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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-551



Call sign:
Nan - William - How - Uncle

ex-RPT-18

80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 15 June 1943 as RPT-18 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 9 September 1943
  • Completed as PT-551, 16 September 1943, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWENTY EIGHT (MTBRon 28) under the command of Lt. Comdr. George A. Matteson,
    Jr.,USNR
  • MTBRon 28, assigned to the South Pacific, had action at Treasury and Green. Transferred to the Southwest Pacific in October 1944, it had action at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. It also based for a
    time at Mios Woendi in New Guinea and at San Pedro Bay in the Philippines, but had no action from these bases
  • The "Sapphire" was placed out of service 21 October 1945
  • Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission in May 1946 and sold
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, four 21" torpedoes 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-551 237k c. 1945
    Somewhere in the South Pacific
    FN Pendergrass standing next to starboard .50 cal. machine guns
    From the collection of Walter Scott, Machinist Mate aboard PT-548    		 Dave Spence
    Great nephew of Walter Scott
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Elmer H. Olson, USN - Awarded the Bronze StarJanuary 1945
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-551
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