Motor Torpedo Boat PT-34
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
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| Name: | PT-34 |
| Builder: | Electric Launch Company, Bayonne, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 29 March 1941 |
| Launched: | 14 June 1941 |
| Completed: | 12 July 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk, 9 April 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Elco 77-foot PT boat |
| Displacement: | 40 long tons (41 t) |
| Length: | 77 ft (23 m) |
| Beam: | 19 ft 11 in (6.07 m) |
| Draft: | 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) |
| Propulsion: | 3 × 1,500 shp (1,119 kW) Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, 3 shafts |
| Speed: | 41 knots (76 km/h; 47 mph) |
| Complement: | 15 |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Part of: |
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| Commanders: | Lt. Robert B. Kelly |
| Operations: | Philippines Campaign (1941–1942) |
Motor Torpedo Boat PT-34 was a PT-20-class motor torpedo boat of the United States Navy, built by the Electric Launch Company of Bayonne, New Jersey. The boat was laid down as Motor Boat Submarine Chaser PTC-14, but was reclassified as PT-34 prior to its launch on 14 June 1941, and was commissioned on 12 July 1941.
PT-34 was placed in service with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (PTRon 2), and was transferred to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THREE (PTRon 3) on 12 August 1941. Under the command Lt(jg). Robert B. Kelly (also the executive officer of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three), PT-34 was based in the Philippines.
On 17 December 1941, SS Corregidor, a passenger ship loaded with 1,200 passengers, struck a mine off Corregidor and sank with a large loss of life. PT-34, along with squadron mates PT-32 and PT-35 rescued some 280 survivors, who were distributed between Corregidor and French ship SS Si-Kiang.
On the night of 22 January 1942 during the Battle of the Points, Japanese troops of the 16th Division attempted a landing on the west coast of southern Bataan. Intercepted by PT-34, two barges were sunk and the rest scattered into two groups, neither of which landed on the objective beach.
On 12 March 1942 the boat evacuated Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, General Richard Marshall (Deputy Chief of Staff, USAFFE), Col. Charles P. Stivers (G-1 [Personnel], USFFEE), Capt. Joseph McMicking (Philippine Army, Asst. G-2 [Intelligence], USFFE) from Corregidor to Mindanao as part of the operation to evacuate General Douglas MacArthur to Australia.
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