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| Location Lat 6° 40' 59" S Long 155° 58' 34" E Rantan Island is a small island located off southeastern Bougainville Island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Bougainville Province) in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Also spelled Ratan Island. Beyond to the south is Ovau Island. Wartime History On May 1-4, 1944 patrols by U.S. Navy PT Boats encountered large, fast and heavily armed Japanese barges off Rantan Island and claimed one as sunk and others as damaged. On May 5, 1944 during the night, a patrol by three PT Boats including PT-247 under the command of A. W. MacLean with Lt. Jonathan S. Raymond Jr. aboard leading the section, PT-245 under the command of Lt.(jg) C. A. Hastings and PT-250 under the command of Ens. F. H. Kaul patrolled off Rantan Island. As the boats passed between Rantan Island and Bougainville, they sighted three Japanese barges, close together, 600 yards east of Rantan. The boats turned southeast to make a run on them, passing within three-quarters of a mile north of Rantan Island. Then a fourth barge was seen advancing around the northwest tip of the island, and a fifth around the northeast tip. At the same time two or three other barges appeared to the north of them. By the time the boats were ready to attack, they trapped with barges on all sides of them plus guns on Rantan Island and Bougainville. As they were about to initiate their attack on the first three barges, before they could opened fire the Japanese barges engaged them with machine guns, 20mm and 37mm canons plus gunfire from Rantan Island and Bougainville. A large caliber shell fired from Bougainville hit PT-247 in the engine room, leaving it dead in the water and burning brightly and later exploded. Afterwards, PT-245 and PT-250 rescued the crew with the exception of Lt. Jonathan S. Raymond Jr. who remains listed as Missing In Action (MIA). Meanwhile, responded to a call for assistance, PT-374 and PT-357 under the command of Lt(jg) W. J. Mullen arrived to searched for four and half hours for Lt. Raymond while a PBY dropped flares and bombs in the area. Returning, a seaplane bombed and attempted to strafed PT-250. Also, a shore battery fired six rounds towards PT-357. All the surviving PT boats withdrew in the early morning of May 6, 1944. On succeeding nights, PT Boats returned escorted by PGM and LCI arrived to shell the positions, but were unable to determine damage. References At Close Quarters (1962) pages 159-161 (Rantan Island May 1944) American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) - Jonathan S. Raymond Jr. Contribute
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