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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-32

Destroyed 13 March 1942
77' Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 19 March 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 6 June 1941
  • Completed 10 July 1941, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO under the command of Lt. Comdr. Earl S. Caldwell, USN
  • Transferred 12 August 1941 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THREE (MTBRon 3) under the command of Lt. John D. Bulkeley, USN
  • Damaged Japanese minelayer Yaeyama 1 February 1942 off Subic Bay, Philippines
  • MTBRon 3 was the only PT squadron engaged in the defense of the Philippines. Among its important missions was the evacuation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor in March 1942
  • Under command of Lt. (jg) V.E. Schumacher, PT-32 evacuated the following personnel from Corregidor to Mindinao 12 March 1942:
    Brig. Gen. Spencer B. Akin (Signals Officer, [U.S. Forces Far East] USFFE);
    Brig. Gen. Hugh J. Casey (Engineering Officer, USFFE);
    Brig. Gen. William F. Marquat (Antiaircraft Artillery Officer, USFFE);
    Brig. Gen. Harold H. George (Air Officer, USFFE), and
    Lt. Col. Joe R. Sherr (Asst. Signals Officer, USFFE)
  • After General MacArthur's staff were transferred from PT-32, Lt. (jg) Schumacher and his crew were picked up by the submarine USS Permit (SS 178), which took them to Fremantle, Australia. They
    intentionally destroyed PT-32 during the [13 March 1942] rendezvous, in the Sulu Sea off Tagauayan, Philippines to prevent the Japanese from capturing it. With the crew of PT-32 on board, USS Permit was severely overloaded with passengers. The Permit's mission had been to evacuate from Corregidor a group of code breakers who were capable of translating intercepted Japanese military communications. These code breakers apparently knew beforehand, the position of the Japanese destroyers that depth-charged the Permit a few days later, but did not tell the captain of USS Permit for fear that his taking another route to avoid them would reveal that the U.S. had broken the Japanese code.

    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-32 25k
    PT-32 29k
    PT-32 83k Underway at speed, on her trials
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Robert Hurst
    PT-32 45k Bundy Tubing advertisement Tommy Trampp
    PT-32 58k White Truck advertisement
    PT-32 221k c. 1941
    Photo from a Packard engine publication    		 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-32 103k c. 1941
    Camel cigarettes advertisement    		 Tommy Trampp
    PT-31, 34, 35 & 41 148k Original photo: c. September 1941
    Guadalupe (AO-32) bound for the Philippines with a deck cargo of six PT boats (PT-31, PT-32, PT-33, PT-34, PT-35 and PT-41) of MTBRon 3
    Replacement photo: 2 September 1941
    Photo by ELCO Naval Division, Electric Boat Company, Bayonne, NJ    		 Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: Richard Jaslovsky
    PT-32 77k c. 1942
    Snow-Nabstedt Gear Corporation advertisement    		 Tommy Trampp
    Boat Captains
    01LTJG Vincent Edward Schumacher, USN - USNA Class of 1938
    Awarded two Silver Stars (1942/1943) and the Legion of Merit (1967) - Retired as Captain    		January 1942
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-32
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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