Posted on 04/29/2007 6:07:56 PM PDT by SJackson
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday.
Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.
The Solomons' coastline is still littered with decaying military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
"My team members believe that this boat could have been one of those U.S. torpedo boats such as the famous PT-109, which the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy had served aboard during the war," said Waura.
Kennedy's boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Blackett Strait in August 1943 off Gizo, the main town of western Solomon Islands. The Solomons' main island, Guadalcanal, was the scene of fierce World War II fighting.
Waura said people on Rannonga island showed his team the wreckage sitting on dry ground.
"We were amazed by this finding, as previously this wreckage had long been sitting under the sea and rusting in peace without anyone knowing about it," New Zealand Press Association quoted Waura as saying.
Only the boat's hull with its deadly cargo of explosives remained intact, he said.
Waura said a Solomon Islands Police Force bomb disposal unit would be sent to the island to safely detonate the explosives.
Kennedy was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy serving in the Pacific when his PT-109 was cut in two by the Japanese destroyer. Two crew were killed, but Kennedy and the vessel's other survivors clung to the wreckage before swimming to a nearby island. The experience earned Kennedy the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
Wreckage from PT-109 was found in 2002 by shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard, who also found the Titanic as well as other notable sunken ships.
By the way I belieev you are mistaken.
Mahogany was much too hard to get during the war to use it en masse on these boats.
Kaiser Aluminum also made Aluminum hulled PT boats
My apologies , I went looking for more info and found you were correct. The boat hulls were double planked mahogany as you said.
http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Wilson_032805,00.html
I was just about to post the same thing. Plywood wouldn’t last that long.
Out in my garage I have a boat called a Whirlwind. It was made in Cockeysville Md. in 1958. It is molded mahogany plywood. and its as good today as it ever was. Of course its garage kept ,,to keep te sun off the varnish and I only use it 4 or 5 times a year and its only 16 feet. They were tough little boats and beautiful. They stopped making them in 1962 when fibreglass took over.
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I think the decoration was more for his actions in keeping his surviving crew alive and together for 6 days without being captured until they were rescued. Give the man credit for that at least.
The battle for Guadacanal was crucial, the Japanese wanted to isolate the American supply ships from the Australians. Control of Guadacanal would have given them the ability to do that.
Radar ontop of the A frame mount.
Anyways, if Kennedy didn't have a working radar, he was ordered to stay in radio contact with PT boats that did. Hard to do though when your radioman is not at his station and up top gabbing with the master of Hyannisport, playboy, rich kid skipper. "Instructions were issued to Lt.(jg) Jack Kennedy, captain of PT 109, to follow closely on PT 162's starboard quarter, which would keep in touch with the radar equipped PT 159 by TBY. [Portable radio equipment of low power used as emergency for TBS.]"
Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday. Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people... Waura said people on Rannonga island showed his team the wreckage sitting on dry ground. "We were amazed by this finding, as previously this wreckage had long been sitting under the sea and rusting in peace without anyone knowing about it," New Zealand Press Association quoted Waura as saying. Only the boat's hull with its deadly cargo of explosives remained intact, he said. Waura said a Solomon Islands Police Force bomb disposal unit would be sent to the island to safely detonate the explosives.
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