Patrol torpedo boat PT-109

PT-109's sister-boat PT-105, circa 1942
History
United States
Name	PT-109
Ordered	1942
Builder	Elco, Bayonne, New Jersey
Laid down	4 March 1942
Launched	20 June 1942
Completed	19 July 1942
Identification	Hull symbol: PT-109
Fate	Sunk by Japanese destroyer Amagiri, 2 August 1943
General characteristics
Displacement	56 long tons (57 t) (full load)
Length	80 ft (24 m) overall
Beam	20 ft 8 in (6.30 m)
Draft	3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) maximum (aft)
Installed power	4,500 horsepower (3,400 kW)
Propulsion	3 × 12-cylinder Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines 3 × shafts
Speed	41 knots (76 km/h; 47 mph) maximum (trials)
Endurance	12 hours, 6 hours at top speed
Complement	3 officers, 14 enlisted men (design)
Armament	4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four Mark 8 torpedoes) 1 × 20-millimeter (0.79 in) cannon aft 2 × twin .50-inch (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine guns 2 × depth charges 1 × 37-millimeter (1.5 in) cannon mounted forward (a field modification)
Armor	Deck house protected against rifle-caliber projectiles and splinters, some crews fitted armor plate to refrigerators

PT-109 was an 80-foot (24 m) Elco PT boat (patrol torpedo boat) last commanded by Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy, future United States president, in the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions in saving his surviving crew after PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer earned him several commendations and made him a war hero. Back problems stemming from the incident required months of hospitalization at Chelsea Naval Hospital and plagued him the rest of his life. Kennedy's postwar campaigns for elected office referred often to his service on PT-109.