Motor Torpedo Boat PT-41 was a PT-20 (Elco 77-Foot) Class Patrol torpedo boat, built at Elco and commissioned on 23 July 1941.
PT-41 served as the flagship of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, which was based in the Philippines from late 1941 to April 1942. The commander of PT-41 was Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley, who became one of the U.S. Navy's most highly decorated officers.
PT-41 evacuated General (later General of the Army) Douglas MacArthur, Mrs. MacArthur, Arthur MacArthur (General MacArthur's son), Arthur's Chinese nurse, General Sutherland (USFFE Chief of Staff), CAPT Harold G. Ray (USN), LTC Sidney L. Huff (Aide), and MAJ C.H. Morehouse (Medical Officer) from Corregidor to Mindanao on 12 March 1942, thus enabling MacArthur to escape and to make his famous "I shall return" speech in Terowie, Australia.
After MacArthur's party left Mindanao, PT-41, along with the two remaining PT Boats of the squadron (PT-34 and PT-35), established a new base of operations at Cagayan, Mindanao, supporting the American military forces defending Mindanao and the nearby islands from the invading Japanese throughout late March and early April 1942.
After a torpedo attack in concert with PT-34 on the Japanese cruiser Kuma on April 9, 1942, PT-41 became the last remaining PT boat of the squadron (PT-34 was sunk in the aftermath of the attack and PT-35 was burned at Cebu). With no more torpedoes available for PT-41 to use, it was commandeered by the United States Army to patrol Lake Lanao, Mindanao. It was destroyed by the Army on April 15, 1942, to prevent its capture while being transported via road to Lake Lanao.
The exploits of PT-41 are described in the 1945 film They Were Expendable directed by John Ford with Robert Montgomery, John Wayne and Donna Reed