Mark Spearman

The U.S. Navy PT-378

I was really excited to find this photo of my Uncle’s boat, the PT-378. His name is Dwight Spearman. I found the photo on the World Naval Ships website. My thanks go out to the folks running this website.

The conversation about the boat started when Uncle Dwight mentioned that he had been to a store that sold old military gear, mainly for reenactments, and he seen a photo of his boat with the number 378 prominently displayed. I had a hunch if there was a photo of the boat, it would be on the Internet somewhere. When the subject of World War 2 comes up, I always try to pry as much information out of him as I can, so this was another chance to find out more.

He said that after basic training at Great Lakes he and some others had volunteered for PT boat training. Instead, they were sent to Gunnery school where they expected to be sent to larger ships. After training, they found themselves on PT boats. These boats were small wooden vessels that performed many patrol and light duties. They were extremely fast and heavily armed considering their size, but lacked armor protection. When they were detected, the only thing they could rely on was speed and hope to get out of the range of enemy guns.

Dwight Spearman. PT 378 Crewman

The PT-378 would go out on patrol for a usual period of 2 weeks. They would commonly travel in groups of 4. As 4 were leaving, they would commonly see 4 coming back in from patrol.  The duties would change as the battle required. Often, they would pick up stranded aviators who were shot down. They were always looking for Japanese naval vessels to make reports of their movements. They would spend their nights circling islands that were known to be inhabited by the Japanese. During the day, the Air Force would watch them, but at night, PT boats would circle with radar looking to stop any movement. There were even more interesting missions too.

Uncle Dwight tells that his most frightening experience was dropping U.S. Army Rangers onto the shores of an island in the Philippines. They got to full speed, then slowly quieted the engines to a dead quiet coast and dropped the Rangers off on the shore. Then, they had to leave very slowly to avoid detection of the sound of the engines. He said he was scared to death to do their part and couldn’t imagine being dropped off on the shore! Some time later, the PT-378 received orders to go back and pick the Rangers up! When they retrieved the Rangers, the Rangers had people with them. They had broken INTO a prison holding political prisoners. They were lower level leaders in the villages in the area that the Japanese had imprisoned and others. These people held valuable information that we needed before invading and removing the Japanese later. Once out in open waters, one of the escapees asked Uncle Dwight where he was from. He said, “Ohio”. He then asked, “How are the Buckeyes doing this year?”. Uncle Dwight and others were shocked to hear that question right after such a dangerous mission. It turned out that this man was a Spaniard. He was a travel writer and happened to be on the island when the Japanese invaded and they had imprisoned him. Uncle Dwight didn’t get a name, but I’m sure somewhere out there, the writer has a more detailed story about his encounter with the PT boat.

Records show that the PT 378 was sold after the war, but Uncle Dwight says that he thought nearly all of them were destroyed near Leyte in the Philippines. There is only one remaining operational PT boat, the PT 658. Of the original 12 PT vets that put her back in operation, only 6 survive today. Here’s a video about this boat.

The numbers of the boats tell their age. For example, the most famous PT boat, President Kennedy’s PT-109, was commissioned early into the war. There were about 1,000 total PT boats, so the PT-378 was put into action a little later than the 109.

I hope this post reaches anyone that may be looking for a photo of the PT 378! If you have some stories about her, make sure you let me know.