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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: December 28th,1943
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At this time of year I am reminded of that date. PT242 and PT247 were patrolling the southern end of Bougainville. At a little after midnight we got pips on the radar about a mile away. We went roaring to the site. There we encountered 4 Jap barges about 2-3 miles off shore. We were at General Quarters so we made a port side run at the barges. We opened up with all our guns on two of the barges. The 247 was behind us firing at one of the barges. The barges started returning our fire. (I can tell you that you can draw up to a pretty small target when them tracer start coming back at you) The barge I was concentrating on caught fire and started blazing. Some our bigger guns were also firing at the same barge. I could see Japs jumping off the barge into the water. As we finished our pass to circle around and reload. I saw smoke and a smouldering fire at our port rear torpedo. I jumped out of my turret and John Grace our torpedoman had already fired the air charge but the torpedo was wedged in the tube. Mr. Raney ,skipper, sent me to the lazerette to get a bucket with a rope on the bail and started dipping water to put the fire out. We were really lucky that the TNT didn't explode because torpedoes were detonated by a small charge of fulminate-mercury to set off the TNT. Evidently the Jap shell was wasn't large enough to set it off. Ron 19 was patrolling out of Treasury with Ron 9 at the time. We arrived at the base next morning Commander Kelly and our Squadron Commander Smith were both at the dock. Kelly congratulated us on good shooting and Smith said all you boys should get on your knees and thank God that the torpedo didn't explode. PT 242 and PT247 were credited with sinking two barges and a possible third. One barge escaped and got away to the beach. We were sent that day back down to Tulagi to get repaired and new Mark 13 torpedoes.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Jan 1, 2015 - 9:09am
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

I love listening to your stories C.J., and I have the photo's that you sent to me, showing the repair of that Torpedo head, which is in one of my books. These are times you can never forget, and although all of us love these boats on this forum, sometimes we forget that they were instruments of death and destruction, and sometimes our boys were injured and killed in these battles. Thanks C.J., HAPPY NEW YEAR..........

Posted By: Frank Andruss | Posted on: Jan 1, 2015 - 9:18am
Total Posts: 3964 | Joined: Feb 9, 2007 - 11:41am

C.J.;
I bet you guys were watching your wristwatches all the way back to base. Great story Keep them coming!
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Jan 1, 2015 - 1:21pm
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Great Story CJ! and thanks for loaning your photos to Frank for his book. That's a great shot on page 79!

- Andy

Not sure if you've seen the after action report for that night. Incredible! You all were in good with the Lord that night

Posted By: Andy Small | Posted on: Jan 1, 2015 - 2:36pm
Total Posts: 262 | Joined: Nov 20, 2013 - 9:04pm

Andy: I have never seen these action reports and did not know they even existed. They are much more detailed than my recollection of the events that night. I would like to have copies if available for my PT 242 files. Thanks for showing them here.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Jan 1, 2015 - 5:25pm
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

CJ, My pleasure! Send me an email (traintroll(at)cox.net) and I'll send you a PDF file of the report.

Cheers,
Andy

Posted By: Andy Small | Posted on: Jan 1, 2015 - 7:13pm
Total Posts: 262 | Joined: Nov 20, 2013 - 9:04pm

Wow CJ, that was some luck. "TNT smoldering on deck"... Thanks for sharing the story, it is a great start for a new year. And thank you too Andy for the official report.

Posted By: Jeff D | Posted on: Jan 2, 2015 - 12:35am
Total Posts: 2200 | Joined: Dec 21, 2006 - 1:30am

good post c j. happy nw year my friend earl

earl richmond

Posted By: earl | Posted on: Jan 4, 2015 - 6:26pm
Total Posts: 197 | Joined: Oct 18, 2006 - 12:13pm

Happy New Year, Earl.....

Will

Posted By: Will Day | Posted on: Jan 4, 2015 - 9:36pm
Total Posts: 1955 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 4:19pm

Awesome thread and story, CJ. A couple of observations in the report. Times in the report are referred to as "Love" which is an obsolete term i am not familiar with. We might use Zulu Time or UTC. What was it? Local time (L for Love?)

Last item (#3 on the last page) refers to the 37mm on 242 that jammed. Says it is not an M4 type. Was it perhaps the rare 37MM gun that looked like a smaller 40MM Bofors?

Mike

Posted By: Michael Vorrasi | Posted on: Jan 5, 2015 - 9:17am
Total Posts: 72 | Joined: Jul 1, 2013 - 11:46am

We had several other close calls from shore batteries and bombings during my 13 months and 85 nightly patrols of Jap held islands aboard P.T.242 in the Solomons but I am always reminded at this time of year of this incident. I do as Captain Smith suggested, pray to God that the torpedo did not explode which has given me nearly 92 years of living in this great Country of ours. God has blessed me with a wonderful family and many great friends. I couldn't ask for anything more. God bless America.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Dec 13, 2016 - 6:31am
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

Merry Christmas C.J. So glad to have you with us this holiday season. We're all glad that torpedo didn't explode!
Dave

David Waples

Posted By: David Waples | Posted on: Dec 13, 2016 - 5:07pm
Total Posts: 1679 | Joined: Jan 2, 2007 - 9:55pm

C.J.
Great to hear from you, Merry Christmas to you and your family.

P.S. If Mike reads this, yes Love Time stands for Local time.
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Dec 14, 2016 - 8:01am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Merry Christmas C.J. to you, your family, and all of the other vets that grace this forum....

Will

Posted By: Will Day | Posted on: Dec 14, 2016 - 6:46pm
Total Posts: 1955 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 4:19pm

Mike: I do not know what "Love" time means. If there is a Quartermaster here on the board they might know. Our stern mounted 37mm gun was a 2 man operated like the 40mm. I think they were a Army type field gun. All Ron 19 and Ron 20 boats were outfitted with this type gun. Ammunition was different for these guns than the 37mm aircraft recoilless type on the bow. Two or three years ago we had a lengthy discussion of these guns here on the message board..

C. J. Willis

I completely forgot about the 37mm Browning M1A2 guns. It's a very different design than the 40mm Bofors. I was hoping to find one in 1/35 scale but nobody that I can find has made one. If we could find some plans for this gun we could probably have somebody set them up for 3D printing.

Thanks everyone for sharing this story. Great thread.
Dave

David Waples

Posted By: David Waples | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 7:27am
Total Posts: 1679 | Joined: Jan 2, 2007 - 9:55pm

C.J. and Dave;
I wonder when RON 19/RON 20 switched to 40mm, because it seems that every photo of a RON 19 or 20 boat is either not the right angle, or before or after the 37mm M1A2's were installed.
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Gary%20Szot/August201.jpg[/image]
Gary originally posted this in 2008, Gene mentioned that this is a 37mm. The boat is PT 201 RON 15. Would'nt this be reflected in the after action reports, specifically, Expended Ammunition. I don't remember seeing any RON 15 after action reports that mentioned this.
I wonder if Steve has anything on this?
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 10:04am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

All;
After Mission 146(12 January 1944), LCDR Stanley Barnes requested permission for COMNAVNAW that 40mm be installed experimentally on 2 boats to deal with F-Lighters. he goes on to describe that the two after torpedo tubes and stern 20mm needs to be removed.
The mounting and testing was done on PT 204,
On 25 January 1944, LCDR Barnes relays result of tests:satisfactory.
then requests permission from COMNAVNAW for installation of 40mm on all RON 15 boats.
They also recieved a dispatch on this day from COMNAVNAW for 20 SCR-695A(Navy Model ABF) sets were being shipped from Bizerte with a civilian engineer for installation on the boats.

On 1 February 1944, a dispatch was received from COMNAVNAW, stating that all boats would have 40MM's that were obtained from the Army installed and 4 roll off racks. So the above photo is an Army 40MM on PT 201.

As an additional note: It also mentions PT 201 was involved in a friendly-fire incident on 28 January 1944, when PT 201 was mistakenly identified while joining a convoy near Anzio. USS AM 120 fired on PT 201, killing a Officer passenger, and one crewmember. Both boat officers and a crewmember were wounded. 201 had slight gunfire damage to charthouse area.
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 10:25am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Ted: The 2 man 37mm guns were mounted on the stern of Ron 19 boats at Espirito Santo in New Hebrides in October 1943 shortly after they were unloaded off the Maraciabo. They replaced the 20mm. that were on the stern. They were on the Ron 19 boats all the time I was aboard. I was relieved and left the boat the middle of Nov 1944. I do not know if they were replaced afterward when the boats went to the Philippines.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 12:24pm
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

Dave and Ted: I have a picture of a 37mm being mounted on the 254 boat. A Ron 20 boat.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 2:22pm
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

C.J.
Would it be possible for you to post the photo?
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 4:15pm
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Ted I certainly am not that computer savvy. I could mail it to you and you could post it.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 7:21pm
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

C.J.
Roger that. sending PM
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 - 9:04pm
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Ted,
I can't say that I've ever seen anything regarding a 37 mm on a Ron 15 boat.

There is an Action Report No. 47 ( 20/21 June 1944 ) which has the 201 boat
expending 48 rounds of 40mm that night.

I'll be interested to see C.J.'s photo also.

Merry Christmas to you all.[:-cheers-:]

Steve

Posted By: Nuge210 | Posted on: Dec 19, 2016 - 10:50am
Total Posts: 323 | Joined: Jun 4, 2008 - 7:50am