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Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-297



Call sign:
Nan - Queen - King - Mike
78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 10 March 1943 by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 27 April 1943
  • Completed 20 October 1943, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron SIXTEEN (MTBRon 16) under the command of Lt. Comdr. Almer P. Colvin, USN
  • MTBRon 16 participated in the Aleutian campaign from August 1943 to May 1944. Transferred to the Southwest Pacific, the squadron had action at Mios Woendi, Dutch New Guinea; Mindoro, P.I.; and
    Brunei Bay, Borneo. It also based for a time at Dreger Harbor, New Guinea, and San Pedro Bay, P.I., but had no action from these bases. As part of Task Unit 70.1.4, Squadron 16 was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for action at Mindoro from
    December 15 to 19, 1944. PT's 295-301, placed in service after the squadron had departed for the Aleutians, were designated as Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron SIXTEEN B (MTBRon 16B), which was commissioned as a separate command under Lt. James H. Van Sicklen, USNR. MTBRon 16B was placed out of commission on 31 May 1944, when it joined the parent squadron in Seattle
  • "Old '97' " was placed out of service 26 November 1945, stripped and destroyed at Samar, Philippines
  • Struck from the Naval Register 28 November 1945.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 78'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5' 3"
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, two 21" torpedoes, two twin .50 cal. machine guns, one 37mm mount and one 20mm mount
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-297 395k Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-297 197k 15 December 1944
    PT-297 picks up survivors of LST-738 hit by a suicide plane during invasion of Mindoro, Philippines
    National Archives photo 80-G-294583
    Third replacement photo: Photo from the collection of Yeoman First Class Dan B. Murphy, 7th Fleet photographer    		 Original photo: Hyperwar, U.S. Navy in World War II
    First replacement photo: Joe Radigan
    Second replacement photo: Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    Third replacement photo: Daniel Pratt, Grandson of Dan B. Murphy
    Replacement photo added 7 November 2021
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-297
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Motor Torpedo Boat (PT) Photo Index
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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