Wrecks of USS PT-117 & USS PT-164

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

Laid down at the Elco Electric Boat Works of Bayonne, NJ in April and September 1942 respectively, PT-117 and PT-164 were loaded aboard South Pacific-bound freighters from New York harbor shortly after their completion.

Arriving in theatre in August 1942, PT-117 was activated and assigned to MTBRon 6 and began operations against the final efforts of the Imperial Japanese Navy to resupply their garrisons on Guadalcanal via the "Tokyo Express". With Guadalcanal secure by February 1943, PT-117 followed the enemy Northward during 1943, eventually beginning operations with the boats of MTBRon 10 around Rendova.

PT-164 arrived in theatre in December 1942 and was activated with MTBRon 10, and like PT-117 engaged the "Tokyo Express" off Guadalcanal before moving North after the retreating Japanese forces. Arriving in the waters around Rendova in support of US Forces capturing the island, PT-164 and her squadron joined with the PT Boats of MTBRon 6 and began the dangerous task of securing the largely uncharted and hostile waters around the island.

While preparing for a overnight patrol at dusk on August 1st, 1943, PT-117, PT-164 and the rest of the PT Boat base at Lumbaria Island came under concentrated air attack by 18 Japanese fighters. Forced to shoreside defensive positions, the crews of both PT Boats left their craft tied to the dock as Japanese bombs rained down around them. PT-164 was stuck squarely in the bow by a single bomb and severely damaged, and with no crew aboard she quickly sank at the dock. PT-117 took a near-miss bomb off her Starboard bow and was severely damaged, but remained afloat long enough for her crew to reboard her and run her aground after the raiding aircraft had departed.

With both vessels so severely damaged in such a remote area all but guaranteeing that proper repairs were impossible, both PT-117 and PT-164 were declared wrecked and salvaged for reusable parts. PT-117 remained beached for the duration of the war and was likely scrapped postwar, while PT-164's stripped and badly damaged hulk was towed free of the dock and allowed to sink in Lumbaria's deepwater harbor.

PT-117 "Munda Morn"
www.navsource.org/archives/12/05117.htm
PT-164 "FUBAR"
www.navsource.org/archives/12/05164.htm