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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

HM MGB-179
ex-PT-215

Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - Love - Xray

PT-215 served the Navies of the United States, Great Britain and Italy.

78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

Laid down 21 August 1942 by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA

Launched 31 December 1942

Completed 26 February 1943, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron SIXTEEN under the command of Lt. Comdr. Russell H. Smith, USN

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 "Man O' War" was transferred to Great Britain 17 October 1944 and reclassified HM MGB-179

Struck from the Naval Register 17 April 1946

Transferred to Italy in February 1947 at Palermo, Sicily and reclassified GIS-0027

Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists transfer to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission as January 1948

Reclassified GIS-853, 1 April 1951

Reclassified as a Torpedo Boat, MS-853, 1 November 1952

Reclassified MS-453, 1 November 1954

Scrapped in 1980 at La Spezia, Italy.

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.
	205k	26 February 1943 New Orleans, LA MTBRon 16 commissioning ceremony
	225k	26 February 1943 New Orleans, LA MTBRon 16 commissioning party
	161k	At the Blue Grotto, Capri, Italy
	88k	c. 1944 "Shark toothed" PT-203 and PT-215, moored between two unidentified PT boats at the PT Boat Base at Bastia, Corsica in the Mediterranean. PT-312 is in the left background Photo from Life Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer, Shared by Peter DeForest	Mike Green
	82k	c. June 1944 Man O' War leaving 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 Photo added 31 March 2019
	89k	c. June 1944 Man O' War underway in the Mediterranean Photo from Life Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer, Shared by Peter DeForest Photo added 31 March 2019
	75k	c. June 1944 Port bow closeup of Man O' War leaving 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 Photo added 31 March 2019
MS-453
	145k	c. 1967 MS 453 and MS 444 ex-PT-94 with an unidentified "MS" boat and an "Ape" class corvette underway Italian Navy photo from the 1967/1968 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships	Robert Hurst
	143k	c. 1969 Italian Navy photo from the 1969/1970 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships	Robert Hurst
	399k	c. March 1980 La Spezia, Italy	Carlo Martinelli