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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

HM MGB-188
ex-PT-217



Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - Oboe - Peter


PT-216 served the Navies of the United States, Great Britain and Yugoslavia

78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 3 September 1942 by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 16 January 1943
  • Completed 5 March 1943, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron SIXTEEN under the command of Lt. Comdr. Russell H. Smith, USN
  • Transferred 13 March 1943 to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FIFTEEN (MTBRon 15) under the command of CDR Stanley M. Barnes, USN
  • MTBRon 15 was the first PT squadron sent to the Mediterranean Theater, where it operated as a unit of the British Coastal Forces. It had action throughout the western Mediterranean, basing at Bizerte and
    Bone, Africa; Palermo, Sicily; Salerno, Capri, and Leghorn, Italy; Maddalena, Sardinia; Bastia and Calvi, Corsica, and St. Tropez, France
  • The "Tresch Can", ex-"Red Falcon" was transferred to Great Britain 17 October 1944 and reclassified HM MGB-188
  • Transferred to Yugoslavia in August 1945
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists transfer to Yugoslavia as October 1944
  • Lost in November 1946.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 78'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5' 3"
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, four 21" torpedoes, two twin .50 cal. machine guns, one 37mm mount and one 20mm mount
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-217 & 208 110k From the collection of MoMM1c Dave Prentice, PT-204 Jerry Gilmartin, MMC(SW), USN, Ret.
    PT-213 125k Mattaponi (AO 41) off the Norfolk Navy Yard on 5 May 1943. She was headed for Europe with deck cargo that included PT-213 and PT-217. Mattaponi arrived 23 May 1943 at Mers el Kebir, Algeria
    National Archives photo    		 Shipscribe
    Boat Captain
    01LT Norman DeVol, USNR - Awarded the Navy Commendation RibbonJuly 1943
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-217
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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