Name PT-41 Completed 23 July 1941 Displacement 40 long tons (41 t) Launched 8 July 1941 Builder Electric Launch Company | Laid down 30 April 1941 Class and type Elco 77-foot PT boat Construction started 30 April 1941 Length 24 m Operation Philippines Campaign | |
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Fate Destroyed to prevent capture, 15 April 1942 Part of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three | ||
Motor Torpedo Boat PT-41 was a PT-20-class motor torpedo boat of the United States Navy, built by the Electric Launch Company of Bayonne, New Jersey. The boat was laid down as Motor Boat Submarine Chaser PTC-21, but was reclassified as PT-41 prior to its launch on 8 July 1941, and was completed on 23 July 1941.
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Ship history
PT-41 served as the flagship of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, which was based in the Philippines from late 1941 to April 1942. The commander of PT-41 was Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley, who became one of the U.S. Navy's most highly decorated officers.
PT-41 evacuated General (later General of the Army) Douglas MacArthur, Mrs. Jean MacArthur, Arthur MacArthur IV (General MacArthur's son), Ah Cheu (Arthur's Chinese nurse), Major General Richard K. Sutherland (United States Army Forces in the Far East Chief of Staff), Captain Herbert J. Ray (USN), Lieutenant Colonel Sidney L. Huff (Aide), and Major C.H. Morehouse (Medical Officer) from Corregidor to Mindanao on 12 March 1942, thus enabling MacArthur to escape and to make his famous "I shall return" speech in Terowie, Australia.
After MacArthur's party left Mindanao, PT-41, along with the two remaining PT boats of the squadron (PT-34 and PT-35), established a new base of operations at Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, supporting the American military forces defending Mindanao and the nearby islands from the invading Japanese throughout late March and early April 1942.
After a torpedo attack in concert with PT-34 on the Japanese cruiser Kuma on April 9, 1942, PT-41 became the last remaining PT boat of the squadron (PT-34 was sunk in the aftermath of the attack and PT-35 was burned at Cebu). With no more torpedoes available for PT-41 to use, it was commandeered by the United States Army to patrol Lake Lanao, Mindanao. It was destroyed by the Army on April 15, 1942, to prevent its capture while being transported via road to Lake Lanao.
Popular culture
The exploits of PT-41 are portrayed in the 1945 film They Were Expendable directed by John Ford with Robert Montgomery, John Wayne and Donna Reed.