Posted on 08/02/2020 6:44:19 PM PDT by Perseverando
The South Pacific had many major battles during World War II:
Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941,
Wake Island, Dec. 7-23, 1941,
Doolittle Raid, April 18, 1942,
Coral Sea, May 4-8, 1942,
Midway, June 4-7, 1942,
Guadalcanal campaign, Aug. 7, 1942-Feb. 9, 1943,
Gilbert & Marshall Islands campaign, 1943–44:
Makin Island, Aug. 17-18, 1942,
Tarawa, Nov. 20, 1943,
Makin, Nov. 20-23, 1943,
Kwajalein, Feb. 14, 1944,
Eniwetok, Feb. 17, 1944,
Truk Island, Feb. 17-18, 1944, Mariana & Palau Islands campaign 1944:
Saipan, June 16, 1944,
Philippine Sea, June 19-20, 1944,
Guam, July 21, 1944,
Tinian, July 24, 1944,
Peleliu, Sept. 15, 1944,
Angaur, Sept. 17, 1944,
Leyte & Leyte Gulf, Oct. 23-29, 1944 (Largest WWII naval battle and possibly largest naval battle in world history),
Iwo Jima, Feb. 19, 1945;
Okinawa, April 1, 1945.
After the Guadalcanal campaign, which was the Allied forces first major offensive, the U.S. began island hopping, securing the Solomon islands.
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy commanded the PT-109, one of the small 80 foot-long Navy patrol torpedo boats used to monitor and disrupt the Tokyo Express - the shipping lanes used by Imperial Japan's destroyers through the Ferguson and Blackett Straits.
PT boats operated almost exclusively at night, often in fog and without reliable radar.
They fired their torpedoes at close range, then sped away.
On the foggy night of August, 2, 1943, PT-109 was idling on one engine to avoid detection while awaiting approaching enemy destroyers.
The crew was shocked to realize they were in the direct path of an oncoming speeding destroyer, the Amagiri.
With just seconds to respond, they were unable to avoid collision.
The PT-109 was rammed, broken in half, and began to began to sink.
(Excerpt) Read more at myemail.constantcontact.com ...
Much like Peggy Duckworth is it about creating heroism and nothing more.
Meh, I don’t have a problem with JFK or any other vet being honored as a hero.
I can’t remember if it was the Japanese version or the US Version of the 37mm. In any event, a fully mounted Japanese version was over 700 pounds, the US version over 900 pounds. The actual weight on the PT boat would have been lower, as they left the wheels off when they dropped it on the foredeck. Of course each of the really crappy torpedoes it carried were much heavier, but they were mounted per the boat’s design.
You really want to go out on that limb? How about a couple of Marine vets, like Lee Harvey Oswald or Charles Whitman? Do you include veterans with dishonorable discharges like Air Force veteran Devin Kelley?
“Lee Harvey Oswald or Charles Whitman”
—
Yeah, I remember when they saved their comrades lives. Oy.
Ping.
Well, Gen. Gray did say, “Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman....”
Q: Who sang the song PT 109 (1962)
A: Jimmy Dean, the sausage king
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOXQr9u8bBk
My dad was on Attu in August or September 1945 to relieve troops that were there at the end of WW2.
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It was a cannon out of a P-400.Lendlease version of P-39.IIRC
Spit balling here, but did the Navy have a centralized synchronized fire control system for anti-aircraft defense? It would explain the absence of gun layers.
I know they kept adding gun tubs on their capital ships wherever they could fit, just to increase the volume of steel in the air at any one time, until carriers were edged with 20mm and 40mm installations, and 5 inch twin turrets, fore and aft of the island, that could handle the proximity fused shells.
The PT Boats had 3 Packard v8 engines, all unmuffled. Think about it for a second: they DID want to be under power, but those Packards were LOUD!
While I am no Kennedy fan, he and thousands of others had a LOT of difficult choices.
Who played JFK in the movie, “PT 109”? I saw it at a drive-in movie.
My uncle Edward Boska died there after the Japs left in an accident.
American torpedoes were crap. Something like 90% failure rate. This is why they added the bow gun and additional depth charges set up to act as mines.
Pretty sure they were trying to maneuver to lay depth charge mines in the path of the destroyer.
Cliff Robertson
The author of “Japanese Destroyer Captain” was aboard one of the other destroyers with the Amagiri. He described the event in his book, and made it sound like Kennedy was puttering around and not even paying attention.
Correct!
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