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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-321



Call sign:
Nan - King - Roger - How

Destroyed 11 November 1944
80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 2 January 1943 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 11 March 1943
  • Completed 30 March 1943
  • Placed in service 8 April 1943 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWENTY ONE (MTBRon 21) under the command of Comdr. Silman S. Bowling
  • MTBRon 21 was assigned to the Southwest Pacific, had action at Morobe, Dreger Harbor, and Mios Woendi in New Guinea; at Manus in the Admiralties; and at San Pedro Bay and Subic Bay in the
    Philippines. It also based for a time at Kana Kopa, New Guinea, and at Samar and Basilan Island in the Philippines, but had no action from these bases. MTBRon 21 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for action in the New Guinea area from October 1943 to March 1944
  • Grounded and damaged 10 November 1944 at San Isidro Bay, Leyte, Philippines Islands
  • The "Death's Hand", ex-"Black Jack", ex-"Hot Run", ex-"Carolina Chili", ex-"Green Horelet", ex-"SNAFU" was destroyed 11 November 1944 to prevent capture.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm, four 21" Torpedoes and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-321 294k Original photo: Surigao Straits, Philippines
    Replacement photo: Picking up survivors from a sunken Japanese craft
    National Archives photo 80-G-47001 from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Original photo: Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    Replacement photo: Michael Mohl
    PT-321 88k Surigao Straits, Philippines
    Hoisting Japanese survivors out of the water after the destruction of the Japanese forces at Leyte Gulf
    Photo from "Battle At Sea: 3,000 years of Naval Warfare" by R. G. Grant     		Robert Hurst
    PT-321 163k 4 November 1944
    Philippines    		 PT Boats Public Group
    Boat Captains
    01LTJG Cedric J. Janien, USNR - Awarded the Silver Star (1944)March 1944
    02ENS Louis E. Thomas, USNR - Awarded the Bronze StarOctober 1944
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-321
    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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