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: ''PT-109 redirects here. For the movie starring Cliff Robertson'', see ''PT 109 (film)''. For the Jimmy Dean song, see ''PT-109 (song).
United States Ship '''PT-109''' was a PT boat commanded by Lieutenant (Junior Grade) (LTJG) John F. Kennedy (later President of the United States) in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions to save his surviving crew after the sinking of the ''PT-109'' solidified his "war hero" status in his political career.
The incident may have contributed to Kennedy's long-term back problems. After he became President, the incident was thoroughly studied and celebrated, becoming a cultural phenomenon inspiring many books, movies, television series and collectible objects and toys. Interest was revived in the 2000s with the discovery of the wreck by Robert Ballard.

Contents

The PT 109 boat

Service

Background

Survival

The men who found Kennedy

PT-59

Aftermath

The search for Kennedy's PT 109

Crew

Survivors

In popular culture

Further reading

Notes

The PT 109 boat

''PT-109'' belonged to the ''PT 103'' class, of which hundreds were completed between 1942 and 1945 by the Elco Naval Division of Electric Boat Company at Bayonne, New Jersey. ''PT-109's keel was laid 4 March 1942 as the seventh Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) built there, and she was launched on 20 June. Delivered to the Navy on 10 July 1942, she was fitted out in the New York Naval Shipyard at Brooklyn.
The Elco boats were the largest PT boats operated by the US Navy during World War II. At and 40 tons, they had strong wooden hulls of 2-inch (5 cm) mahogany planking. Powered by three 12-cylinder 1,500hp (1100 kW) Packard gasoline engines (one per propeller shaft), their designed top speed was 41 knots. For space and weight-distribution reasons, the center engine was mounted with the output end facing forward, with power transmitted to the propeller shaft through a V-drive gearbox[1]. Because the center propeller was deeper, it left less of a wake, and was preferred by skippers for low-wake loitering. The engines were fitted with mufflers in the stern to direct the exhaust under water, which had to be bypassed for high speed. These were used not only to mask their own noise from the enemy but to be able to hear enemy aircraft, which were rarely detected overhead before dropping their bombs.^[1]
She could accommodate 3 officers and a crew of 14 sailors, with the typical crew size between 12 and 14. Fully loaded, ''PT 109'' displaced 56 tons.
The principal offensive weapon was her torpedoes. She was fitted with four 21-inch (53 cm) torpedo tubes containing troublesome Mark VIII torpedoes. They weighed about 2,000 lb (907 kg) each, with 800 lb warheads, and gave the tiny boats a punch at least theoretically effective even against armored ships. Their speed of 27 knots was very effective against shipping, but they were slower than the top speed of the destroyers and cruisers they were tasked with targeting in the Solomons. Torpedoes were also useless against shallow draft barges, which would become the majority of the PT targets. With their machine guns and 20 mm cannon, the PT boats could not return the large caliber gunfire carried by destroyers which had a much longer effective range, though they were effective against aircraft and ground targets. A direct shell hit in the engine compartment to boats sometimes resulted in a total catastrophic loss of boat and crew. A boat would have to close to within 5 miles (9 km) for a shot, well within the gun range of destroyers; at this distance, a target could easily maneuver to avoid. The boats would have to approach masked by darkness, fire their torpedoes which gave away their position, and then flee behind a smoke screen. Sometimes retreat was hampered by seaplanes which dropped flares and bombs on the boats. PT boats had to rely on their smaller size, speed, maneuverability and darkness to survive. PT boats were often seen in the context of David and Goliath, pitting wooden boats filled with gasoline against steel destroyers with large caliber shells. A less optimistic description might be "plywood coffins".
Ahead of the torpedoes were two depth charges omitted from most PTs, one on each side, about the same diameter as the torpedoes. Normally designed to be used against submarines, they were sometimes used to confuse and discourage pursuing destroyers.
The 109 boat was configured with a single 20 mm anti-aircraft mount at the rear with "109" painted on it, two open rotating turrets (designed by the same firm that produced the Tucker automobiles), each with twin .50-caliber (12.7 mm) anti-aircraft machineguns, at opposite corners of the open cockpit, and a smoke generator on her transom. These guns were effective against various aircraft, including one B-25.
The day before the fateful mission, ''PT-109'' was fitted with a 37 mm antitank gun the crew had commandeered and bolted to the foredeck, replacing a small 2 man life raft. However, the timbers used to lash the weapon to the deck would later help save their lives when used as a float.Scalecraft history.

Service

''PT-109'' was assigned to MTB Squadron Five, Panama. Six Elco boats, PTs 109 through 114, were then transferred to MTB Squadron Two on 26 October 1942 and sent to the Solomon Islands, arriving at Sesapi, Tulagi harbor, in November.
The night of 13 October/14 October 1942, four boats attacked a Japanese surface ship bombarding Henderson Field. PTs would be regularly sent on patrol to intercept reinforcement missions called the "Tokyo Express" heading down "the Slot" to Guadalcanal.
Commanded by Lt. Rollin E. Westholm, the first action for ''PT-109'' was on the night of 7 December/8 December 1942 against eight Japanese destroyers moving down "the Slot." Eight PTs unleashed a torpedo attack. The PTs weaved around the destroyers, with ''PT-59'' damaged by shellfire. The Japanese withdrew, defeated in their mission of delivering their reinforcements.
Four days later, five patrolling PT boats opposing a force of 11 destroyers managed to torpedo and sink the ''Terutsuki''. They lost ''PT-44'', sunk by two destroyers off Savo Island.
On the night of 2 January/3 January 1943, ''PT 109'' was narrowly missed by two bombs, from an enemy plane, exploding off her port beam, and after firing torpedoes at an enemy destroyer her wake was strafed by another Japanese plane. In the early morning 9 January 1943, the PT boat bombarded a supply depot off Guadalcanal. On the night of 11 January/12 January 1943, ''PT-109'' and eight other MTBs attacked eight Japanese destroyers, with ''PT-112'' sunk and ''PT-43'' damaged, but a torpedo hit seriously damaged ''Hatsukaze''.^[2][3][4][5]
On night patrol on 14 January/15 January 1943, ''PT-109'' escaped a depth charge dropped by a patrol plane about away. At daylight, enemy shore batteries caught her in range and punched three holes in her hull. Not yet done, she tried to pull ''PT-72'' off a reef before returning to base.
During the night of 1 February/2 February 1943, twenty Japanese destroyers steamed to finish the evacuation of their remaining troops from Guadalcanal. The Japanese were spotted by eleven PT boats in positions around Savo Island. Destroyer gunfire sank ''PT-111'' and ''PT-37'', while a Japanese seaplane destroyed ''PT-123''. ''PT-115'' and ''PT-38'' were beached and later pulled off by ''PT-109''. This was the most spectacular action the PTs participated in the waters off Guadalcanal.
Lt. Westholm left ''PT-109'' to become flotilla operations officer, leaving Ensign Bryant L. Larson in command. On 21 February 1943, the MTBs escorted transports for the invasion of the Russell Islands, with ''PT-109'' personally delivering Col. E. J. Farrel and his staff to the beach in Renard Sound. On 5 March 1943 a plane attacked Senapi, destroying the operations office and riddling the hull of ''PT-118''.
''PT-109'' underwent several short maintenance periods, which included the installation of a surface search radar. This was not yet a standard item, which evidently was removed before Ensign Leonard J. Thom, USNR, the executive officer, took charge. Thom was relieved by Lieutenant (jg) John Fitzgerald Kennedy, USNR, on 24 April 1943. On 16 June 1943, ''PT-109'' shifted with other boats to a "bush" berth on newly captured Rendova Island.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Background

Kennedy used his family influence to get into the war quickly rather than avoid it. The Allies were in a campaign of island hopping since capturing Guadalcanal in a bloody battle in 1942. Kennedy was assigned ''PT-109'' upon arriving at Tulagi. By August, the Allies had captured Rendova and moved PT boat operations there. The US Marine Corps was driving the Japanese out of Munda airfield at New Georgia by August. All of the islands around Blackett Strait were still held by the Japanese.
In an action considered too inconsequential by military historians to even have a formal name, ''PT-109'' was sent out north on a night mission through Fergeson Passage to Blackett Strait. She was one of 15 boats sent to intercept the Tokyo Express.^[14]
In what would be later considered to be a textbook example of one of the most poorly planned and uncoordinated PT boat attacks in the war, 15 boats loaded with 60 torpedoes counted only a few observed explosions (which did not necessarily mean hits). Flashes when torpedoes were launched would give away their positions, many torpedoes exploded prematurely or ran at the wrong depth, so no enemy ships were sunk. The boats were ordered to return when their torpedoes were expended, but the boats with radar shot their torpedoes first. When they returned, the remaining boats, such as ''PT-109'', were left without radar.
''PT-109'' patrolled the area in case the enemy ships returned. Around 0200, on a moonless night, Kennedy's boat was idling on one engine to avoid detection of her wake by Japanese aircraft, which had killed a PT officer in a previous night attack. With only ten seconds warning, they were not anticipating that they would be virtually parked square in the path of their target, which was returning from Vila, Kolombangara after offloading 912 soldiers and supplies, heading back towards Rabaul.
The crew spotted a destroyer bearing down on them at speeds reported by some sources as high as 30 or 40 knots. Others believe it might have been as slow as 23 knots. With no time to get the engines up to speed to maneuver for a torpedo shot, they were run down by the Japanese destroyer ''Amagiri'' on August 2, 1943 in the Blackett Strait between Kolombangara and Arundel in the Solomon Islands near .
''PT-109'' was cut in two. Seamen Andrew Jackson Kirksey and Harold W. Marney were lost. For such a catastrophic collision, explosion and fire, it was a low loss rate compared to other boats hit by shellfire. Conflicting statements have been made as to whether the destroyer captain had spotted and steered towards the boat; author Donovan who interviewed many of the destroyer crew believes the collision was not an accident, though other reports suggest ''Amagiri'' never even realized he'd run down the PT. Damage to the propeller slowed the destroyer's trip home. The PT-109 was gravely damaged, with watertight compartments keeping only the forward hull afloat in a sea of flames.John F Kennedy’s Military Story at Medal of Freedom.

Survival

Kennedy and his men had to choose carefully where to go since all of the large islands had Japanese camps on them. The survivors chose the tiny deserted Plum Pudding Island, southwest of Kolombangara island. They placed their lantern, shoes and nonswimmers on one of the timbers used as a gun mount and began kicking together to propel it. It took 4 hours for the survivors to reach Plum Pudding island 3.5 miles (six kilometers) away, braving the possibility of encountering native sharks and crocodiles. Kennedy had swum at Harvard University so using a life jacket strap he clenched in his mouth, Kennedy towed McMahon, who was badly burned. The island was only a hundred yards in diameter with no food or water. The crew had to hide from passing Japanese barge traffic. Kennedy swam about 4 km more, to Naru and Olasana islands in search of help and food. He then led his men to Olasana Island, which had coconut trees and water, though the coconut milk made some of his men sick."JFK's epic Solomons swim" BBC News 30 July, 2003.

The men who found Kennedy

The explosion on August 2 was spotted by Australian coastwatcher Sub Lt. Arthur Reginald Evans, who manned a secret observation post at the top of the volcano on Kolombangara Island; over ten thousand Japanese troops were garrisoned in the southeast. The Navy and its squadron of PT boats held a memorial service for the crew of ''PT-109'' after reports were made of the large explosion. However, Evans dispatched Solomon Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in a dugout canoe to look for possible survivors after decoding news that the explosion he had witnessed was probably from the lost ''PT-109''. These canoes were similar to those used for thousands of years by people in the Pacific and by Native Americans. In retrospect, these were by far the oldest technology and smallest manned craft used by the Allies in WWII, but they could avoid detection by Japanese ships and aircraft and if spotted, would likely be taken for native fisherman.
Kennedy and his men survived for six days on coconuts before they were found by the scouts. Gasa and Kumana disobeyed an order by stopping by Nauru to investigate a Japanese wreck, from which they salvaged fuel and food. They first fled by canoe from a shouting stranger who would turn out to be Kennedy. On the next island, they pointed their Tommy guns at the rest of the crew since the only light-skinned people they expected to find were Japanese, and they weren't familiar with either language or people. Gasa would later say, "All white people looked the same to me." Kennedy convinced them they were on the same side. The small canoe wasn't big enough for passengers. Though the Donovan book and movie depict Kennedy offering a coconut inscribed with a message, according to a National Geographic interview it was Gasa who suggested it and Eroni who climbed a coconut tree to pick one.
On it, Kennedy cut the following message in a cipher:

NAURO ISL

COMMANDER… NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT…

HE CAN PILOT… 11 ALIVE

NEED SMALL BOAT… KENNEDY

This message was delivered by risking death and capture, rowing through hostile waters patrolled by the Japanese to the nearest allied base at Rendova. Some coastwatcher natives who were caught had been tortured and killed. A later canoe returned for Kennedy, taking him to the coastwatcher to coordinate the rescue. The crew of ''PT 157'', skippered by Lt. William Liebenow, were able to pick up the survivors. The arranged signal would be 4 shots, but since Kennedy only had 3 shots in his pistol, Evans gave him a rifle for the fourth signal shot. The marines sang "Yes Jesus Loves Me", an unusual military anthem, to pass the time. The pair would receive little notice or credit in military reports, books or movies until 2002 when they were interviewed by National Geographic shortly before Gasa's death.
The coconut shell was kept in a preserved glass container by Kennedy on his desk during his presidency. It is now on display at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

PT-59

Main articles: Motor Torpedo Boat PT-59

''PT-59'' was one of the first PT boats converted to a gunboat primarily tasked with hunting down targets their own size or smaller, and was also led by Kennedy and those from ''PT-109'' who chose to stay in the war rather than go home. ''PT-59'' would rescue ambushed marines, a gravely wounded officer died in Kennedy's bunk. The movie included this story, but portrayed it as an action of ''PT-109''.

Aftermath

One of the most detailed accounts ever published appeared in ''The New Yorker'' with the title "Survival", written by a reporter who interviewed Kennedy after the incident. Another account was printed in ''Reader's Digest'' just before Kennedy's first Congressional run. The campaign reproduced the article and distributed it to potential voters. A campaign pin of ''PT-109'' was distributed during his presidential campaign.^[15]

Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his lifesaving actions following the collision; it was established in 1941 for lifesaving actions at risk of the individual's own life but not involving actual combat.^[16] A few in the military, including Andrew Fitzgerald, thought he should have faced a court-martial instead for losing his boat in such a manner. It was thought by many such a quick and maneuverable craft should have been able to escape a collision with a slower enemy craft, though fellow skippers would point out a PT could not accelerate quickly under such circumstances.
During his presidency, Kennedy privately admitted to friends he didn't feel he deserved the medals he had received, because the ''PT-109'' incident had been the result of a botched military operation that had cost the lives of two members of his crew. When asked by interviewers how he became a war hero, Kennedy's grim reply was, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

The search for Kennedy's PT 109

Main articles: The Search for Kennedy's PT 109

The wreckage of ''PT-109'' was located in May 2002 when a National Geographic expedition headed by Dr. Robert Ballard found a torpedo tube from wreckage matching the description and location of Kennedy's vessel in the Solomon Islands."JFK's PT-109 Found, U.S. Navy Confirms" The stern section was not found, but a search using remote vehicles found the forward drifting section south of the collision site. Much of the half-buried wreckage and gravesite was left undisturbed in accordance with Navy policy. At around this time, Max Kennedy also came to present a bust of JFK to the islanders who had found Kennedy and his crew.

Crew

A standard uniform would be blue dungarees with a white, round dixie cap for enlisted sailors, washed khakis and service cap for officers. During General Quarters, the crew would man their battle stations wearing dark blue kapok life vests and steel helmets. The skipper's helmet would have a shield and star, while the other officer would be labeled "XO".
The crew aboard ''PT-109'' on her last mission:

★ LT (jg) junior grade John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Boston, Massachusetts), skipper. Became President of the United States.

★ Ensign Leonard J. Thom (Sandusky, Ohio), Executive Officer ("exed" or "XO")

★ Ensign George H. R. "Barney" Ross (Highland Park, Illinois); on board as an observer after losing his own boat, attempted to operate 37 mm gun, suffered from night blindness

★ Seaman 2/c Raymond Albert (Akron, Ohio)

★ Gunner's Mate 3/c Charles A. "Bucky" Harris (Watertown, Massachusetts)

★ Motor Machinist's Mate 2/c William Johnston, Dorchester, Massachusetts

★ Torpedoman's Mate 2/c Andrew Jackson Kirksey, Reynolds, Georgia (killed in collision, listed as missing by National Geographic account)

★ Radioman 2/c John E. Maguire, Dobbs Ferry, New York

★ Motor Machinist’s Mate 2/c Harold William Marney, Springfield, Massachusetts (killed in collision, manning turret closest to impact point)

★ Quartermaster 3/c Edman Edgar Mauer, St. Louis, Missouri

★ Motor Machinist's Mate 1/c Patrick H. "Pappy" McMahon, Wyanet, Illinois (Only man in engine room during collision, was badly burned, but recovered from his wounds)

★ Torpedoman's Mate 2/c Ray L. Starkey, Garden Grove, California

★ Motor Machinist's Mate 1/c Gerard E. Zinser, Belleville, Illinois (erroneously called "Gerald" in many publications). Mr.Zinser, the last survivor, passed away on August 21, 2001.

Survivors

Gerard Zinser, the last survivor of ''PT-109'', died in 2001. Both Solomon Islanders Biuki Gasa and Aaron (Eroni) Kumana were alive when visited by National Geographic in 2002, both being presented with a gift from the Kennedy family.
Biuki Gasa died late in August 2005, his passing noted only in a single blog by a relative. According to ''Time Pacific'' magazine, Gasa and Eroni were invited to Kennedy's inauguration. However, the island authorities tricked Gasa into giving his trip to more important local officials. Gasa and Eroni gained a little fame only after being identified by National Geographic, but are today are among the most famous Solomon Islanders who ever lived.

In popular culture

In addition to the book mentioned below, the episode was also made into a 1963 movie ''PT 109'', starring Cliff Robertson, though it had some historical problems, such as the Navy searching for the boat rather than holding a memorial service for the crew. ''PT-109'' was also Top 10 record at #8 in 1962 by Jimmy Dean, one of his most successful songs. The tiny Plum Pudding Island was later renamed Kennedy Island. The island caused a controversy when the government sold off the land to a private investor who charged admission to tourists.

The 1958 movie ''South Pacific'' preceded PT-109 as a drama about Navy sailors in the Pacific Theater. In 1961, Premiere Theater presented "Seven Against The Sea", a drama about a resourceful group of stranded American PT boat crewmen hiding out on a South Pacific island controlled by the Japanese Navy, a situation which would appear to be inspired by the adventures of Kennedy and his men.The Lost ''McHale's Navy'' Pilot This would become the pilot of ''McHale's Navy'', one of the more successful television situation comedy series which ran from 1962 to 1966 on ABC, and spawned spinoff movies and a 1997 movie remake.
''PT-109'' was also one of the most famous subjects of toy, plastic and RC model ships in the 1960s, familiar to most boys who grew up as Baby Boomers. The tale is much less familiar to their sons today, as the VHS movie was out of print in the US by 2006. It is available outside of the US as a Video CD, but not yet as a DVD. In 2006, the ''PT-109: The Next Generation'' series of viral videos was released with various parodies based on the PT 109 story.
It was still a popular 1/72 scale Revell model kit available in the 2000s. It was also the subject of a special PT-109 John F. Kennedy G.I. Joe.
Spectrum Holobyte released a naval simulation game roughly based on the events named "PT-109" for the Apple Macintosh and MS-DOS-compatible computers in 1987. In the video game ''Battlestations Midway'', ''PT-109'' is featured in the second mission of the US Campaign.

★ Gilligan's Wake Fictional re-imagining of Gilligan's island where the Skipper served with both John F. Kennedy and the skipper of McHale's Navy.

★ Leslie Martinson directed both the PT-109 movie and "Rescue from Gilligan's Island".

Further reading

★ PT 109 : John F. Kennedy in WWII, Robert J. Donovan, , , International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1961,

★ The Kennedys at War, 1937-1945, Edward J. Renehan, Jr, , , Doubleday, 2002,

★ John F. Kennedy and PT-109, Richard Tregaskis, , , American Printing House for the Blind, 1966, ASIN B0007HSN7S

★ American Warriors: Five Presidents in the Pacific Theater of World War II, Duane Hove, , , Burd Street Press, 2003,

★ Haruyoshi Kimmatsu, ''The night We sank John Kennedy's PT 109'' appeared in Argosy Magazine December 1970 Vol 371 # 6

★ Tameichi Hara, ''Japanese Destroyer Captain'' (Ballantine Books, 1978) ISBN 0-345-27894-1

★ Collision With History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109, Robert D. Ballard,, , , National Geographic, 2002,

Notes

1. DANF PT-109 13 September 2002
2. Battleship Cove Naval Museum Website - Home of 2 restored WWII PT Boats
3. National Geographic: The Islanders Who Saved Kennedy
4. - webpage on the 1987 video game "PT-109" with several screenshots
5. Commemorative swim with map of Kennedy / Plum Pudding, Olasna and Naru islands
6. PT 109: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, US Navy
7. SURVIVAL 1944 New Yorker Magazine article
8. Naval Historical Center pictures of PT-109
9. Medal of Honor details of Kennedy's history with PT boats
10. Maritimequest PT-109 Photo Gallery and Fact Sheet
11. The Naval Historical Center's History of PT-109
12. PT-109 Loss Official Navy report on the incident, and other PT boats involved
13. Elco PT Boat - Photos of an Elco PT Boat at the Battleship Cove Naval Museum in Fall River, MA
14. Kennedy and four other presidents served in the World War II Navy
15. The story of PT 109 undated
16. Navy and Marine Corps Medal undated

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