PT-109 was a PT boat (Patrol Torpedo boat) last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade (LTJG) John F. Kennedy (later President of the United States) in the. GENE KIRKLAND'S pt boat website, United States Navy PT Boats of World War II. The PT 103 class Italeri 1/35 scale PT 109, kit number 5613, is a good kit right out of the box. See David Waples initial kit review for extensive images of the kit. PT 109 1963. Overview: Releases. Dramatization of President John F. Kennedy's war time experiences during which he captained a PT boat. Unofficial History of PT-109: Motor Torpedo Boat 109 (PT-109) was laid down 4 March 1942 by the Elco Works Naval Division of the Electric Boat Company in Bayonne, New. PT Boats of World War II. On the other hand, PT 1. John Fitzgerald Kennedy- -would later be elected thirty- fifth President of the United States. Because of books, numerous magazine articles, a film, and several documentaries, most adults of a certain generation are at least slightly familiar with the basic story of PT 1. Rammed by a Japanese destroyer, trapped behind enemy lines and all but given up for dead by their shipmates, Kennedy and his crew were ultimately rescued after a week by friendly Melanesians and an Australian coastwatcher. The discovery of the boat's remains in May 2. Kennedy's election as President in 1. Navy service, either good, bad, or irrelevant, leaving many to mistakenly conclude that JFK's naval career and the boat's service life began and ended together. But what most people are unaware of is that the 1. John Kennedy ever knew of the boat's existence. Much has been written of this particular PT's famous final skipper, but what was the 1. Massachusetts first trod upon her deck? Delivered to the Navy in July 1. PT 1. 09 would see considerable action off the shores of an island in the Pacific, the battle for which has all but become legendary in a war branded by great battles: Guadalcanal. Before then- Lieutenant (junior grade) Kennedy took command of the 1. April of 1. 94. 3, the boat was just another of the many small fighting craft sent to the South Pacific to intercept and harass the 'Reinforcement Unit' of the Nihon Kaigun- -the Imperial Japanese Navy- -that operated an almost- nightly delivery service of food, men, and supplies to their Army garrisons occupying Guadalcanal. On August 7, 1. 94. United States Marine Corps' First Division landed on Guadalcanal and the nearby islands of Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo, initiating the first offensive action by United States forces in the Pacific War. Although stunned and surprised, the Japanese were determined to drive the Americans out of their newly established toehold, and would quite soon made their intentions dramatically and painfully clear. In the early morning hours of August 9, a Japanese cruiser force attacked a similar Allied unit guarding Marine transports anchored off the Guadalcanal beachhead. The Japanese sailors, well- trained in night- fighting, caught the Allied ships unprepared and were victorious in little over twenty minutes- -leaving US cruisers Astoria, Quincy, Vincennes, and the Australian cruiser Canberra to permanently rest and rust at the floor of what would soon become known as 'Ironbottom Sound'. In the aftermath of what would later be called the Battle of Savo Island the tone was quickly set for the fighting to come, both on land and at sea- -a six- month siege that would see both sides sacrifice many men, planes, and ships for possession of the island; a ninety- mile long strategically- placed strip of dirt crowned with foul, stinking, disease- ridden and insect- infested jungle. United States Marines landing on Guadalcanal, August 1. During August the Japanese would make many air attacks on Guadalcanal, and several times landed troop reinforcements in an attempt to push the dug- in Marines off the island. In September and October Emperor Hirohito's sailors increased their efforts, using their cruisers and destroyers to make small nighttime landings. Because of both the tremendous losses at Pearl Harbor and the demands of fighting a two- ocean war, the US Navy suffered from a grevious lack of capital ships, and simply did not have the resources to counter all of the Imperial Navy's nocturnal incursions. Even prior to December 1. American shipyards were desperately going hammer- and- tongs around the clock turning out the warships and auxiliaries so desperately needed by the Navy, but it would be many months before new ships with trained crews would arrive in the combat zone. Guadalcanal, Florida, and Tulagi. As the battle on land degenerated into a bloody slugging match, the fighting at sea began to take a peculiar pattern of its own. Thanks to the presence of American aircraft based at Henderson Field on the island, control of the waters around the island underwent a regular 'shift change' every twelve hours. The Imperial Navy knew better than to run warships in daylight around the islands while it seemed even the birds wore American air force insignia. The few times the Japanese sailors felt bold enough to attempt a daylight sortie, their ships became lunchmeat for the 'Cactus Air Force' of Marine, Navy, and Army Air Force planes based at Henderson. But as the day faded and the dusk approached, all ships of the Stars and Stripes energetically hoisted anchor and hurried out of the area, to borrow a phrase from historian Samuel Eliot Morison, 'like frightened children running home from a graveyard.'The arrival of Japanese warships- -the Tokyo Express- -heralded the 'night shift'. Originating from bases at Rabaul in New Britain, and from Bougainville and the Shortlands in the northern Solomons, the Express (so- called because their nocturnal deliveries were made with express- train regularity) sailed under their banner of the Rising Sun unchallenged into Ironbottom Sound. These ships of the Imperial Navy had their decks loaded with food, men to reinforce the numbers of Japanese troops ashore, and weapons and ammunition with which to diminish the number of their Marine enemies. The samurai seamen also brought something along for the American defenders, as well- -once the Japanese ships withdrew from the landing areas and cruised past the Marine- occupied sector of the island, the Imperial sailors pointed the muzzles of their heavy guns toward the American positions and treated the bone- weary Leathernecks and their much- prized airfield to a sleep- destroying, plane- wrecking bombardment. But the sailors of the Rising Sun didn't stay around in Ironbottom Sound too long to exult in their disruption of American shut- eye, or to greet their flag's heavenly namesake, either. First light usually found the Imperials steaming up the New Georgia Sound- -nicknamed 'The Slot'- -as fast as their ships' boilers would allow, and well out of range from any prowling American aircraft from Henderson that survived the previous night's shelling. Any attempt by either side to change this constant and wholly undesirable state of affairs usually resulted in a major naval confrontation, and the ensuing clash promised to be phenomenally violent. The end result of such an engagement for the Americans would be the pitifully few US warships nursing their wounds in rear area bases. For the Japanese- -with more vessels readily at hand- -it was back to business as usual resupplying their men ashore and making the Marines' existence more miserable. The mission of the PT boats, conceived as it was 'in a mood of desperate optimism', was to prevent both the reinforcement runs and the bombardments by the Tokyo Express when US Navy big guns were unavailable. For four miserable months- -from October 1. February 1, 1. 94. Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Two, Three, and Six ventured out into Ironbottom Sound night after night, putting their boats and their lives on the line to stop the Japanese. As flagship of MTB Squadron Two, PT 1. November 1. 94. 2 and February 1. These encounters consisted of torpedo attacks on enemy ships, strafing enemy shore positions, shootouts with cargo- carrying barges, dodging night- flying floatplanes that would bomb and strafe the PT boats as they attempted attacks on Japanese destroyers, and the destruction of supplies dropped off by the Express. In addition, other jobs the boat and her crew performed were searching for downed pilots, pulling sister boats off of the treacherous, unmarked reefs that surrounded the islands, and picking up not only survivors of the intense PT- versus- destroyer duels of the campaign, but also those sailors of ships sunk during the mighty big- ship battles waged between Japanese and US task forces. In December 1. 94. America's entry into World War II- -the Electric Boat Company was awarded a contract to build thirty- six PT's of their newly- designed PT 1. Along with New Orleans' Higgins Industries and the Jacksonville- based Huckins Yacht Company, Electric Boat was one of the main builders of motor torpedo boats for the US Navy. The seventh boat of that series first took shape on March 4, 1. June 2. 0th. The 1. PT's were the successors to Elco's pre- war craft, the PT 2. Eighty feet long, with a twenty foot beam and weighing in at 5. But the 1. 03's rode more comfortably than the 7. The 8. 0- footers' slightly larger size and more robust construction also allowed the boat to carry more and more guns as the war progressed.(Above) PT 1. Elco 8. 0- footer, running trials, August 1. Sandwiched between the two layers of planking was aircraft canvas liberally soaked in marine glue, enabling the hull to maintain its strength and watertight integrity. After the hull was completed, it was turned over to begin assembly of the deck, which (in the early days) was double- planked in a similar manner as the hull. Frames of spruce, covered with plywood sheets formed the cabins. Elcos on the assembly line, early 1. Powerful and reliable, the Packards were especially adopted for PT use, and consumed three thousand gallons of 1. With engines in tune and with a clean bottom, the three Packards could push a fully- fueled, fully armed PT across the water at a maximum speed of forty- two knots. And when silence for a sneak attack was desired, mufflers attached to the exhaust ports at the stern enabled the boats to silently creep along at about ten knots. The Packard V- 1. M- 2. 50. 0 engine. This layout gave the guns a better field of fire than the side- by- side arrangement of the unreliable hydraulic gun turrets mounted on some of the early Elco- 7. A 2. 0mm Oerlikon Mark IV automatic cannon was mounted on the stern for anti- aircraft defense, while four 2.
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