Great line: "Rust in Peace"


Could this have been a PT boat if it was rusting? Somehow or another I
thought those PT boats were plywood...am I wrong? (again?) :-)




Quake Raises WWII Ship From Sea Floor
AP
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (April 28) - Wreckage from a World War II
torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a
powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said
Friday.


Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the
explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up 10 feet
above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating
tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.

The Solomons' coastline is still littered with decaying military
wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded
by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

"My team members believe that this boat could have been one of those
U.S. torpedo boats such as the famous PT-109, which the late U.S.
President John F. Kennedy had served aboard during the war," said
Waura.

Kennedy's boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Blackett Strait
in August 1943 off Gizo, the main town of western Solomon Islands. The
Solomons' main island, Guadalcanal, was the scene of fierce World War
II fighting.



Waura said people on Rannonga island showed his team the wreckage
sitting on dry ground.

"We were amazed by this finding, as previously this wreckage had long
been sitting under the sea and rusting in peace without anyone knowing
about it," New Zealand Press Association quoted Waura as saying.

Only the boat's hull with its deadly cargo of explosives remained
intact, he said.




Kennedy was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy serving in the Pacific when
his PT-109 was cut in two by the Japanese destroyer. Two crew were
killed, but Kennedy and the vessel's other survivors clung to the
wreckage before swimming to a nearby island. The experience earned
Kennedy the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

Wreckage from PT-109 was found in 2002 by shipwreck hunter Robert
Ballard, who also found the Titanic as well as other notable sunken
ships.


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the
AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated
Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-04-27 20:06:03
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