 1500hp (1100kW) Packard gasoline engines (one to a propeller shaft) generated as much horsepower as a B-17 bomber. Their designed top speed was 41 knots.

It could accommodate 3 officers and 14 men, with the crew varied from 12 to 14, but the PT 59 would pick up several dozen men from a sinking landing craft. At full load, the PT 109 displaced 56 tons. The 109 had one 20mm anti-aircraft gun at the rear with "109" painted on it, two open rotating turrets (designed by the same firm that produced the Tucker automobiles), each with twin .50-caliber (12.7mm) anti-aircraft machine guns, at opposite corners of the open cockpit, and a smoke generator on her tail. These guns would be effective against various aircraft, including a B-25 which had been instructed there were no friendly boats in the vicinity of some PT-boats, crashed upon being hit, and survivors picked up by the same PT-boat . While torpedoes were sometimes effective against large ships, they could not return large caliber gunfire carried by destroyers. A direct hit in the engine compartment to boats witnessed by Kennedy sometimes resulted in a near-total loss of boat and crew.

She was fitted with four 21-inch (53cm) torpedo tubes, with troublesome Mark 8 torpedoes. Aerial versions of the torpedoes weighed about 2000 lbs each. The day before the fateful last mission, Kennedy's PT-109 fitted a 37mm single shot anti-tank cannon the crew had commandeered and bolted to the foredeck. Although the gun would be placed where the small life raft would normally be, the timbers would later help save their lives as a float.^[1] PT boats were often seen in the context of David and Goliath, pitting wooden boats filled with gasoline against steel destroyers with large caliber shells. A less optimistic remark used in the movie referred to them as plywood coffins.

[edit] Crew

A standard uniform would be blue with white cap for enlisted sailors, brown khakis and caps for officers. At battle stations, all would wear dark blue kapok life vests ^[2] and helmets. The skipper's helmet would have a shield and star, while the other officer would be labled "XO".

The crew aboard PT-109 on its last mission:

• LT (jg) John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Boston, Massachusetts, skipper.
• Ensign Leonard J. Thom, Sandusky, Ohio, "XO"
• Ensign George H. R. "Barney" Ross, Highland Park, Illinois (on board as an observer, operated 37mm gun)
• Seaman 2/c Raymond Albert, Akron, Ohio
• Gunner's Mate 3/c Charles A. "Bucky" Harris, Watertown, Massachusetts
• Motor Machinist's Mate 2/c William Johnston, Dorchester, Massachusetts
• Torpedoman's Mate 2/c Andrew Jackson Kirksey, Reynolds, Georgia (killed in collision, listed as missing by National Geographic account)
• Radioman 2/c John E. Maguire, Dobbs Ferry, New York
• Motor Machinist’s Mate 2/c Harold William Marney, Springfield, Massachusetts (killed in collision, manning turret closest to impact point)
• Quartermaster 3/c Edman Edgar Mauer, St. Louis, Missouri
• Motor Machinist's Mate 1/c Patrick H. "Pappy" McMahon, Wyanet, Illinois (Only man in engine room during collision, was badly burned, but recovered wounds)
• Torpedoman's Mate 2/c Ray L. Starkey, Garden Grove, California
• Motor Machinist's Mate 1/c Gerard E. Zinser, Belleville, Illinois (erroneously called "Gerald" in many publications)

[edit] The "Battle of the PT-109"

According to the movie and the book by Donovan, Kennedy used his family influence to get into the war quickly rather than avoid it. The Allies were in a campaign of island hopping since capturing Guadalcanal in a bloody battle in 1942. Kennedy was assigned the PT-109 upon arriving at the island of Tulagi. By August, the Allies had captured Rendova and moved PT boat operations there. The US Army was driving the Japanese out of Munda airfield at New Georgia by August. All of the islands around Blackett Strait were still held by the Japanese.

In an action considered too inconsequential by military historians to even have a formal name, the PT-109 was sent out north on a night mission through Fergeson Passage to Blackett Strait. It was one of 15 boats sent to intercept the Tokyo Express, a convoy of destroyers employed as fast transports and an escort on a night resupply mission to avoid air attack.

In what would be later considered to be a textbook example of one of the most poorly planned and uncoordinated PT boat attacks in the war, 15 boats loaded with 60 torpedoes scored only a few observed explosions. Flashes when torpedoes were launched would give away their positions, many torpedoes exploded prematurely or ran at the wrong depth, so no enemy ships were sunk. The boats were ordered to return when their torpedos were expended, but the boats with radar shot their torpedoes first. When they returned, the remaining boats such as the PT-109 were left without radar.

Google Earth view, Olasana near left, Nauru near right, Plum Pudding mid left, Blackett Strait in front of volcanic Kolombangara, Fergeson Passage is to right of Nauru, Rendova is 35 miles to below and right. All of the territory visible was completely under Japanese control except for Evans' secret post.

The PT-109 patrolled the area in case the enemy ships returned. Around 0200, on a moonless night, Kennedy's boat was idling on one engine to avoid detection of its wake by Japanese aircraft which had previously killed a PT officer in a night attack. But with only ten seconds warning, they were not anticipating that they would be virtually parked straight in the path of their target, which was returning from Vila, Kolombangara after offloading 912 soldiers and supplies, heading back towards Rabaul.

The crew spotted a destroyer bearing down on them at speeds reported by some sources as high as 30 or 40 knots, though most Japanese destroyers did not travel this fast. Others believe it might have been as slow as 23 knots. With no time to get the engines up to speed to maneuver for a torpedo shot, they were rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri on August 2, 1943 in the Blackett Strait between Kolombangara and Arundel in the Solomon Islands near 8.063626° S 157.1515° E.

The PT-109 was cut in two. Seamen Andrew Jackson Kirksey and Harold W. Marney were lost. For such a catastrophic collision, explosion and fire, it was a low loss rate compared to other boats hit by shellfire. Conflicting statements have been made as to whether the destroyer captain had spotted and steered towards the boat, but author Donovan who interviewed many of the destroyer crew believes that the collision was not an accident. Damage to the propeller slowed the destroyer's trip home. The PT-109 was gravely damaged, with watertight compartments keeping only the forward hull afloat in a sea of flames.^[3]

[edit] Survival

Kennedy Island as it appeared on the National Geographic special

Kennedy and his men had to choose carefully where to go since all of the large islands had Japanese camps on them. The survivors chose the tiny deserted Plum Pudding Island, southwest of Kolombangara island. They placed their lantern, shoes and nonswimmers on one of the timbers used as a gun mount and began kicking together to propel it. Kennedy had swum at Harvard University. It took 4 hours for the survivors to reach Plum Pudding island 3.5 miles (six kilometers) away, braving the possibility of encountering native sharks and crocodiles. Using a life jacket strap he clenched in his mouth, Kennedy towed McMahon, who was badly burned. The island is only a hundred yards in diameter with no food or water. The crew had to hide from passing Japanese barge traffic. Kennedy swam about 4 km more, to Naru and Olasana islands in search of help and food. He then led his men to Olasana Island, which had coconut trees and water, though the coconut milk made some of his men sick.^[4]

[edit] The men who found Kennedy

The explosion on August 2 was spotted by Australian coastwatcher Lt. Arthur Reginald Evans, who manned a secret observation post at the top of the volcano on Kolombangara Island; over ten thousand Japanese troops were garrisoned in the southeast. While the Navy and its squadron of PT boats held a memorial service for the crew of the PT-109 after reviewing the large explosion, Evans dispatched Solomon Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in a dugout canoe to look for possible survivors after decoding news that the explosion he had witnessed was probably from the lost PT-109. These Solomon Islands canoes were similar to those used for thousands of years by people in the Pacific and by Native Americans. In retrospect, these were by far the oldest technology and smallest manned craft used by the Allies in WWII compared to the powerful radar and torpedo armed PT boats of the Americans, but they could avoid detection by Japanese ships and aircraft.

Kennedy and his men survived for six days on coconuts before they were found by the scouts. The two men had disobeyed an order by stopping by Nauru to investigate a Japanese wreck, from which they obtained fuel and food. They first fled by canoe from a shouting stranger who would turn out to be Kennedy. On the next island, they pointed their tommy guns at the rest of the crew since the only light-skinned people they expected to find were Japanese, and they weren't familiar with either language or people. Gasa would later say "All white people looked the same to me." Kennedy convinced them that they were on the same side. The small canoe wasn't big enough for passengers. Though the Donovan book and movie depict Kennedy offering a coconut inscribed with a message, according to a National Geographic interview, it was Gasa who suggested it and Eroni who climbed a coconut tree to pick one.

On it, Kennedy cut the following message:

NAURO ISL
COMMANDER… NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT…
HE CAN PILOT… 11 ALIVE
NEED SMALL BOAT… KENNEDY

This message was delivered by risking death and capture, rowing 35 miles through hostile waters patrolled by the Japanese to the nearest allied base at Rendova. Some coastwatchers natives who were caught had been tortured and killed. A later canoe returned for Kennedy, where he went to the coastwatcher to coordinate the rescue. American PT boats where able to pick up the remaining survivors, and gave the scouts a lift home. The signal would be 4 shots, but since Kennedy only had 3 shots in his pistol, Evans gave him a rifle for the fourth signal shot. The scouts remembered that the swift boats felt like flying. The marines sang "Yes Jesus Loves Me", an unusual military anthem to pass the time. The pair would receive little notice or credit in military reports, books or movies until 2002 when they were interviewed by National Geographic shortly before Gasa's death.

[edit] The destroyers finish the job

Three nights later on August 6, in the Battle of Vella Gulf, American destroyers were given the same task of stopping the Tokyo Express as the unsuccessful PT boats. Unlike the previous disorganized attack, which did not coordinate the use of radar, the destroyers used lessons learned in previous battles. They did not reveal their presence with gunfire until their torpedoes were in the water. Three Japanese destroyers were sunk, killing 1,500 Japanese with no US losses. This ended the Tokyo Express. Kolobangara could no longer be resupplied and the allies bypassed the huge garrison of 12,400 there. Although the Battle of Vella Gulf was deemed important enough to have a formal name, the battle is far less famous than the story of JFK's PT-109.

[edit] PT-59

Main article: PT 59

The PT-59 was one of the first PT boats converted to a gunboat primarily tasked with hunting down targets their own size or smaller, and was also led by Kennedy and those from the PT-109 who chose to stay in the war rather than go home. The PT-59 would rescue ambushed marines, a gravely wounded officer died in Kennedy's bunk. The movie included this story, but as the PT 109.

[edit] Aftermath

PT boats would ultimately prove largely ineffective against the ships they were designed to combat, scoring one US transport in the Solomons by mistake. However, they would later prove to be deadly against the shallow draft barges and smaller craft used by the Japanese in island waters.

All of the PT boats were retired after WWII, most being burned because they were deemed not worth shipping home. The Navy would again experiment with the PT-109 sized USS Tucumcari (PGH-2) hydrofoil patrol boat in the 1960s, resulting in a small squadron of larger USS Pegasus (PHM-1) class boats. These were retired for lack of a mission by the end of the 1980s. Even the classic Milton Bradley game of Battleship would retire the two-pin PT-boat in favor of a stealth ship.

One of the most detailed accounts ever published appeared in the New Yorker with the title "Survival", written by a reporter who interviewed Kennedy after the incident. Another account was printed in Reader's Digest just before Kennedy's first Congressional run. The campaign reproduced the article and distributed it to potential voters. A campaign pin of the PT-109 was distributed during his presidential campaign.

Destroyer Amagiri

Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. A few in the military, including Douglas MacArthur, thought he should have faced a court-martial instead for losing his boat in such a manner. It was thought by many that such a quick and maneuverable craft should have been able to escape a collision with a slower enemy craft, though fellow skippers would point out that a boat like the PT-109 could not accelerate quickly under such circumstances.

During his presidency, Kennedy privately admitted to friends that he didn't feel that he deserved the medals he had received, because the PT-109 incident had been the result of a botched military operation that had cost the lives of two members of his crew. When asked by interviewers how he became a war hero, Kennedy's grim reply was, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

[edit] Popular culture

Promotional model of PT-109 by Revell shows layout of weapons. Models with the anti-tank gun fitted show that it may have replaced the life raft visible here.

In addition to the book mentioned below, the episode was also made into a 1963 movie PT 109, starring Cliff Robertson, though it had some historical problems, such as the Navy searching for the boat rather than holding a memorial service for the crew. PT-109 was also Top 10 record at #8 in 1962 by Jimmy Dean, one of his most successful songs. Plum Pudding island was later renamed Kennedy Island. It is so small, it is barely visible on mapping programs today such as Google Earth. The island caused a controversy when the government sold off the land to a private investor who charged admission to tourists.

The 1958 movie South Pacific preceded PT-109 as a drama about Navy sailors in the Pacific Theater. In 1961, Premiere Theater presented "Seven Against The Sea", a drama about a resourceful group of stranded American PT boat crewmen hiding out on a South Pacific island controlled by the Japanese Navy, a situation which would appear to be inspired by the adventures of Kennedy and his men.^[5] This would become the pilot of McHale's Navy, one of the more successful television situation comedy series which ran from 1962 to 1966 on ABC, and spawned spinoff movies and a 1997 movie remake. The cultural icon Gilligan's Island, which ran on CBS from 1964 to 1967, was also based on the shipwreck of a PT-sized boat. The passengers would be led by a skipper, which was Kennedy's position on the PT-109, and his first mate.

The PT-109 was also one of the most famous subjects of toy, plastic and RC model ships in the 1960s, familiar to most boys who grew up as Baby Boomers. The tale is much less familiar to their sons today, as the VHS movie was out of print in the US by 2006. It is available outside of the US as a Video CD, but not yet as a DVD. In 2006, the PT-109: The Next Generation series of PT-109 "viral videos" was released on Google Video. One is based on the James Dean hit song incorporating excerpts from the feature movie and National Geographic DVD, a G.I. JFK Numa Numa dance, and a Star Trek movie parody.

PT-109 JFK G.I. Joe

Out of print VHS movie

It was still a popular 1/72 scale Revell model kit widely available in the 2000s. In scale, it is notably much longer than the same scale 1/72 Caribbean pirate sailing ship by the same manufacturer. It was also the subject of a special PT-109 John F. Kennedy G.I. Joe.

Spectrum Holobyte released a naval simulation game roughly based on the events named "PT-109" for the Apple Macintosh and MS-DOS-compatible computers in 1987.

Although the USS Constitution is considered to be the most famous US Navy ship in history, in Aug 2006 some 42 PT-109 items were available on Ebay, compared to 35 for the Constitution and 14 for the USS Missouri, though trailing the 2572 items under "Titanic". If fame can be measured by the number of comic books, movies, television episodes, National Geographic DVDs, books, models, PT-109 G.I. Joe figures and hit records inspired by the story, the PT-109 is certainly one of the most famous US Navy vessels of the 20th century if not the most merchandised.

[edit] The search for Kennedy's PT 109

Main article: The Search for Kennedy's PT 109

The wreckage of PT-109 may have been located; a May 2002 a National Geographic expedition headed by Dr. Robert Ballard found what appears to be a torpedo tube from wreckage matching the description and location of Kennedy's vessel in the Solomon Islands^[6]. However, under current Navy policy, the wreckage is a gravesite and may not be disturbed.

[edit] What happened to the coconut?

TV program at the JFK library as part of a game show

The coconut was kept in a preserved glass container by Kennedy on his desk during his presidency. It is now on display at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts as one of the most famous and notable coconuts in the world.

[edit] Survivors

Gerard Zinser, the last survivor of the PT-109, died in 2001. Both Solomon Islanders Biuki Gasa and Aaron (Eroni) Kumana were alive when visited by National Geographic in 2002, both being presented with a gift from the Kennedy family.

Biuki Gasa died late in August 2005, his passing noted only in a single blog by a relative. According to Time Pacific magazine, Gasa and Eroni were invited to Kennedy's inauguration. However, the island authorities tricked Gasa into giving his trip to more important local officials. Gasa and Eroni gained a little fame only after being identified by National Geographic, but are today are among the most famous Solomon Islanders who ever lived.

[edit] See also

• PT-109 (model).
• Gilligan's Wake Fictional re-imagining of Gilligan's island where the Skipper served with both John F. Kennedy and the skipper of McHale's Navy.
• Leslie Martinson directed both the PT-109 movie and Rescue from Gilligan's Island.

A size comparison of the 1/72 Revell and a 1/400 Japanese destroyer model

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Scalecraft history.
2. ^ As costumed on the 1963 Warner Brothers movie
3. ^ John F Kennedy’s Military Story at Medal of Freedom.
4. ^ "JFK's epic Solomons swim" BBC News 30 July, 2003.
5. ^ The Lost McHale's Navy Pilot
6. ^ "JFK's PT-109 Found, U.S. Navy Confirms"

[edit] References

• Robert J. Donovan, PT 109: John F. Kennedy in WWII (1961) ISBN 0-07-137643-7
• Edward J. Renehan Jr. The Kennedys at War: 1937-1945. (Doubleday, 2002)
• Richard Tregaskis, John F. Kennedy and PT-109 (American Printing House for the Blind, 1966) ASIN: B0007HSN7S
• Robert D. Ballard, Collision With History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109 (National Geographic, 2002)

[edit] Japanese accounts

• Haruyoshi Kimmatsu, The night We sank John Kennedy's PT 109 appeared in Argosy Magazine December 1970 Vol 371 # 6
• Tameichi Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain (Ballantine Books, 1978) ISBN 0-345-27894-1

[edit] External links

• SURVIVAL 1944 New Yorker Magazine article
• Naval Historical Center pictures of PT-109
• Medal of Honor details of Kennedy's history with PT boats
• Maritimequest PT-109 Photo Gallery and Fact Sheet
• The Naval Historical Center's History of PT-109
• PT-109 Loss Official Navy report on the incident, and other PT boats involved
• Elco PT Boat - Photos of an Elco PT Boat at the Battleship Cove Naval Museum in Fall River, MA
• Battleship Cove Naval Museum Website - Home of 2 restored WWII PT Boats
• [1] National Geographic: The Islanders Who Saved Kennedy
• [2] MobyGames' webpage on the 1987 video game "PT-109" with several screenshots
• [3] Commemorative swim with map of Kennedy / Plum Pudding, Olasna and Naru islands
• [4] Pacific wrecks PT-109 details