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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-32

Destroyed 13 March 1942
77' Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 19 March 1941 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 6 June 1941
  • Completed 10 July 1941
  • Under command of Lt. (jg) V.E. Schumacher, evacuated Brig. Gen. Spencer B. Akin (Signals Officer, USFFE); Brig. Gen. Hugh J. Casey (Engineering Officer, USFFE); Brig. Gen. William F. Marquat (Antiaircraft Artillery Officer,
    USFFE); Brig. Gen. Harold H. George (Air Officer, USFFE) and Lt. Col. Joe R. Sherr (Asst Signals Officer, USFFE) from Corregidor to Mindinao 12 March 1942.
  • Destroyed to prevent capture 13 March 1942 in the Sulu Sea off Tagauayan, Philippines
  • After the General MacArthur's staff were transferred from PT-32, Lt. (jg) Schumacher and his crew were picked up by the submarine USS Permit (SS 178), which took them to Fremantle. They intentionally destroyed PT-32
    during the rendezvous, to prevent the Japanese from capturing it. With the crew of PT-32 on board, USS Permit was severely overloaded with passengers. The Permit's mission had been to evacuate from Corregidor
    a group of code breakers who were capable of translating intercepted Japanese military communications. These code breakers apparently knew beforehand, the position of the Japanese destroyers that depth-charged the
    Permit a few days later, but did not tell the captain of USS Permit for fear that his taking another route to avoid them would reveal that the U.S. had broken the Japanese code.

    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 and four 18" torpedoes
    Propulsion: Three 3,600shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.

    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-32 25k . .
    PT-32 29k . .
    PT-31, 32. 33, 34, 35 & 41 65k Guadalupe (AO-32) bound for the Philippines in September 1941 with a deck cargo of six PT boats (PT-31, PT-32, PT-33, PT-34, PT-35 and PT-41) of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three Robert Hurst
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-32
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
    © 2009 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2009 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.