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Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-323



Call sign:
Nan - Xray - Roger - Nan

Destroyed 10 December 1944
80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 8 January 1943 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 17 March 1943
  • Completed 6 April 1943
  • Placed in service 8 April 1943 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWENTY ONE (PTRon 21) under the command of Comdr. Selman S. Bowling
  • PTRon 21, assigned to the Southwest Pacific, had action at Morobe, Dreger Harbor, and Mios Woendi in New Guinea; at Manus in the Admiralties; and at San Pedro Bay and Subic Bay in the Philippines. It also based for a time
    at Kana Kopa, New Guinea, and at Samar and Basilan Island in the Philippines, but had no action from these bases. Squadron 21 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for action in the New Guinea area from October
    1943 to March 1944.
  • "Calamity Jane" was destroyed by a Japanese Kamikaze 10 December 1944 in Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, four 21" Torpedoes, one 37mm mount, one 20mm mount and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Three 3,600shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-323 115k . Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-323 325k . Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-323 305k . Tom Sanders
    PT-323 463k . Tom Sanders
    PT-323 173k . Tom Sanders
    PT-323 123k . Tom Sanders
    PT-323 185k . Tom Sanders
    PT-323 146k . Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-323 165k 10 December 1944
    Underway in company with PT-327 at Leyte Gulf for patrol station when four Japanese planes attacked them. As PT-327 turned one way, PT-323 turned the other way. One plane crashed into PT-323 amidships, damaging the boat beyond repair. LTJG Herbert Stadler, the boat captain, was killed; ENS William I. Adelman, the second officer, was missing; 11 men were wounded.
    PT-327, under the command of LT Ken Sharpe, picked up the survivors
    U.S. Navy photo NR&L (Mod) 32520    		 .
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-323
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