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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

PT-552



Call sign:
Nan - William - How - William


PT-552 served the Navies of the United States and the Soviet Union.
80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 17 June 1943 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 4 September 1943
  • Completed 16 October 1943
  • Placed in service 22 October 1943 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWENTY NINE (MTBRon 29) under the command of Comdr. S. Stephen Daunis, USN
  • MTBRon 29, assigned to the Mediterranean, based at Calvi, Corsica, and Leghorn, Italy, and had action along the northwest coast of Italy and southern coast of France, operating under the British
    Coastal Forces
  • On the night of 14/15 June 1944, PT-558, PT-552 and PT-559 torpedoed and sank the German torpedo boats TA-26, ex-Italian Intrepido and TA-30, ex-Italian Dragone between La Spezia and
    Genoa, Italy
  • "Hairless Joe" was transferred to the Soviet Union 7 April 1945 and reclassified TK-434
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, two 20mm mounts, 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-552 100k A 20mm Mk 4 gun is mounted on the forecastle. The forward 20mm would have a lighter mount than its aft 20mm mount Robert Hurst
    PT-552 158k PT Boats Public Group
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Carl A. Whitman, USNRJune 1944
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-552
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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