Patrol torpedo boat PT-41

Patrol torpedo boat PT-41 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-21, but was reclassified as PT-41 prior to its launch on 8 July 1941, and was completed on 23 July 1941.[1] It was used to evacuate General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor at the beginning of the war in the Pacific in World War II.

History
United States Navy
NamePT-41
BuilderElectric Launch Company, Bayonne, New Jersey
Laid down30 April 1941
Launched8 July 1941
Completed23 July 1941
FateDestroyed to prevent capture, 15 April 1942
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeElco 77-foot PT boat
Displacement40 long tons (41 t)
Length77 ft (23 m)
Beam19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
Draft4 ft 6 in (1.37 m)
Propulsion3 × 1,500 shp (1,119 kW) Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, 3 shafts
Speed41 knots (76 km/h; 47 mph)
Complement15
Armament
Service record
Part of:
  • MTB Squadron 1 (July–August 1941)
  • MTB Squadron 3 (Flagship – August 1941 – April 1942)
Operations: Philippines campaign (1941–1942)

Boat history

PT-41 served as the flagship of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, which was based in the Philippines from late 1941 to April 1942. The commander of Motor Torpedo Boats Squadron 3 was Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley, who became one of the U.S. Navy's most highly decorated officers. The Commander of PT-41 was Ensign George E. Cox, Jr., USNR.

PT-41 evacuated General (later General of the Army) Douglas MacArthur, Mrs. Jean MacArthur, Arthur MacArthur IV (their four-year-old son), Ah Cheu (Arthur's amah), Major General Richard K. Sutherland (United States Army Forces in the Far East Chief of Staff), Captain Herbert J. Ray (USN), Lieutenant Colonel Sidney L. Huff (aide), and Major C.H. Morehouse (medical officer) from Corregidor to Mindanao on 12 March 1942; about the escape he made his famous declaration at Terowie, South Australia: "I came through and I shall return".[1][2]

After MacArthur's party left Mindanao, PT-41, along with the two remaining PT boats of the squadron (PT-34 and PT-35), established a new base of operations at Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, supporting the American military forces defending Mindanao and the nearby islands from the invading Japanese throughout late March and early April 1942.[3]

After a torpedo attack in concert with PT-34 on the Japanese cruiser Kuma on April 9, 1942, PT-41 became the last remaining PT boat of the squadron (PT-34 was sunk in the aftermath of the attack and PT-35 was burned at Cebu). With no more torpedoes available for PT-41 to use, it was commandeered by the United States Army to patrol Lake Lanao, Mindanao. It was destroyed by the Army on April 15, 1942, to prevent its capture while being transported via road to Lake Lanao.[3]

The exploits of PT-41 are portrayed in the 1945 film They Were Expendable directed by John Ford with Robert Montgomery, John Wayne and Donna Reed.

Awards

References
  1. Radigan, Joseph M. (2012). "PT-41". navsource.org. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  2. "I came through; I shall return". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. LXXXIV, no. 26, 040. (Original, Adelaide. Digital reproduction, Canberra: National Library of Australia – Trove digital newspaper archive). 21 March 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  3. Bulkley, Robert J. (2003). At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 1–27.
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