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Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-323



Call sign:
Nan - King - 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 (MTBRon 21) under the command of Comdr. Selman S. Bowling
  • Passed through Panama Canal 26 July 1943
  • MTBRon 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. MTBRon 21 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for action in the New Guinea area from October 1943 to March 1944
  • "Calamity Jane", ex-"SNAFU", ex-"Jinx" 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 1,500shp 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 Motor Machinist Mate Sanders, left side, foreground
    PT-323 285k Crew photo Tom Sanders
    PT-323 173k
    PT-323 123k
    PT-323 185k
    PT-323 739k Crew listing
    PT-323 122k Japanese prisoners
    PT-323 255k .
    PT-323 134k
    PT-323 70k
    PT-323 121k
    PT-323 46k
    PT-323 301k
    PT-323 21k
    PT-323 224k
    PT-323 311k .
    PT-323 298k .
    PT-323 223k .
    PT-323 84k c. April 1943
    Crew photo
    Top row, Left to right: Breitenbeck MoMM2/c, Myers R3/c, Bean TM3/c, Lange F1/c and Chiasson QM3/c
    Bottom row: Ensign Hall (Skipper), Wetzel GM3/c, Nawrocgi S1/c and Leonard MoMM3/c
    PT-323 520k 10 January 1944
    Baltimore Sun article
    PT-323 463k 22 June 1944
    Motor Machinist Mate Sanders, standing in the center of the doorway with Lieut. Emery Marcus Newton, Jr., USNR on his right
    PT-323 224k Lieut. Emery Marcus Newton, Jr., USNR
    Commissioned 19 October 1942, Separated from service 8 February 1946
    He made 37 combat patrols between December 1943 and July 1944    		 Kathleen (Newton) Derrick
    PT-323 146k 10 December 1944 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-323 199k 10 December 1944 Tom Sanders
    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
    PT-323 314k 18 December 1943
    Action Report    		 Tom Sanders
    Boat Captains
    01ENS James F. Foran, USNR - Awarded the Silver Star (1944)October 1943
    02LTJG Emery Marcus Newton, Jr., USNR - Awarded the Bronze (1944)March 1944
    03LTJG Herbert Stadler, USNROctober 1944 - December 1944
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-323
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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