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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-42

Call sign:
Nan - Uncle - Peter - Item

ex-PTC-22
ex-PT-42

77' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

Originally planned as PT-42 but reclassified as a Motor Boat Submarine Chaser, PTC-22

Reclassified PT-42 in March 1941

Laid down 5 May 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ

Launched 12 July 1941

Completed 25 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 12 December 1944 because of obsolescence

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, two 21" torpedoes and eight depth charges

Propulsion: Three 3,600shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.