"The Mosquito Fleet" - PT Boats

Naval Historical Center ^ | unknown | Umknownl

[Sabertooth]

I think rather that it probably came from "mosca" the Spanish word for fly.

Do you happen to know the origins of "mosca?" What's the Latin for fly?

I may have it backward, it maybe that the mosques are named after the bugs, but it's my understanding that the words mosque and mosquito share a common origin.

[aomagrat]

[SassyMom]

WOW!!!! Great thread, Sam!!!!!

Spooky, please tell your grandpa THANK YOU!!!!

[PUGACHEV]

Actually, I don't know what the latin word for fly might be, but there could be some connection between the words mosque and mosca: it does sound reasonable, anyway.

Below is a link to the Maryland Department of Agriculture website which for some reason has a short history of the word "mosquito".

http://www.mda.state.md.us/mosquito/mosquito.htm

[FreedomPoster]

Index bump. Nice thread! Prayers for your Grandad, Spookbrat.

[Aeronaut]

I wasn't going to ping everyone I know, but pride got the best of me.

Very understandable pride, too. BTTT: former Navy bump.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks souris. Great job at digging up those ads.

[SAMWolf]

I remeber Spooky telling me her grandfather served in PT Boats and how she wanted to do a thread. I just beat her too it.

[SAMWolf]

Why am I not surprised.

[Victoria Delsoul]

I wasn't going to ping everyone I know, but pride got the best of me. FRiends, read the PT boat thread. This is what my grandpa did during the war.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Spooky. Of course you should be proud of your family. You grandfather was a great man. Love the pics, too.

Thanks for the thread, Sam. Good job!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the info, Saber.

[SpookBrat]

I just got off the phone with my aunt (hi Georgia). She said Grandpa is going to be mad someone said something bad about Kennedy. LOL

He was friends with John Kennedy. He got cussed out by him once. LOL He was an officer and they had to call him "Sir", but at night, they were able to kick back and talk about their families.

Just needed to soften the blow a little bit for Grandpa when he reads the thread.

[SpookBrat]

Thanks FRiend. :) Nice to see you.

[SAMWolf]

You're welcome. Thanks for the additionl info.

[Victoria Delsoul]

LOL! Thanks Spooky. :-)

[larryjohnson]

It was movies that made us kids love PT boats and comic books-go-to-war. Spook, I think you look like your Gramma. Ask Grampa about this and SALUTE him for me. Sam,thanks for another fine thread.

[SAMWolf]

Kennedy's PT-109 is found, 59 years after it sank

By Dan Vergano

A team sponsored by the National Geographic Society announced Wednesday it has discovered the wreckage of PT-109, John F. Kennedy's famed torpedo boat during World War II.

For nearly six decades, PT-109 has rested undiscovered on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, its last captain became president and its crew's survival, after being rammed by a Japanese destroyer, became part of the Kennedy legend.

Explorers lead by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard of the Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Conn., found the boat using sonar. During a six-day expedition in May, they photographed a number of World War II vintage artifacts, including a loaded Mark 18 torpedo tube and aiming mechanism.

Given that no other torpedo boats sank in the area, a U.S. Naval Historical Center statement concludes, "this is likely the wreck of the PT-109." Most of the boat lies upright, buried in sand beneath about 1,300 feet of water in the Blackett Strait off the Solomon Islands, Ballard says. His team spent several days looking for the wreckage on a sand-covered ocean floor amid swirling currents.

PT-109 was rammed in 1943 by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. "Kennedy was turning the boat to fire when it was rammed," Ballard says. "So the destroyer hit it at a sharp angle and sheared off part of the boat." Two crewmembers died in the collision; Kennedy and 10 others survived. Kennedy's rescue of his crew, after a night aboard the sinking boat's hull and an arduous swim to a nearby island, made him a war hero.

Kennedy, then a lieutenant junior grade, received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal "for extremely heroic conduct as Commanding Officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 109."

"We consider the ship a grave," Ballard says. No artifacts were taken from the site; Ballard says that no one plans to raise the boat. As a warship, PT-109 belongs to the Navy, which leaves wrecks undisturbed.

"Finding PT-109 is especially meaningful to the members of my family, but we also believe it represents the story of all the brave young men who fought with such courage in the South Pacific during World War II," says JFK's brother Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in a statement released by his office. "I want to commend Dr. Ballard and the National Geographic for their very careful and respectful research."

Sonar did detect what may be the boat's engine room, says Ballard, whose book Collision With History is due out in December. Accounts by Kennedy and a naval coast watcher of the hull's drift were key to narrowing the team's search area down to a 1.5-mile by 1.5-mile box.

The December National Geographic magazine will contain a full description of the expedition; a documentary is planned for November on MSNBC.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Larry.

aomagrat, I remember seeing "They Were Expendable" as a kid.

[Jen]

Wonderful thread Sam!

Spookie, your family pictures add just the perfect human touch to this story.

Thanks to both of you! {{HUGS}}

[MistyCA]

LOL...better ask Victoria! :)