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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

HM MGB-182
ex-PT-204



Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - Charlie - Item

PT-204 served the Navies of the United States, Great Britain and Yugoslavia

78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 8 July 1942 by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 8 October 1942
  • Completed 23 January 1943, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FIFTEEN (MTBRon 15) under the command of Comdr. Stanley M. Barnes
  • MTBRon 15 was the first PT squadron sent to the Mediterranean Theater, where it operated as a unit of the British Coastal Forces. It had action throughout the western Mediterranean, basing at Bizerte
    and Bone, Africa; Palermo, Sicily; Salerno, Capri, and Leghorn, Italy; Maddalena, Sardinia; Bastia and Calvi, Corsica, and St. Tropez, France
  • The "Aggie Maru" was transferred to Great Britain 17 October 1944 and reclassified HM MGB-182
  • Transferred by the British to Yugoslavia later in October 1944 and reclassified MT-2
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 78'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5' 3"
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, four 21" torpedoes, two twin .50 cal. machine guns, one .30 cal. machine gun and one 20mm mount
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-204 68k c. April 1943
    Boats of MTBRon 15 as deck cargo of Enoree (AO 69) en route to Gibraltar
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice    		 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-204 111k The Aggie Maru in dry dock
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-204 71k In dry dock, showing her checkerboard stern
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-204 132k British Dockyard, MTB Base at Comorant Camber, Gibraltar
    (Location provided by Andrew Schembri)
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-204 113k Looking forward from aft 20mm mount
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-204 110k Crew quarters
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-204 67k Idling into Bastia, Corsica
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-201 217k c. 1944
    PT-201 (with her ‘Ace of Spades’ insignia), with PT-204 moored outboard at the PT Boat Base at Bastia, Corsica in the Mediterranean
    Photo from Life Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer, Shared by Peter DeForest    		 Mike Green
    PT-204 188k c. 1944
    PT-204 and other unidentified boats moored at the PT Boat Base at Bastia, Corsica in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations
    Photo from Life Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer, Shared by Peter DeForest
    PT-204 253k c. 1944
    Island of Elba, Italy
    Outboard of an unidentified PT Boat and two Italian small craft
    Photograph by Carl Mydans. TimeLife. TimeLife image 116717991    		 David Upton
    Photo added 17 May 2021
    PT-204 191k 19 May 1944
    Torpedo fired from PT-304 lodged in lazarette    		 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-204 364k 19 May 1944
    PT-304 deck log entry on erratic torpedo run
    PT-204 128k c. November 1944
    Damage to bow from collision with enemy Motor Minesweeper
    From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice
    PT-204 151k

    Crew Photos

    Photos from the collection of Dave Prentice, MoMM1c
    Contributed by Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.

    1. Conducting radio check

    2.

    3. LTJG E. William (Bill) Olson, USNR
    Executive Officer

    4. Underway off Bastia, Corsica

    5.

    6.

    7.

    8. c. October 1944
    Panama
    SC2c Mike Reeves

    9. 20mm gun training

    10.

    11. Bastia, Corsica

    12. Bizerte, Tunisia

    13. Bastia, Corsica
    Painting Nazi kill on windscreen

    14. Bizerte, Tunisia
    PT-207 "Zebra" on the left

    15. Crews berthing

    16. Crews berthing

    17. MoMM1c Dave Prentice on a 20mm mount

    18. MoMM1c Dave Prentice on the starboard .50
    cal. mount

    19. Starboard .50 cal. mount

    20. Starboard .50 cal. mount

    21. MoMM in enginerooom hatch

    22. MoMM refueling the boat

    23.

    24. Target practice with an Italian .30 cal. Breda machine gun

    25. Target practice with the 20mm mount

    26. TM's check air flask pressure on a
    Mk8 torpedo

    27.

    28. c. April 1943
    LTJG Bill Olson on board Enoree (AO 69) en route
    to Gibraltar

    29. Crew berthing

    30 & 31. Bizerte, Tunisia
    MoMM1c Dave Prentice goofing on the
    40mm mount
    Astern is PT-214

    31.

    32. Undergoing hull repairs

    33. Bastia, Corsica
    1st row, second from right, kneeling is MoMM1/c Dave Prentice

    Photos

    Additional photos from the collection of TM3c Edward John Redhead (January - October 1944)
    Contributed by Rich (Redhead) Callerstrom
    Photos added 16 January 2021

    1. TM3c Edward Redhead

    2. A well worn photo of TM3c Redhead holding what appears to be a magnifying glass, leaning over, helping to disarm the torpedo fired from PT-304. Given to Redhead's son by his uncle, who kept it in his wallet for 45 years

    3. In drydock repairing torpedo damage

    4. TM3c Redhead's small Diary. Assignment page. He did not write much in it. He was a man of few words

    5. Action pages. It is interesting that under "Action" - His 1st entry is when they get hit by the torpedo. Like usual, he doesn't say much about it. In reading what happened, there was a lot more going on (See photo No.8)

    6.

    7.

    8. At Close Quarters, PT Boats in the United States Navy by Captain Robert J. Bulkley, Jr., USNR (Retired). Part VI, The Mediterranean - Torpedo War - 14. Expansion
    Boat Captains
    01LTJG Eugene S. A. Clifford, USNR - Awarded the Silver Star (1943) and the Bronze StarFebruary 1943
    02LTJG Richard H. O'Brien, USN - Awarded two Silver StarsMay 1943
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-204
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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