Wreck of PT-43

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, United States Navy

Laid down in May 1941 at the Elco Shipyard in Bayonne, NJ, PT-43 commissioned into US Navy service in July 1941. Promptly loaded onto a cargo ship bound for the South Pacific, PT-43 and her crew arrived in at Guadalcanal in August 1941 and then joined with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 1 on patrols of the waters in and around Guadalcanal and Tulagi.

Forming part of the US defensive line from the beginning of the Battle of Guadalcanal in August 1942, PT-43 and her sisterships hunted for members of the Japanese Navy in the opening stages of the conflict and then found themselves increasingly involved with the interdiction and harassment of the 'Tokyo Express" re-supply missions taking place by on a near-nightly basis.

January 1943 found PT-43 and her crew still battling the "Tokyo Express" as ground forces ashore made headway across the jungles of Guadalcanal. Assigned with fellow PT Boats PT-39, PT-48, PT-115, PT-112, PT-59, PT-46, PT-36 and PT-40 on the night of January 10th, 1943 to patrol a line from Savo Island to Cape Esperance. Shortly before midnight as she neared the shores of Cape Esperance, lookouts sighted what appeared to be the outlines of two Japanese Destroyers in the distance. After this contact was flashed to the other boats, the entire line sprung into action.

PT-43 accelerated to her flank speed of over 40 knots and closed rapidly on her target; the Japanese Destroyer HJIMS Tokitsukaze. Approaching to the dangerously close range of 400 yards, PT-43's crew began firing their torpedoes. As the rear two torpedoes left her deck, a large burst of flame illuminated the PT Boat to Japanese gun crews, which quickly took PT-43 under fire from almost point blank range. Shells of various caliber were soon raining around the frantically maneuvering torpedo boat, and her Captain was forced to break off his attack. As she came broadside to the Destroyers, one or more salvoes of 5-inch rounds passed through the wooden hull of PT-43, where it killed the forward gunner and wounded the two men in the engineering spaces.

Water began pouring into the ship through the massive holes in her midship as more and more fire began raining down on her from the Japanese Destroyers. Granted a brief reprieve as the rest of the PT Boat line arrived and drew fire and the second Japanese Destroyer was rocked by torpedo impacts, the crew quickly abandoned the damaged and sinking PT-43 to her fate.

The following mornings Allied Patrol of the Guadalcanal shoreline located the beached wreck of the PT-43 aground on the shoreline at this location, where a New Zealand Navy Corvette shelled it until she sank. Remaining in place until the end of the war, the PT-43 was scrapped of valuable materials onsite after the war and only a few traces of her wreck remain today.

For her actions on January 10th, 1943, PT-43 received her first and final Battle Star for World War Two service, and her crew received three Purple Hearts.

www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/ptboat/PT-43.html
www.navsource.org/archives/12/05043.htm