Wreck of USS PT-110

Papua New Guinea / West New Britain / Kandrian /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, United States Navy
 Upload a photo
USS PT-110 was built in March 1942 and commissioned into US Navy Service in July 1942 at the ELCO Works in Bayonne, NJ. Promptly loaded onto the SS Roger Williams, a freighter bound for the Pacific, PT-110 arrived in theatre and was placed into wartime operation as part of Motor Torpedo Boat Squdron 5 at Noumea in October 1942.

Damaged by a nighttime collision during her run from Noumea to her forward operating base at Tulagi, PT-110 was out of action for over three months under repair before she embarked on her first wartime patrol in mid-January 1943. As American forces made steady advances up the Solomon Islands chain, so did the PT Boats and their crews and PT-110 was no exception. Frequently engaged in clandestine troop movements, scouting and anti-shipping patrols during 1943, PT-110 eventually joined with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 8 based in New Guinea and saw action with her fellow PT Boats at New Guinea waters at Tufi, Morobe, Kiriwina, and Aitape, and also at Rein Bay and Talasea on the Island of New Britain. As 1943 drew to a close, the Squadron was preparing to forward deploy further North to keep pace with Allied movements, and patrols in the area became more of harassment missions of entrenched Japanese troops than the usual anti-ship effort.

Departing their base on a mission to New Britian on such a mission, PT-110 and her sistership PT-114 patrolled along the Southern shoreline of the island on January 26th, 1944. Both boats entered Ablingi Harbor; a regular stop for Japanese supply barges, but found no contacts and turned to depart to resume their patrol. PT-110 led the way out of the harbor and into open waters but as both boats came up to their patrol speed, a miscommunication between the two led to PT-110 making a turn to Port that PT-114 was not expecting and the two collided.

The bow of PT-114 rode up onto the aft deck of PT-110 and was dragged aft by the motion of the two vessels, tearing off deck fittings and heavily damaging PT-110's Port quarter, but within seconds both ships had separated and came to a stop. Both ships had not received fatal damage, thanks in part to their stout construction but also owing to their wooden hulls not being stronger or weaker than each other. As crews on each boat moved to inspect their damage, PT-110 was suddenly rocked by an enormous underwater explosion as one of her armed deck-mounted depth charges, ripped free in the collision, detonated almost beneath her. The concussive force of the explosion was enough to open up seams in the hull of PT-110, and the weight and force of the collapsing water column sent up by the blast flooded and damaged her topside spaces. Shell-shocked crew tried in vain to restart the engines, but all three were knocked out of action and were quickly being flooded by inrushing water. Without power to operate her pumps and with the boat quickly swamping by the Stern, the order was passed to abandon ship. PT-114 closed in and took all of the men off of PT-110 then stood by as she flooded and sank at this location on January 26th, 1944.


www.navsource.org/archives/12/05110.htm
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   6°16'58"S   150°9'1"E

Comments

  • PT--110 crew member was George Clinton Ellsworth Torpedoman first class
  • My great Uncle, Ens. Robert Bond was lost on PT 110 and his body never recovered. Interesting this narrative does not mention casualties. Go to find a grave to see his memorial stone erected by his family.
This article was last modified 13 years ago