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ť Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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ť Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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ť Topic: PT-77
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Anyone have any info on PT-77? My father-in-law was the skipper when it was sunk by friendly fire in the south Pacific....I am just starting my research so anything will be appreciated....PT-77 was in RON-13 and his name was Allen Slickers....

Posted By: Tim Sanford | Posted on: Dec 5, 2011 - 9:38am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered

Tim

PT-77 would leave Seattle arriving in ADAK around MAY 1st. Remember she was shipped to Seattle and made her way to the Aleutians under her own power, taking with her PT's 78, 79, and 80.

PT's 75,77,79, and 82 would leave Constantine Harbor on June 3rd, making their way to Casco Cove in Massacre Bay, Attu, where Base 13 was already being installed. It was pretty uneventful there, as Japanese would not send any ships in this area, The boats at that time were used pretty much used for taking ships through the thick fog, from Massacre Bay to Shemya Island.

PT-77 would later be transferred to the Southwest Pacific. PT-77 would be lost here, while patrolling for suicide boats in the Talin point area of Mindoro. While with PT-79, they were ordered to patrol the area South of Talin Point, and not to go North because our Destroyers were patrolling this area. Three miles south of Talin point, the boats were illuminated by starshells and were taken under fire from our own ships. They fled at top speed, all the whilr trying to identify themselves by Radio and signal light.

PT-77 while running at top speed ran up onto a reef, The crew abandoned the boat, and ten minutes later a shell hit her amidships. The boat would burn all night. PT-79 would be hit by gunfire and would explode and burn. Four men would be killed. Thirty men and Officers from both boats would swim 2 miles to an enemy held shore. From there they would be helped by guerrillas to evade capture, and on February 3rd, they would be picked up by PT's 227 and 230. The destroyer and destroyer escort that fired on both boats had said they had been trying to reach the PT Boats by radio as well, but got no answer.I hope this helps you in your start to find out some of the facts of your Dad's boat. If I can help you in any way, just contact me..................

Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Dec 5, 2011 - 11:11am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am

Frank

Thanks for the info....I used "In Close Quarters" to compile a time-line for PT-77 from build (SEP 1942) until destruction (1 FEB 1945)....I researched my father-in-laws military records and found he was name EXO of PT-77 in FEB 1944 and CO in JAN 1945 after the former CO was injured by an aerial bomb on 26 DEC 1944....
I found a copy of the report my F-I-L filed about the night of 1 FEB 1945 and the sinking of PT-77...very interesting...

Thanks again for your info....

Are there reports available that describe the missions PT-77 was involved in?

Posted By: Tim Sanford | Posted on: Dec 7, 2011 - 10:25am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered

To find the deck logs, and far more interesting, the after action reports and war diary you need to either physically go to the national archives in DC or hire a researcher to go there for you.

If you do a google for national archives you'll find them on the web:

http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/index.html

If you email the archive staff they can provide you a list of researchers whom you could hire.

I'd HIGHLY suggest going yourself. There is something beyond surreal to handle the actual documents and deck log books yourself.

If you go plan to spend three to five days. Once you get the documents you can either photocopy them or shoot them with your digital camera. I did the latter. The have camera stands with lights for this. But you need your own camera. It takes hours but it is very much worth it. And as a bonus, the people at the archives were the nicest and most helpful federal employees I've ever dealt with.

Feel free to let me know I'd you have any other questions.

Posted By: PT127 | Posted on: Dec 8, 2011 - 7:41am
Total Posts: 35 | Joined: Aug 21, 2011 - 1:32pm

Hi Tim,
I looked through the unofficial Squadron 16 Unit History written by Chief Al Piotter. I obtained a copy of it from Cele (his widow) when she visited the PT658 back in 2008. Sometime in Dec 1944 both RON13 (among other was PT77) and RON16 worked together in the Phillipines and the 77 boat is mentioned a few times. I took photos of the pages and posted them below for you to read through. It is only a few sentences here and there spread out on 7 pages of the manuscript. The last page mentions a "LT Stillman" as riding on the PT77, I couldnt find any mention of your father in laws name. The bottom of the page tells of LT Stillmans capture and execution by the Japanese. I hope you can read this ok. Also I had a couple of photos of PT77. One from ebay and the other from Norman Freidman's book "Small US Combatants"

Jerry PT658

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00767.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00768.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00769.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00770.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00771.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00772.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/DSC00773.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/PT77victorchunsbook.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Jerry%20Gilmartin/PT77underwaycolor.jpg[/image]

If you have trouble reading this try zooming in on your computer display screen.

I hope this will help you in your search. Jerry

Jerry Gilmartin

Posted By: Jerry Gilmartin | Posted on: Dec 10, 2011 - 12:23am
Total Posts: 1472 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 11:16pm

Jerry

Thank you for the information on PT77.....

"Lieutenant Stillman, who had been aboard the 77, was never seen again. The boat captain of the 79, Lt. (jg.) Michael A. Haughian, USNR, and two men of his crew, Joseph E. Klesh, MoMM1c, USNR, and Vincent A. Berra, QM3c, USNR, were killed when the boat exploded. All of the other officers and men of the 2 boats, 30 in all, swam to the enemy-held shore 2 miles away. With the aid of guerrillas they evaded capture until February 3, when they were picked up by PT's 227 and 230"

Above is from "At Close Quarters"

Tim Sanford

My search is in memory of my father -in -law who was CO of PT-77 when she went down to friendly fire on 1 FEB 1945

Posted By: Tim Sanford | Posted on: Dec 15, 2011 - 2:22pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered