It happened 80 years ago today.
Mindanao Operations, Philippines, 1945. Original period Kodachrome. Official caption: “PT boats speed through Polloc Harbor, Mindanao, while supporting landings there, 17 April 1945.”
The boat in the background appears to be PT-150. Note the twin .50cal machine gun in the foreground and 40mm/60 Bofors single over the stern.
NARA 80-G-K-4342 via NHHC
An 80-foot Elco boat, PT-150 (dubbed at various times by her crew as Lady Lucifer, Princessr, and Joker) was built by EB in Bayonne in 1942 and shipped to the Southwest Pacific to join Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron EIGHT (MTBRon 8). After seeing action in New Guinea- they fired a torpedo that missed the Japanese submarine I-17 but managed to strafe the conning tower with .50 cal before it submerged- the mosquito boat became part of MTBRon 12, a squadron that earned a Presidential Unit Citation.
Following operations in the Philippines, she was burned along with dozens of her type there in Samar in October 1945.