How JFK Covered Up Sinking PT-109

This video is dedicated to the memory of JFK.

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#ww2 #jfk #history #wwii

[SeanRCope]

You’ve never seen dark until you experience a night in the middle of the ocean with no moon. I could not see my hand in front of my face literally. Weird and humbling experience.

[tomw]

Personally I think the arm chair quarter backing or second guessing the actions of a soldier in combat in WWII is not something to be done. Rather disrespectful in my opinion. If you weren’t there, you really don’t know jack.

[Mark-mzq]

Today, I'm a veteran of Cold War service aboard a nuclear attack submarine, but during the 1960s as a fifth grader, I read "John F. Kennedy and PT109". I loved the book and I believe that the account of the collision was that the presence of the Japanese vessel was not known until it was right on top of Kennedy's PT boat. This was due to fog or darkness as I remember it. In hindsight, I would expect there to be the sound of the vessel plowing through the sea forewarning Kennedy of its presence...but I never gave that much thought. His actions after the collision were nothing short of heroic. He led the survivors of his crew to a deserted island...then he alone, swam to another island to enlist the help of indigenous natives that contacted the PT squadron. As a result, another PT boat rescued Kennedy and his crew. Years later, John Kennedy got the Soviets to blink in Cuba...then he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. In conclusion, I will not second guess what happened during Lt. Kennedy's watch. Remember, we have been warned repeatedly and over a much greater period of time than that given to a young naval officer name Kennedy. Presently, the signs of the end-times encompass us....yet many ignore the warnings and the opportunities to repent & seek salvation in our savior Jesus Christ. The path is narrow and at the appointed time Jesus Christ will judge each of us whether we heed the warning or not. There are only two destinations and only one leads to eternal peace and happiness. I pray that you exercise wisdom.

[esquad]

Write or wrong. The thing that made him a HERO was he kept his crew alive. And got them home with every odd not in his way. When he had lost he still did not give up.

[chrissycarr]

It was an unfortunate incident like many during war time. Kennedy doing everything in his power to save lives shows his true character.

[cheesenoodles]

He was a brave soul even to venture out. It was a war, lots of things go wrong. Lots of errors were made at night in battle of the Solomons. His actions after the collision show his bravery and determination. All the US Sailors are of the greatest generation.

[allaboutboats]

Unlike most modern commentaries on this subject, I think yours is extremely well researched. I have never heard the account of Hugh Robinson 1995 Article before where JFK expressed regret. Another detail you may be interested in is the existence of a Bridge to Engine Room Buzzer (and for our boat a Light and Horn signal). It is SO LOUD down inside the engine room, when even a single engine is running, the Motor Mac can easily miss a signal from the bridge, especially a change on the EOT. To make this harder to miss, we augmented our original "Buzzer signal" inside the engine room with a Red Light that flashes and a Horn (Like a car horn) After we installed them, the communication between the Skipper and the Motor Mac improved a lot and all but completely eliminated missed signals. Perhaps JFK sent the signal but Mauer the Motor Mac missed seeing it? I have gained very specific personal knowledge of this particular subject due to being on the restoration and operating crew of the only remaining PT Boat in the World, USS PT658 located in Portland, OR. Although we have a Higgins boat, and 109 was an Elco, I am intimately familiar with how both types of PT boats were operated during WW2. In particular, the part about how the 109 was hit by a Japanese Destroyer. First, PT109 crewman Maurice Kowal related his experience (at a 2005 Symposium held at JFK Library) that the night he was wounded by a near miss fragmentation bomb dropped by a Japanese Float Plane. That same near miss explosion that wounded Maurice Kowal, he saw a "softball size" bomb fragment barely miss JFKs head by about a foot, and he said that if JFK had not ducked, he would have been killed. This probably reinforced JFK's adherence to the Squadron (RON5) S.O.P. initiated by LT Al Cluster, that all PTs when inside the Area of Operations, should have only 1 of 3 engines running, with the be operating engine at idle speed only. This would minimize the creation of the luminous wake created by phytoplankton being disturbed, because the plankton gives off a "green glow" visible from the air. The green glow is what the Japanese float planes were using to guide them to detect the PT Boats location at night. Dick Keresey, Skipper of PT105 in his book wrote "It was like a green arrow pointing right up your backside" The attack on PT109 where Kowal was wounded happened about 3 to 5 days before the night of the fateful mission where the 109 was lost. It was the reason Kowal was not on the mission, since he was still in Sick bay. Also, PT109 was about the 4th or 5th PT Boat based at Rendova that had been subject to night time attacks by Japanese Float Planes ("Rufes" or "Petes")

I have also read the accounts of the After Action Report and of several of PT109s surviving crew members (Zinser, Ross etc) when asked to estimate the amount of time that elapsed between the moment the Japanese DD was spotted by PT109 lookouts to the moment it was rammed was about 20-30 seconds. This is an important detail, if you know how long it takes to start 2 engines, open exhaust muffler dampers, and advance the throttles without killing the engines.

How quick (or slow) was the PT109 able to react to an order for "full power"? I happen to have unique personal experience with this exact subject. When the PT109 only had 1 engine running at idle, (per the S.O.P. from Cluster) it takes several seconds to start 2 engines, then open (or at least verify they are open) the 6 muffler dampers on all exhaust stacks, and then advance the throttles SLOWLY in order to prevent them from choking out. The muffler flaps or dampers are operated by the use of something similar to a choke cable on a carburetor. The black plastic ball on the end of each cable is pulled out to open it and pushed down to close it. Now do that 6 times. Now check oil pressure and valve positions before you start the 2 engines. As you can see one person cannot do all of those actions instantly. Our crew can do this same operation in about 3 minutes on our boat, but then we are not in a wartime situation either. We have the exact same Packard engines on board PT658, as was on the PT109. Plus I have read and have actually used the operating procedures many times over while running our boat here in Oregon. The Packard engines were to be started with exhaust dampers/flappers open (thus bypassing mufflers), then while the engine maximum rpm is 750 rpm (this is IDLE speed), close these dampers to force the exhaust come out through the mufflers and under water. BUT, before you advance the throttles past 800 rpm, or start accelerating, the "motor mac" down in the engine room has to manually open these dampers to allow the exhaust gas to escape unhindered and make no back pressure. These are some seriously big engines and they make a lot of exhaust gas really quickly. If the Motor Mac does not get these dampers open directly, and the Skipper who is up on the bridge is advancing the throttles, the exhaust back pressure will (guess what) KILL THE ENGINES. Also, again if the throttles are advanced too quickly, even with dampers open, it can KILL THE ENGINES. I have seen this happen on our boat so I know how it could have happened on the 109 as well. For these reasons, I reject many peoples opinions that somehow JFK was derelict in his duty and was responsible for his boat getting rammed. You cant just accelerate a 50 ton boat like it was a dragster.

Overall I think you have done a great job on this video! Thanks again. BTW come check out PT658 Save the PT Boat Museum we have YouTube, Facebook, Website etc. Thanks Jerry

[blainedunlap]

PT109 only had one motor of three running. Whatever action was taken, flaps or not, that boat was not going to move very quickly. The Destroyer also made a hard turn into 109. In Robert Donovan's article, there was less than 40 seconds between recognition of the Destroyer and the impact with the Destroyer turning on them. That they didn't hear of see the Destroyer, well if you have been on a boat on a dark night you know things come out of the dark and your eyes play tricks on you.

[bernardbunny]

*Pitch darkness
*Low hanging fog
*Each element leader had radar (LCdr Brantingham was Kennedy"s leader); none of the other boats had it. The leaders attacked and left the scene; leaving their elements blind.

It's real easy to Monday morning quarterback combat.

[grizwoldphantasia]

Anyone interested in PT boats should read the book PT-105. He mentions PT-109 a little, he was in the area where it happened, but I don't remember him having any strong opinions about what happened. But for PT fans, read the book, you won't regret it.

[jesshenderson]

Misleading caption. JFK didn't try to "Cover up the sinking of PT-109". The Machinist Mate in the engine room didn't respond to Kennedy's throttle input, and properly open the "exhaust flaps". This choked the engines of air intake, which stalled the engines, preventing Kennedy from maneuvering past the Japanese Cruiser. The Machinist Mate responsible was the same man Kennedy famously towed to shore by clutching that man's life vest in his teeth as Kennedy swam them both to shore. If anything, Kennedy was trying not to ruin that sailor's war record.

[bobwitkowski]

At this point in time this such discussion is rather redundant. For any truths are now buried six feet under. I don't think anyone of the crew of PT-109 are still alive. Time to close the book on this issue is now.

[markpaul-ymwg]

Some of the Japanese destroyers could muster 36 knots, not all mind you, but some.The U.S.destroyers could ring out 30 to 32 knots at full throttle.I have heard of U.S. sub commanders talking about how fast a Japanese destroyer could be upon you was amazing.One account talks about a U S.sub commander running into a Japanese destroyer because it was closing on him so fast he couldn't calculate its speed.So, being blacked out and pumping over 30 knots P.T.109 never stood a chance.Japenese radar could have give them away, and I think it did.Thanks HIDDEN HISTORY for another splendid video on WW2 history.😊

[TRHARTAmericanArtist]

Anyone can make a mistake during war, but only a hero would correct it by risking his own life like JFK did.

[TheBrettWay]

So glad this channel is back to the submarines and boats I was getting tired of little nuke boy

[BetterAircraftFabric]

Tropic Nights can be so incredible dark, so cannot imagine until you have seen it. I have been in the Torres Straight north of Queensland and it was so dark it was absolutely incredible. IF their engines were running at all they could have never ever heard the Destroyer coming at them. - Best Regards from Alaska.

[centermass]

It's too bad that in 2022 when Robert Ballard found part of the wreck of the 109 in 1, 200 FSW, the Bow, the stern was never found. It it had been found, it would be interesting to see if the exhaust vents were open or closed and the mystery would be solved.

[jillmoore]

I truly enjoyed all the comments the most. Thank you to all the comments that took time to write. I think there is a book to be written.

[BobSmith-dknw]

First off the entire emphasis here - on the American Crew - is misplaced. The 109 was destroyed because of the excellence of the Japanese Navy - which had proved itself better than the American Navy in Night Combat repeatedly in the early days of WWII. After the Americans were more experienced and had better Radar (and knew how to use it ...) things went badly for the Japanese - but - in 1943 they were still able on occasion to give a good account of themselves.

There were people who believed that the Japanese didn't even see the 109 but just ran it over accidentally. The reason for this - was that there were members of the Destroyers Crew who did not know anything was happening until they ran over the PT Boat and it caught fire. This is wrong.

The Japanese Bridge Crew - THEY - saw the 109 and turned to ram it. It was not an accident that this happened - it was quick thinking by the Japanese Bridge Crew to destroy an enemy combatant.

Think about this.

JFK was a Lt.(j.g.) American Naval Officer commanding a PT Boat.

Lieutenant Commander Kohei Hanami was a much more experienced officer who was entrusted with commanding a Destroyer.

The _Amagiri_ was commissioned in 1930 when JFK was about 13 years old. It had been fighting in WWII - since the start - before anyone even thought of constructing the 109.

Between the two - who was more likely to prevail in an incident - the young inexperienced American or the Highly Experienced Japanese Veteran?

And for those that don't know - the term _"Destroyer"_ was ORIGINALLY

*_"TORPEDO BOAT

Ships like the _Amagiri_ had specifically been intended when they were conceived of - to destroy boats just like the 109.

So - between a PT Boat and a Destroyer - who has the advantage there?

If someone wants to condemn an American Officer for having his ship sunk by the Japanese in the Solomon's - there's a very long list of names before you get to Jack Kennedy.

I have been involved in car accidents where I had trouble, initially, remembering what happened. Later, thinking about it - I reconstructed the accident in my mind. Did I reconstruct it accurately? How would I know if I hadn't?

People in situations like this - frequently can't remember exactly what happened - or - they remember wrong.

The thing most responsible for the 109 getting sunk - was that it did not have radar. There was no moon. It was pitch dark. THAT is the reason the Japanese destroyer got so close to it before they identified it. The 109 was slated to get radar - but it didn't have it yet. That is an ongoing issue on all sides during WWII. The Italians lost 4 heavy cruisers because they didn't have radar. The Americans lost 4 Cruisers at the Battle of Savo Island because though some of their ships had radar - it wasn't as good as Japanese Night Vision - and they were surprised.

The Japanese had a very experienced Veteran Navy that had trained extensively in night combat. Before the war - the Americans had mostly trained in Day Light Gunnery.

The 109 actually did see the Destroyer before it hit them - but - they initially thought it was one of their own boats. When they determined - quickly - that it was a Japanese ship - they responded but it was to close.

People in sudden situations don't always do the exact right thing. That's why experienced Veterans have a severe advantage over those with lesser experience.

The Second Battle of Blackett Strait
had 15 PT Boats going against 5 Japanese Destroyers trying to supply isolated Japanese Troops. It did not go well for the PT Boats.
.

[heyhandersen]

Every skipper is liable for the loss of the boat. But in combat, in the fog of war, no one can second guess anyone else.