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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive
Courtesy of Tommy Trampp

PT-239

78' Higgins Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Built by Higgins Industries, New Orleans, LA
  • Laid down, 15 October 1942
  • Launched, 21 November 1942
  • Completed, 30 April 1943 and placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron NINETEEN (MTBRon 19) under the command of LCDR Russell H. Smith, USN
  • MTBRon 19, assigned to the South Pacific, had action at Vella Lavella, Treasury, and Green. The squadron was decommissioned and its boats were distributed to replenish other squadrons which had suffered operational losses
  • Destroyed after fire broke out in the gasoline dump at Lambu Lambu Cove, Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands and "Dry Dock Annie" burned at the dock, 14 December 1943
    Specifications:
    Displacement 56 tons
    Length 78' 0"
    Beam 20' 8"
    Draft 5' 3"
    Speed 41 knots
    Complement 17
    Armament One 40mm mount, four 21" torpedoes, two twin .50 cal. machine guns, one 37mm mount and one 20mm mount
    PropulsionThree 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines
    three shafts
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-239
    120523901    		 508k Crew of PT-239 posing in her pilothouse, circa 1943. Note the siren mounted on the centerline. F2c Michael Kostelnik is far left in front row. Mike Kostelnik,
    for his father,
    MTBron19
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-239
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David L. Wright
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    Last Updated 28 June 2023