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Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-45

77' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 21 May 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 6 August 1941
  • Completed 3 September 1941, placed in service with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) under the command of Lt. Comdr. 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 27 July 1942 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THREE (2) under the command of Lt. Comdr. Alan R. Montgomery, USN
  • MTBRon 3(2) was the first squadron to arrive in the Solomons, and fought many strenuous engagements with the Tokyo Express at Guadalcanal
  • The "Deuce Boat", ex-"2 Boat", ex-"Coughing Coffin" was reclassified as a Small Boat 15 April 1944
  • 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-40, 45, 46, 48 & 61 182k 1 August 1942
    Taboga, Panama
    PT-46 (No. 1); PT-40 (No. 9); PT-61; PT-48 (No. 3) and PT-45 (No. 2) during commissioning ceremonies at the newly established MTB Base. To mislead possible Japanese spies in Panama, and presumably German agents in New York, the hull numbers displayed on the cabins were changed. The eleven boats of MTB Squadron TWO were numbered 0 - 10.
    PT-45 96k Noumea, New Caledonia
    Small Boat (VIP Transport)
    PT-45 151k c. 1945
    Noumea, New Caledonia    		 Robert Hurst
    Boat Captains
    01LTJG Henry S. Taylor, USNR - Awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze StarDecember 1942
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-45
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