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| USN PT-Boat Elco 80' 56 Tons 80' x 20' 8" x 3' 6" 2 x Twin 50 cal MG 1 x 20mm 1 x 37mm bow 1 x 40mm stern 4 x Mark 37 torpedoes 4 x depth charges rocket launcher |
Captain Lt(jg) Stanley L. Manning USNR Crew Lt. (jg) Baber N. Howell USNR Crew MM2C Harry J. Nicholas USNR Crew RSC William L. Brick USNR Crew Raymond F. Walk USNR Crew TM2C Clyde W. Wilder USNR Crew GM2C Henry G. Westervelt, USNR Crew MMM1C Howard H. Hemphill USNR Crew MMM2C Kenneth J Joyce USNR Crew MM2C Raymond Arthur Rouleau, USRN (KIA) Crew GM3C Stanley John Janusz USNR (KIA) Crew S1C William Edward Hirsch USNR (KIA) Crew SC2C Harold William Connor USRN (WIA) Crew GM3C William Frederick Reilly USNR (WIA) Crew MM2C Robert Ambrose Gaynor USNR, member of PT-347 (WIA) Damaged April 29, 1944 by friendly fire Ship History Built by Electric Boat Co. (Elco) in Bayonne, NJ. Assigned to Motor Torpedo Squadron 25 (MTB-25). Nicknamed "Shifty-Fifty". Wartime History During the night of April 28-29, 1944 PT 347 with PT-350 as 'wingman' participated in a night patrol off the northern coast of New Britain. After sunrise, both were three miles from the line of demarcation, still inside enemy territory. PT-347 became grounded on a coral reef near Cape Lambert. PT-350 came to her aid and made repeated attempts to get the stranded PT Boat off the reef. During the morning of April 29, 1944 at 0705, two FG Corsairs from VMF-215 "Fighting Corsairs" spotted the boats behind the demarcation line, climbed to 6000' and dived on the targets. Major Dill in command later stated: "there was no recognition signals of any kind." From two miles away, both started strafing and then circled once. The two boats tried unsuccessfully to contact the unidentified planes using daytime frequency. PT-347 blinked "S" and "V" with searchlight during the whole attack. Both had US Stars painted on roof and were flying US flag. Crews waved their arms frantically. When the strafing started, Captain Williams aboard PT-350 ordered his gunners to return fire, shooting down the F4U 13307. The F4U Corsair piloted by Dill landed to Green Island Airfield and ordered an immediate attack on the enemy gunboats. During the initial attack, no one aboard PT-347 was hurt, but PT-350 suffered three dead and three wounded and departed the area. References At Close Quarters PT Boats in the United States Navy pages 233, 374-375, 472 Tragedy at Sea The Untold Story of PT-347, PT350 & PT 346 by Dan Williams Enemy in the Mirror by Jo Frkovich with Daniel Williams & Thomas Williams Thanks to Dan Williams for additional information Contribute
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