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Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-30

77' Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 7 March 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 28 May 1941
  • Completed 5 July 1941 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) under the command of LCDR Earl S. Caldwell, USN
  • MTBRon 2 tested the first 70' Elco boats in Florida and Caribbean waters in the winter of 1940/41. In December 1941, with 11 new 77' Elco boats, the squadron was assigned to the Panama Sea Frontier.
    Then late in 1942, 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
  • Transferred 13 August 1941 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
  • Struck from the Naval Register 6 March 1944 because of obsolescence
  • Sold in January 1947.

    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 3,600shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    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 Command
    PT-30 305k Original photo: c. June 1942
    Off Sand Island after the battle of Midway
    Replacement photo: c. June 1942
    Off Sand Island after the battle of Midway
    National Archives photo 80-G-88090. Photographed from USS Ballard (AVD 10)    		 Original photo: Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    Replacement photo: Mike Green
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-30
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