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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

C73995
ex-PT-40
ex-PTC-20

77' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 25 April 1941 as Motor Boat Submarine Chaser, PTC-20 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Reclassified PT-40 prior to completion
  • Launched 7 July 1941
  • Completed 22 July 1941, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (PTRon 2) under the command of Lt. Comdr. Earl S. Caldwell, USN
  • PTRon 2 tested the first 70' Elco boats in Florida and Caribbean waters in the winter of 1940/41. In December 1941, with 11 new 77' Elco boats, the squadron was assigned to the Panama Sea Frontier. Then late in 1942, with six
    77' Elco boats and six 80' Elco boats, it was shipped to the South Pacific, where it was active in the Solomons campaign, engaging in many strenuous night actions with the Tokyo Express in the defense of Guadalcanal
  • Transferred to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THREE(2), 11 November 1943 under the command of Lt. Richard E. Johnson, USN
  • PTRon 3(2) was the first squadron to arrive in the Solomons, and fought many strenuous engagements with the Tokyo Express at Guadalcanal
  • Reclassified as a Small Boat, C73995, 15 April 1944
  • Fate unknown.

    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 1,800shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-40
    PT-40, 45, 46, 48 & 61 182k 1 August 1942
    Taboga, Panama
    PT-46 (No. 1); PT-40 (No. 9); PT-61; PT-48 (No. 3) and PT-45 (No. 2) during commissioning ceremonies at the newly established MTB Base. To mislead possible Japanese spies in Panama, and presumably German agents in New York, the hull numbers displayed on the cabins were changed. The eleven boats of PTRon 2 were numbered 0 - 10.    		 .
    C73995
    PT-40 141k c. July 1944
    Melville, RI
    PT 40, a battle-scarred veteran of Guadalcanal, returns to the MTB Squadrons Training Center to be used in training repair personnel
    U.S. Navy photo NR&L (MOD)-32490    		 Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-40
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