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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

HM MTB-314
ex-BPT-8
ex-PT-56



Call sign:
Nan - Able - Jig - Uncle

PT-56 served the Navies of the United States, Great Britain and Germany
77' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 15 July 1941 as PT-56 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Reclassified BPT-8 later that month
  • Launched 25 September 1941
  • Completed 28 February 1942
  • Placed in service 12 March 1942 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Submarine Chaser Squadron ONE (MTBSCRon 1) under the command of LTJG John D. Bulkeley, USN
  • MTBSCRon 1 was abandoned because of failure to develop satisfactory sound gear to enable the boats to locate submarines
  • Transferred under lend-lease to Britain 4 April 1941, reclassified HM MTB-314 and assigned to the 10th/15th MTB Flotillas
  • Lost by grounding and abandoned during raid on Tobruk, Libya (Operation Agreement), 14 September 1942
  • Salvaged and became the German Motor Minesweeper, RA-10
  • Sunk by British aircraft off La Goulette, Tunisia 30 April 1943.

    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.
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    No image of PT-56 is available at this time
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-56
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