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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

C55048
ex-PT-25

77' Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 6 January 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 5 May 1941
  • Completed 11 June 1941, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron ONE (MTBRon 1) under the command of LT William C. Specht, USN
  • MTBRon 1 was the first squadron commissioned, and originally was made up of experimental boats. Later, when it was composed of 77' Elco boats, the squadron was sent to Pearl Harbor, where it was in
    action on December 7, 1941. Its boats again saw action at the Battle of Midway, and participated in the Aleutian campaign. PT's 21, 23, 25, and 26 were on detached duty under command of Lt. Jonathan F. Rice, USNR, at Palmyra Island from July to October 1942. They moved to Funafuti, in the Ellice Group, in November 1942, and were transferred to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3(2) (MTBRon 3(2) on December 22, 1942 under the command of LT Hugh M. Robinson, USN
  • MTBRon 3(2) to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THREE(2) was the first squadron to arrive in the Solomons, and fought many strenuous engagements with the Tokyo Express at Guadalcanal
  • Transferred 27 September 1943 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) under the command of LT Alvin P. Cluster, USN
  • In late in 1942, MTBRon 2 with six 77' Elco boats and six 80' Elco boats, it was shipped to the South Pacific, where it was active in the Solomons campaign, engaging in many strenuous night actions with
    the Tokyo Express in the defense of Guadalcanal
  • Reclassified as a Small Craft, C55048, 6 October 1943
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

    Displacement 40 t.

  • Length 77'
  • Beam 19' 11"
  • Draft 4' 6"
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 15
  • Armament: Two twin .50 cal. Browning M2 machine guns in Dewandre turrets and four 21" torpedoes
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-25 246k Pearl Harbor, HI
    USS Hornet (CV 8) in the background    		 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC, USN, Ret.
    PT-25 261k Closeup of above photo
    PT-25 78k c. 1942
    Off Marcus Island (Minamitori-Shima)
    PT-25 & 30 144k Cutter from the sunken Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu, suspended from the starboard boat davits of USS Ballard (AVD-10), at Midway circa late June 1942. This boat had been picked up on 19 June, along with its occupants, who became prisoners of war. PT-25 and PT-30 are among the 77-foot ELCO-type PT boats visible in the right and left background
    National Archives photo 80-G-79981-21    		 Naval History and Heritage Center
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-25
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Motor Torpedo Boat (PT) Photo Index
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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