21. The destruction of PT 109 in 1943
In the spring of 2002, Robert Ballard led an expedition to locate the wreck of PT 109, the motor torpedo boat commanded by Lieutenant Junior Grade John F. Kennedy in 1943. On the night of August 1, 1943, the boat, in company with others from its squadron, was operating in the Solomon Islands in an area called the Blackett Strait. In a confused action with Japanese destroyers, during which the American torpedoes exhibited failures with their detonators, PT 109 was separated from the rest of the squadron. The boat was idling to prevent it from creating a wake (visible to patrolling aircraft) when a Japanese destroyer bore down on it.
With less than ten seconds to react, bring the boat underway, and evade, the boat was doomed. The destroyer rammed the wooden vessel, slicing it in half, and setting it afire. After remaining with the drifting forward section for a time, Kennedy led the survivors on a swim to Plum Island, 3.5 miles away, with Kennedy towing one badly injured man despite being injured himself. Kennedy’s actions in the aftermath of the sinking of his boat made him a war hero. The boat itself, or rather what remained of it, drifted out of sight as the men swam away, and was not seen again by any of them.
