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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-28



Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Oboe - Able

Wrecked 12 January 1943

77' Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 20 February 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 20 May 1941
  • Completed 30 June 1941, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) under the command of Lt. Comdr. Earl S. Caldwell, USN
  • MTBRon 2 tested the first 70' Elco boats in Florida and Caribbean waters in the winter of 1940/41
  • Transferred 13 August 1941 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron ONE (MTBRon 1) under the command of Lt. William C. Specht, USN
  • MTBRon 1, when it was composed of 77' Elco boats, was sent to Pearl Harbor, where it was in action on 7 December 1941. Its boats again saw action at the Battle of Midway, and participated in the
    Aleutian campaign
  • Wrecked in a storm 12 January 1943 at Dora Harbor, Unimak, AK.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 40 t.
  • Length 77'
  • Beam 19' 11"
  • Draft 4' 6"
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 15
  • Armament: Two twin .50 cal. Browning M2 machine guns in Dewandre turrets, one .30 cal. machine gun and four 21" torpedoes
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    PT-28 191k Original photo: A single .30 cal. Browning machine gun on a tripod is fitted forward
    U.S. Navy photo
    Replacement photo: Refueling
    National Archives photo
    Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: Tracy White
    PT-28 & 29 262k USS Hornet (CV-8) arrives at Pearl Harbor after the Doolittle Raid on Japan, 30 April 1942. PT-28 and PT-29 are speeding by in the foreground
    National Archives photo
    Original photo: Joe Radigan
    Replacement photo: Jerry Gilmartin, MMC, USN, Ret.
    PT-28 253k Another view of above photo
    National Archives photo 80-G-16865 from Naval History and Heritage Command
    Bob Canchola
    Photo added 14 October 2021

    Boat Captains
    01LT Robert A. Williamson, USNRJanuary 1943
    Courtesy Joe Radigan

    There is no DANFS history available for PT-28
    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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