They were on their way to leave on New Caledonia!
Posted on 04/29/2007 6:07:56 PM PDT by SJackson
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday.
Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.
The Solomons' coastline is still littered with decaying military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
"My team members believe that this boat could have been one of those U.S. torpedo boats such as the famous PT-109, which the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy had served aboard during the war," said Waura.
Kennedy's boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Blackett Strait in August 1943 off Gizo, the main town of western Solomon Islands. The Solomons' main island, Guadalcanal, was the scene of fierce World War II fighting.
Waura said people on Rannonga island showed his team the wreckage sitting on dry ground.
"We were amazed by this finding, as previously this wreckage had long been sitting under the sea and rusting in peace without anyone knowing about it," New Zealand Press Association quoted Waura as saying.
Only the boat's hull with its deadly cargo of explosives remained intact, he said.
Waura said a Solomon Islands Police Force bomb disposal unit would be sent to the island to safely detonate the explosives.
Kennedy was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy serving in the Pacific when his PT-109 was cut in two by the Japanese destroyer. Two crew were killed, but Kennedy and the vessel's other survivors clung to the wreckage before swimming to a nearby island. The experience earned Kennedy the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
Wreckage from PT-109 was found in 2002 by shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard, who also found the Titanic as well as other notable sunken ships.
wow .. did nostradamus have anything on this?
No, GWB causs tsunamis.
They were on their way to leave on New Caledonia!
I presume not, the article indicates it’s been found already.
If the hull was thrown up I doubt it was a PT boat. They were built of Plywood, I believe. I doubt plywood would have stayed intact this long.
Once the reels of saltwater drag racing are out of the way (PT 109 wins the race, but smashes into the dock when Cowboy Kennedy slams the engines into reverse at high speed and conks them out), the film takes on a measure of verve and dash. Best scene is the nighttime patrol when, running without lights, Kennedy’s PT suddenly comes under the prow of a blacked-out Japanese destroyer and PT 109’s plywood hull is sliced through like an orange crate. There is a moment of silence, then a crackling as the sea becomes molten with flaming fuel, and in the night come the terrified cries of men calling out to their buddies.
Time Magazine, Friday, Jun. 28, 1963
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874997,00.html
I could just scream!
Was McHale a Lieutenant Commander? If so, was it normal for a Lt. Comm. to be in charge of a PT boat?
I think youre right.The bottom of subic bay is littered with PT boats.After the war the navy tied most of the remaining boats together and set the match to them. A lowdown dirty damn shame.
Oops, wrong Kennedy.
In order for a PT boat to be cut in two (rammed broadside) by a Japanese destroyer, you really had to FU as a PT boat commander. JFK, the PT boat commander, was decorated for his wartime exploits in this incident ... mostly at his father's insistence.
Or rusted, for that matter.
I believe the PT was died in the water. Waiting for some type of contact from an Aussie coast watcher or whatever.
Wow! Kerry served in WWII as well?
Not from what I've read and years ago I read the book PT-109. They were underway ... perhaps not at full speed, when the Japanese destroyer emerged from the darkness and murk of a moonless night and sliced the PT boat in two.
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