How PT Boats Helped General MacArthur Escape Capture

Smithsonian, series - Combat ships: stealth ^ | June 28 2020 | Smithsonian

[rintintin]

In 1942, the Japanese were bearing down on the Philippines, where Gen. Douglas MacArthur was based. To help him escape, the Navy relief on a small but heavily armed class of ships:

Video: https://youtu.be/0xm0CSY4WJ4

[dfwgator]

Kennedys

Can’t Drive
Can’t Fly
Can’t Ski
Can’t Skipper a Boat

-But they know what’s best for us!

[fso301]

Kennedys Can’t Drive Can’t Fly Can’t Ski Can’t Skipper a Boat -But they know what’s best for us!

Well written!

[Pilsner]

The attack on the Philippines came 9 hours after Pearl Harbor. Was this something that *anyone* thought the Japanese were capable of doing?

The round trip from flight kaohsiung , in Formosa (Taiwan), to Manila, is 1,100+ miles. The P40 would run out of fuel half way through the return trip, and the P39 could not make the trip one way without a strong tailwind. The American military had no idea that the Japanese Navy had a fighter, the Zero, that could not only make the round trip, but had enough range to spare to loiter in an assembly area while forming up, and to engage in combat at the midpoint. Given that Japan’s fleet carriers had to have been at Pearl Harbor, the expectation was that the Philippines would face only unescorted bombers for several days.