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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-34
ex-PTC-14
ex-PT-34

Destroyed 9 April 1942
77' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Originally planned as PT-34 but reclassified as a Motor Boat Submarine Chaser, PTC-14
  • Reclassified back to PT-34 and laid down 29 March 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 14 June 1941
  • Completed 12 July 1941 and placed in service with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) 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
  • 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 the
    command of Lt. Robert Bolling Kelly, USN, PT-34 evacuated the following personnel from Corregidor to Mindanao:

    Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, Commandant 16th Naval District
    Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall, Deputy Chief of Staff
    Colonel Charles P. Stivers, G-1, and
    Captain Joseph McMicking (PA), Assistant G-2

  • Damaged in action with Japanese armed launch while on patrol off Bataan Peninsula, Philippines
  • The "P. I. Rose", ex-"Deuce", ex-"Eager Beaver" was destroyed 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft from the seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru off Cauit Island, Philippines.

    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, two .303 cal. Lewis machine guns and four 21" torpedoes
    (Not known if Lewis machine guns were ever installed/later removed)
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-34 29k
    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-31, 34, 35 & 41 117k c. September 1941
    PT-31, 34, 35 and 41 in the well deck of the tanker Guadalupe, while on their way to the Philippines
    Photo from PTBM    		 Robert Hurst
    PT-34 168k "David and Goliath - Modern Version". Artwork by James Sessions, depicting Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley's PT-34 torpedoing a Japanese ship in Binanga Bay, Bataan, Philippines, 19 January 1942. The ship is depicted as a cruiser, but was actually a freighter. Though reportedly hit and sunk, this is not confirmed in Japanese records
    Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 94703-KN
    Photo added 1 February 2020
    PT-34 180k c. April 1942
    Deck plan and side profile of PT-34 from "Allied Coastal Forces of World War II: Volume II" by John Lambert and Al Ross
    PT-34 116k Illustration by Joseph Hinds from the October 2005 edition of America In World War II magazine Joseph Hinds
    Boat Captains
    01LT Robert Bolling Kelly, USNDecember 1941 - January 1942
    02ENS Barron W. Chandler, USNR - POW 1942/1945January 1942 - March 1942
    03LT Robert Bolling Kelly, USN - USNA Class of 1935
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1942), Army Distinguished Service Cross (1942), two Silver Stars (1942/1943) and the Legion of Merit (1945) - Retired as Captain    		March 1942 - 9 April 1942
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-34
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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