Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible

NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-111

Sunk 1 February 1943
80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 17 March 1942 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 27 June 1942
  • Completed 16 July 1942, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FIVE (MTBRon 5) under the command of CDR Henry Farrow, USN
  • MTBRon 5 was assigned to Panama Sea Frontier from September 1942 until the spring of 1943, when it was shipped to the Solomons. There its boats were in action at Rendova, Vella Lavella, Treasury,
    Bougainville, Green, and Emirau
  • Transferred 22 September 1942 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) under the command of LT Rollin E. Westholm, 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
  • Sunk by Japanese destroyer Kawakaze off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands 1 February 1943.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One single 40mm mount, four 21" torpedoes, one 37mm mount, one 20mm mount and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Three 3,600shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-111 106k 10 September 1942
    Off Norfolk, VA
    Skipper LTJG John Clagett at the wheel with his executive officer Ensign Aaron White beside him    		 Ted Walther
    PT-111 271k USS Tallulah (AO-50) at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 10 October 1942. She has PT-111 and PT-112 loaded on her forward deck
    National Archives photos 19-N-35464, 19-N-35465 and 19-N-35467    		 Mike Green
    PT-111 340k
    PT-111 289k
    PT-111 196k USS Tallulah (AO-50) at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 10 October 1942. She has PT-111 loaded on her forward deck Ted Walther
    PT-37 192k Map of the location of PT-111 and other World War II shipwrecks in Ironbottom Sound in the Solomon Islands Ron Reeve
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-111
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Motor Torpedo Boat (PT) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History