#42: PT-109: The Patrol Boat That Made a President
On August 2, 1943, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri sliced PT-109 in half in the Blackett Strait, throwing her crew into burning, shark-infested waters. Lieutenant (j.g.) John F. Kennedy swam for four hours towing an injured crewman by clenching the man's life jacket strap in his teeth, a feat of endurance that helped propel Kennedy to the White House 17 years later.
PT-109 was an 80-foot Elco motor torpedo boat, one of hundreds that harassed Japanese shipping throughout the Pacific. Armed with four torpedo tubes and machine guns, these plywood-hulled boats were fast, capable of 41 knots, but fragile. Kennedy's actions after the sinking, including swimming to multiple islands to find rescue and carving a message into a coconut shell delivered by Solomon Islanders, became one of the most famous survival stories in military history and a cornerstone of his political career.
