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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-547
ex-RPT-14



Call sign:
Nan - William - How - Mike
80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 3 June 1943 as RPT-14 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 21 August 1943
  • Completed as PT-547, 4 October 1943, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWENTY EIGHT (MTBRon 28) under the command of Lt. Comdr. George A. Matteson,
    Jr., USNR
  • MTBRon 28, assigned to the South Pacific, had action at Treasury and Green. Transferred to the Southwest Pacific in October 1944, it had action at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. It also based for a
    time at Mios Woendi in New Guinea and at San Pedro Bay in the Philippines, but had no action from these bases
  • The "Paoli Local", ex-"Ena Baby", ex-"Come Seven II" was placed out of service 21 October 1945
  • Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission in May 1946 and sold
  • Sold in 1953 to Thomas Bogan of Brielle, NJ, for use as a party boat,named Pennsy and operated by Captain Roy Skillman
  • One of two converted World War II PT boats owned by the Bogan family (the Jersey, ex-PT-305 was the second.)
  • When she was converted for use as a party boat, U.S. Coast Guard regulations of the day required vessels longer than 65 feet to have an on-board engineer (along with a captain.) Since she was originally
    78 feet in length, the Bogan family shortened her to 64-feet 11-inches to circumvent the requirement. Regardless of their length, these Higgins PT Boats had a beautiful shape. The entire below decks section from the pilothouse forward was a giant room for passengers.
  • In 1957, Captain Dave Bogan Sr. took over the helm of the Pennsy and it was one of his favorites… "I loved that boat!"
  • Sold to Captain Al Wirth of Atlantic Highlands, NJ and renamed Falcon
  • She was later stored at a Staten Island, NY boatyard for a few years and was finally dismantled in 1991.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, 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-547
    PT-547 208k Retrieving a torpedo during practice firing. This is an interesting shot, as it shows her with a Mark 1 roll-off rack forward and a Mark 18 torpedo tube aft. Camouflage is Measure 31/5P
    U.S. Navy photo from "Allied Coastal Forces of World War II: Volume II" by John Lambert and Al Ross    		 Robert Hurst
    Party Boat Pennsy
    PT-547 91k c. 1955
    Brielle, NJ
    Photo from Mel's Place courtesy of Captain Dave Bogan, Sr.    		 Robert Hurst
    PT-547 113k c. 1956
    Brielle, NJ
    Photo from Mel's Place courtesy of Captain Dave Bogan, Sr.
    PT-547 106k c. 1961
    Brielle, NJ
    Photo from Mel's Place courtesy of Captain Dave Bogan, Sr.
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Walter F. Brown, USNJanuary 1945
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-547
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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