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Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-298



Call sign:
Nan - Queen - Item - Yankee
78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 12 March 1943 by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 10 May 1943
  • Completed 26 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, MTBRon 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
  • "Big Time Charlie" was placed out of service 26 November 1945
  • Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission in May 1946
  • Fate unknown.

    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-298 456k Crew photo
    Front row left to right: The skipper, Motor Machinist Charles B. Jones Jr. and the boats cook (draped in a towel) Borkavitch (?). By Dad's account, due to the hot galley below decks, he rarely wore clothes
    Photo from the collection of Motor Machinist Charles B. Jones, Jr.    		 Chris Jones
    Boat Captains
    01LTJG J. R. Erickson, USNRDecember 1944
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-298
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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