Wikipedia references a book, "At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy", which says that 8 boats were lost through being rammed by the enemy.
Kind of odd that a small, fast boat could be sunk in such a way by a ship that was much slower and less maneuverable.
It the boat in question is idling on one engine and the ship in question is traveling at high speed then it's the ship that is more maneuverable and the boat that would have problems getting out of the way.
“It the boat in question is idling on one engine and the ship in question is traveling at high speed then it’s the ship that is more maneuverable and the boat that would have problems getting out of the way.”
That is exactly what happened. PT-109 was strung out in a skirmish line of sorts in the main shipping channel. The flotilla leader was radar equipped, but none of the other boats had radar. That tactic was to idle on the center engine with the mufflers engaged so that they could ‘hear’ shipping traffic. The center engine had a deeper prop shaft and so did not leave as much wake that could be spotted by enemy float-planes (the bane of the PT’s).
The problem with the tactics:
1. It’s very difficult to hear a warship moving directly toward you — even over water.
2. With 2 motors off or out-of-gear you are severly limited in acceleration.
3. The mufflers also limited throttle response and required precious seconds to disengage.