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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

HM MGB-178
ex-PT-214



Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - Mike - Yankee


PT-214 served the Navies of the United States and Great Britain

78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 19 August 1942 by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 16 December 1942
  • Completed 15 February 1943
  • Placed in service 18 February 1943 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron SIXTEEN (MTBRon 16) under the command of CDR Russell H. Smith, USN
  • MTBRon 16 participated in the Aleutian campaign from August 1943 to May 1944. Transferred to the Southwest Pacific, the squadron had action at Mios Woendi, Dutch New Guinea; Mindoro, P.I.; and
    Brunei Bay, Borneo. It also based for a time at Dreger Harbor, New Guinea, and San Pedro Bay, P.I., but had no action from these bases
  • Transferred 13 March 1943 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FIFTEEN (MTBRon 15) under the command of CDR Stanley M. Barnes, USN
  • 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 "Gallopin' Ghost", ex-"Zombie", ex-"Little Killer" was transferred to Great Britain 17 October 1944 and reclassified HM MGB-178
  • Struck from the Naval Register 28 November 1945 and destroyed.

    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 37mm mount 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-215 184k 26 February 1943
    New Orleans, LA
    MTBRon 16 commissioning ceremony on the fore deck of PT-215. PT-214 is in the background    		 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-214 108k
    PT-214 70k Bizerte, Tunisia
    MoMM1c Dave Prentice of PT-204 goofing on the 40mm mount forward of PT-214
    Photo from the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice, PT-204
    PT-214 108k
    PT-208 86k c. 1944
    PT-208 and PT-214 with an unidentified boat between them, are moored together 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-214 123k Bow insignia of the "Zombie"
    Photo from Life Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer, Shared by Peter DeForest
    PT-214 134k PT-216 (Shangri La) moored outboard of the PT-214 (Zombie) at the PT Boat Base at Bastia, Corsica in the Mediterranean
    Photo from Life Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer, Shared by Peter DeForest
    Boat Captains
    01LTJG Ernest W. Olson, USNRJuly 1943
    02LTJG Robert T. Boebel, USNR - Awarded the Bronze Star and the British Distinguished Service CrossFebruary 1944
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-214
    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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