Wreck of PT-200

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

Wreck of PT-200
Laid down in June 1942 at the Higgins Industries Shipyard in New Orleans, PT-200 was a 78ft Motor Torpedo Boat, or PT Boat, built for the United States Navy, and was activated for service shortly after her January 1943 arrival at Melville, RI with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Four.

Engaged in intensive training and convoy escort work for much of the following year to prepare her crew for their upcoming deployment to the European Theatre as part of the Allied Invasion of France, PT-200 and her 17-man crew were on a gunnery training exercise to No Man’s Land when she struck a floating object while operating at high speed. Seriously damaged by the unknown flotsam, PT-200’s screws and rudders had been carried away and her wooden hull holed in several locations, leading to heavy flooding which soon overwhelmed her onboard pumps. After securing her depth charges and live torpedo warheads, the crew of PT-200 abandoned ship shortly before their boat went down Stern-first at this location on February 22nd, 1944.

Depth charged after her sinking to reduce her wreck and (unsuccessfully) destroy her unexploded munitions, today there is little identifiable parts of PT-200’s wooden hull or engines at her wrecksite.

www.navsource.org/archives/12/05200.htm