One little fun fact that you overlooked-When Kennedy had his inauguration in 1961, one of the guest he invited was the captain of the Amagari, who had survived the war
One of the stories omitted was that the PT-109 survivors had difficulty communicating with the men in the canoe who found them, so Kennedy used his knife to carve a message into a green coconut for these men to deliver -- "NAURO ISL…COMMANDER…NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT…HE CAN PILOT…11 ALIVE…NEED SMALL BOAT…KENNEDY." The coconut husk was later encased in plastic and became a paperweight on his desk as president. It is currently at The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
PT boat commanders, especially during the early stages in the Pacific theatre, were very gutsy. Fighting outnumbered, without air support and way out of their weight class. Respect to them.
Something one of my friends told me, the more gutsy the commander the cheaper the boat they were in charge of because losing a PT boat, submarine, or destroyer was cheaper than losing a battleship or carrier. So the more conservative captains were in command with the bigger more expensive boats.
This is the best version of Kennedy's PT109 story I have heard. In 1977 I was in the Solomon Islands, I had a few days to kill before taking onward transport. I took a trip on a coastal boat (the Compass Rose 2nd), from Honiara to Gizo Island and back. On the return trip an old Catholic missionary showed me Plum Pudding Island and told me about Kennedy's story. The island was tiny. At the time I had just finished a few years work on Bougainville Island (a couple of hundred km further north).
The Aussie, British and Kiwi Coastwatchers are often overlooked for their contribution to the war in the Pacific. The Japanese hunted and executed them relentlessly for years.
Them and their brave Solomon Islanders were probably the most isolated spies in the entire Pacific. No hope of rescue if discovered and no one to help if it all went wrong.
"Kennedy swam X distance with a man on his back... and also swam out a good few miles only to just return" this sounds like complete fantasy. I'm not saying its wrong... it just sounds so unbelievable. What a man
On a serious note how good of a swimmer was JFK, to swim 3.5 miles in open water alone is a hell of a thing but with a guy on your back! I knew he was cited for bravery but didn't realise he did that, Bloody hell fair play
Kennedy grew up spending summers at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts - on and in the water. So - all the Kennedy's were good swimmers and this Small Boat experience had helped him with being in PT Boats. Teddy - after driving his car off a pier he thought was a bridge and killing the girl in the car with him - not only had managed to swim out of the car - but - he subsequently swam across the body of water he had thought he was crossing on a bridge. So - yeah - they were all good swimmers. Jack was 26 at the time. Kennedy was criticized for his boat handling in trying to attack the destroyer (his torpedoes wouldn't have armed at that range) - but - he was awarded the Navy Life Saving Medal. Here - it wasn't just the guy he towed with a strap from the guy's life jacket in his mouth - but right after they were rammed - he had swum around the wreck of the 109 looking for people in the water and helping them back to the wreck. He made repeated trips out from the wreck to help people in and searching for those they could not find. .
@BobSmith-dk8nw even being brought up around the water, as have I. That is another level. Your fitness level and swimming ability have to be through the roof! I do question how a destroyer can sneek up on you, but being at sea at night isn't a cakewalk, especially when lights out are enforced and depending how noisy the PT Boats engine is it could mask anything nearby on the water Was Ted Kennedy car submerged? I thought he got out pretty much on impact ? How he got away with that is mind blowing but the Kennedy Family was pretty dodgy as a rule look what they did to there sister Anyway still credit to him absolute batshit crazy what he did and without doubt saved a lot of his mens lives if not all as I am pretty sure Japanese policy was just to dispose of any POW which was a extra mouth and hassle.
@@calumclark1719 I will also add that, in addition to being closer to the engine noise, PT109's crew were much lower down than Amagiri's spotters, who would have had a better vantage point and probably better optics--remember the Japanese emphasis on night fighting. Moreover, Amagiri had about fifty times the horsepower of a PT boat, a long, hydrodynamically efficient hull, and a top speed of 38 knots--sufficient to sneak up on all manner of things at sea.
With how bad US navy torpedoes were early on in the pacific war, its a wonder how many "misses" were actually hits but the torpedoes failed to detonate.
The Mark 8 Torpedoes en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss%E2%80%93Leavitt_Mark_8_torpedo the PT Boats were using were OK. They were left over WWI torpedoes and hadn't been fouled up. They just weren't very fast. The PT Boats were barely faster than their Torpedoes and the Destroyers were just as fast. The other thing is - the Submarines and Destroyers - could fire 6-10 torpedoes at the same time. Each of the PT Torpedoes was launched individually - so they'd launch the front and then the back on one side - then change the boat's heading and launch the other two one at a time. Lastly - it was very rare for anyone with anything to get a torpedo hit on a Destroyer. They're just to fast and maneuverable. They can see the Torpedoes coming - and dodge them. The ships that were devastated by Torpedoes - were Merchant ships. They were big, fat, slow, unmaneuverable targets. It was really hard to hit a warship with torpedoes. The later torpedo attacks on such as the _Mushashi_ were made by a very large number of planes. The other thing is - if they could get hits with bombs and restrict the Warships Speed - it was easier to hit them with Torpedoes. There were of course Destroyers hit by Torpedoes - just nothing like what they could do to Merchant Ships. .
@treyriver5676 All American torpedoes early on had problems. The Mk.8's that the PT's originally carried had to be launched from a completely even keel or they wouldn't stabilize. Their black powder launching mechanism would fall to propel them into the water correctly. And they had a comparatively small 466lb TNT warhead, so that even when they hit & detonated, they routinely wouldn't sink their targets. They were replaced just before -109 sank with the Mk.13, which had the exact same issues as the Mk.14 & 15 because they were developed together. In fact, it was the Mk.13s (being air dropped) that allowed airmen to see the torpedoes routinely running under & into their targets in the Solomons with no detonations. That's also why PT's routinely would up-gun, such as -109 adding a 37mm anti-tank gun the night before it sank, because the torpedoes were incapable of hitting the barges & destroyers that the PT's would target.
One of the most powerful harrowing tales of the Second World War. The sheer willpower and strength Kennedy showed is inspiring. A man most definitely worthy of being President of the United States.
He gets his boat sunk due to negligence of duty and then does what he can to survive afterwards? "One of the most powerful harrowing tales of the Second World War" get the fuck out of here, plenty of people suffered way worse and still got out in the end, take your historical revisionism goggles off and pull uncle sam's dick out of your throat.
Who would win? A distinguished Japanese captain of the IJN who took their job seriously, or a millionaire playboy nepo baby who only got there because his father pulled strings to groom him for presidency who probably was too busy drinking and goofing around instead of, oh I don't know, looking out for Japanese destroyers.
While true (& destroyers' original name was Torpedo Boat Destroyer), decent torpedoes & firing systems would go on to make PT's & subs quite capable at sinking destroyers. The problem was that the American torpedoes of all types sucked up until right around this very moment.
Joseph Kennedy Sr. was a real life Tywin Lannister. He never served as president, but he definitely knew of how to set up his heirs to serve in key political positions.
He knew how stupid the american populace was. Just sprinkle some manufactured war stories in with his patriotism and invest tons of money and boom. American president. I bet the PR team had a hell of a time flipping Kennedy's failure as a captain to something positive.
@@DaveSCameron Necessity. Every one of these guys did nearly exactly the same as Kennedy, except they didn't crash their boat into a japanese destroyer. Where's their presidential nomination? Or is that only reserved for the rich and influential. Some democracy you guys have..
@@owenfranco9441 You americans always provide a good laugh, what with how you project your view of your own society unto other nations. If I like my police and law and order, according to you, I clearly must be a bootlicker. If I like the way my government treats everyone fairly, poor and rich alike, I clearly must be a socialist devil. If I give critique of america, I clearly must be a russian or chinese asset/troll. No. Pretty much the whole world is laughing at your flawed democracy and the shitshow that you are, somehow outdoing yourselves every year, edging closer towards ruin, all the while screaming you are free while being the most indebted generation barely affording to live. So no, I'm not some bastard russian, in fact, I'm Scandi, one of the guys your people revere as a model society, but we're laughing at you, too.
@@avocadotoast6369So why did none of them say anything about the ship until it was too late? Why’s it Kennedy’s sole job to ensure the safety of the crew? Are they not equally as capable, as you said? I wonder why none of them called out an enemy ship to avoid collision. Probably because nobody knew it was going to happen until there was nothing they could do.
It is admirable how he saved his crewmate but a couple things sour the story for me. 1) It was his incompetence as commanding officer that got them seperated from the other boats and wrecked in the first place ; 2) How his rich influential daddy used the story and his service to make him president. (In fact that was the reason he even enlisted in the first place). I'm sure many more heroic tales exist but hardly anyone knows them cause these heroes' dads weren't rich.
You know, Kennedy was by no means perfect. But, whatever you think of him, his conduct in this situation was off the charts. That's heroism in my book.
His father, Joseph Kennedy Sr, pushed for his son to receive the Congressional Model of Honor. Upon reviewing the case, Gen McArthur felt that Kennedy should have been court-martialed for getting his ship destroyed.
You'd think a swimming course would be the very first thing in any serious navy sailor training. How can you send people out to sea without teaching them how to not immediately drown in the likely case their boat is sunk?
They do now. When I was in boot camp in 99 they asked everyone to go could not swim to go to the other end of the pool for instruction. I was shocked how many people went down there.
@@ashleymarie7452 What's the difference, besides "bone spurs", several bankruptcies', sex crimes, disrespect of veterans, and several felon convictions. Besides this, they are like two peas in a pod.
Okay I just want to point this out but you can be derelict in your duties and also be incredibly brave at the same time. Those things are not mutually exclusive.
1:19 my great grandmothers first husband died taking the Solomon Islands. He was the first casualty of the buckeye division in the pacific theater. I have the Japanese empire to thank for my life.
y'know, from your other videos, i always have the mental image of destroyers being these tiny small boats. Turns out, they are actually pretty f*in large lol
Their was a movie made about Kennedy's fight for survival at this time. It was actually made while he was President and still alive. It was an interesting watch.
the PT fleet, some blamed “Crash” Kennedy for the collision. His crew should have been on high alert, they said. Warfield, the commander at Lumbari that night, later claimed that Kennedy “wasn’t a particularly good boat commander.” Lieutenant Commander Jack Gibson, Warfield’s successor, was even tougher. “He lost the 109 through very poor organization of his crew,” Gibson later said. “Everything he did up until he was in the water was the wrong thing.”
Hmm - go read the original report of the incident. PT109's engines were at idle and most of the crew were asleep. There was no radio operator at the radio. They missed a radio warning of the Amagari's approach. When they saw the Amagari, Kennedy slammed the 109's accelerator flooding the engine and stalling it. The Amagari didnt see them at all and didnt realise they had hit PT109. It's a story in two halves: of negligence by Kennedy leading up to the crash followed by heroism after the hit.
Here is a little cooincide for you: Kennedys Heritage stems mostly from.a small Irish County called Wexford. Wexford was bombed by a lone luftwaffe bomber, killing 3 women. Its not clear if the bomber got lost or why he bombed Ireland. But nonethless Kennedys family is from the only Irish (tiny) county bombed in WWII.
As one who is deathly afraid of wide open water, hearing about them swimming and even canoeing through the southwest pacific is absolutely terrifying, I could never swim out to ocean, let alone to another island and it sounds cowardly but I would be the first to give up just because of it.
First Kennedy loses track of the boat in front of him, and the 4 PT boats get separated. Then, he tries to take on a destroyer all by himself instead of running and setting up a safer shot. Great president, terrible skipper.
PTs didn't use the Mk.14. They originally used Mk.8 & Mk.10, which had numerous problems of their own. They moved onto Mk.13 during 1943, but the Mk.13 had the same issues as the Mk.14. Sooooo many Japanese ships survived numerous battles simply because Bureau of Ordinance couldn't be bothered to properly test their new weapon even once.
I recall reading that in the collision Kennedy suffered a back injury, and its resulting pain plagued him the rest of his short life. So it's likely he did those courageous swims, carrying an injured mate across miles of open ocean, all while rallying his crew, in extreme pain.
Torpedo boats, being very small ships, the simple fact of going to war with them was/is a clear proof of great courage. At one point, even the great actor John Wayne made a film about the American torpedo boats in the Philippines, which after many acts of bravery, evacuated even General Macarthur and his family. It seems that at one point they even captured a Japanese cruiser, etc. I don't remember the name of the movie right now. The facts about JFK have also been translated into feature film, too. What's very strange, we don't really find these old masterpieces online anymore, much better than today's cinema art. It seems that now all men are rags and not heroes! Three out of four actors today don't even have talent. So the old movies are very watched, the last really full quality blockbusters were The Fellowship of the Ring, The 2 Towers and The Return of the King, the rest were rubbish!!! Not to forget the series The Last Kingdom was also quality and the Vikings. The rest of the last 20 years, to be diplomatic in the characterization of films and series, were a dozen. As a cartoon and a sci-fi series, the Star Wars Clone Wars franchise, and I also put Andor, Mandalorian and Ashoka Tano here as fiction, I liked them above average. From the Star Wars movies, the last 3 were a disaster, Acolyte as well, ...
At a time when families sent sons to war hoping they would come home in one piece, Joseph P. was already calculating newspaper coverage and the potential veteran's vote.
Kennedy deserved the Medal Of Honor. But because his was the only PT Boat to be taken by surprise and rammed by an enemy vessel he got the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. About as low down on the Award Pole as you can get.
Kennedy was lucky to avoid the same scrutiny that Captain McVay received after the sinking of the Indianapolis. "A proper lookout must be maintained at all times."
Well this may be controversial but any other PT boat captain and yes I know he was a LT. that had his boat sunk and two men killed on a quiet dead calm sea in the middle of the night by a Japanese destroyer would of been court marshaled and relieved of command. This happens to be the son of a prominent Democrat with close ties to the President of the United States and a former United States US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Yes after the fact he was a hero and helped save the remaining men. The US Navy is famous for covering up bad press. USS Iowa incident, Tail Hook, Kara Hultgreen first woman US Navy fighter pilot, USS Indianapolis. And many more.
JFK could have easily avoided military service due to poor health. But he used his family's influence to get in. He also chose a job which would be brutal on his physical condition. One tough dude
The Wexford Ireland Coat of Arms is three burning ships. The motto " Per Aquam Et Ignem" through fire and water. All JFK fans know the Kennedy roots in Wexford. 🇮🇪🇺🇲
Making videos about black sea raid and russian ottoman naval wars at ww1 could be interesting especially battle of cape sarych which an battlecruiser designaded yavuz and 5 russian pre dreadnoughts Fighted
My dad, a USN Intelligence officer, shared a story from a former PT Squadron Commander that JFK was a mediocre officer and his crew was asleep when the 109 was struck.
What they were doing was a common practice; idling their engines since the mufflers were not effective otherwise; and watching and looking. They simply did not see the Japanese Destroyer in time. That is the long and short of what happened.
Left out the part about Kennedy writing a message on a coconut that the natives took to the Americans. (If memory serves he had it in the Oval Office when he was President.)
My dad was in Kennedy's squadron and was an officer on one of the boats and pretty much the consensus of the officers was that Kennedy should have faced a court martial for the actual collision. What he did afterward was indeed heroic, but was solely due to his inaction. Another case of the family name preventing too much scrutiny.
My father was also a veteran. He and all his contemporaries said that story only came up when JFK entered politics. They had been officers too, and believed this was political character assassination and a perfect example of politicians having zero character themselves.
@@morstyrannis1951 My dad passed away many years ago so I can't call and ask him when they came to this decision. I do know that when we met with several of his crew in the very early 70s that they still grumbled about Kennedy getting away with it. YMMV.
What should he have done differently? Turned away from the destroyer and been shot out of the water? Turned away at the last moment like a hollywood film? C'mon man
@@kfeltenberger How out of all the things you get mad at the phrase "C'mon man" is it? In a stressful situation of life or death it's easy to go "they should of done x,y,z" but I feel like the amount of effort he put into saving the crew was more than enough to show he did actually give a shit about being a leader and fixing his mistake. A lesser Leader would of left the 2 who couldn't swim to just drown writing them off as loss causes. Plus the fact the navy assumed they were all dead only to bring each one home meant the navy were way more excited over having everyone alive.
How JFK failed to follow standing order became the only pt boat rammed then failed to follow standing order by moving is injured crew and was not court marshalled due to father being high gov official.
All the Presidents from Eisenhower to Bush Sr. were WWII Vets. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Bush were all Navy. Truman was a WWI Vet and technically was in the reserves through WWII but was rejected from active duty.
Just so you know Kennedy wasnt a hero. He risked his crews lives by not listening to mechanics advice. He was warned not to run the engines at full speed because they needed overhauling. He blew the engines at full speed. Thats why he was rammed. He did save his men heroically after he almost killed them all.
While Jack was being groomed for politics post war, most of his father’s effort was being put into Joe jr. This changed when during the PT 109 incident, Joe was killed when explosives in his experimental radio controlled PB2Y Privateer detonated with him and his crew still in the plane. Also, my great grandfather was Kennedy’s prefect at Harvard and sailed with him on multiple occasions. According to him, Jack was at best an “average” sailor. Source: My grandmother
growing up in the 70's i had a neighbor that even then would get a christmas card from the kennedys. he was in the navy with jfk... i wish i knew the details.
One little fun fact that you overlooked-When Kennedy had his inauguration in 1961, one of the guest he invited was the captain of the Amagari, who had survived the war
damn
That's classy.
Wow
Disgraceful!!
@@DaveSCameron how so?
One of the stories omitted was that the PT-109 survivors had difficulty communicating with the men in the canoe who found them, so Kennedy used his knife to carve a message into a green coconut for these men to deliver -- "NAURO ISL…COMMANDER…NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT…HE CAN PILOT…11 ALIVE…NEED SMALL BOAT…KENNEDY." The coconut husk was later encased in plastic and became a paperweight on his desk as president. It is currently at The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Wasn't their also a message(s) sent using a PlayFair encrypted code?
Vibe and a half
PT boat commanders, especially during the early stages in the Pacific theatre, were very gutsy. Fighting outnumbered, without air support and way out of their weight class. Respect to them.
Something one of my friends told me, the more gutsy the commander the cheaper the boat they were in charge of because losing a PT boat, submarine, or destroyer was cheaper than losing a battleship or carrier. So the more conservative captains were in command with the bigger more expensive boats.
This is the best version of Kennedy's PT109 story I have heard. In 1977 I was in the Solomon Islands, I had a few days to kill before taking onward transport. I took a trip on a coastal boat (the Compass Rose 2nd), from Honiara to Gizo Island and back. On the return trip an old Catholic missionary showed me Plum Pudding Island and told me about Kennedy's story. The island was tiny. At the time I had just finished a few years work on Bougainville Island (a couple of hundred km further north).
The Aussie, British and Kiwi Coastwatchers are often overlooked for their contribution to the war in the Pacific. The Japanese hunted and executed them relentlessly for years.
Them and their brave Solomon Islanders were probably the most isolated spies in the entire Pacific. No hope of rescue if discovered and no one to help if it all went wrong.
I was waiting for this since you mentioned that Captain of "slight note" in one of your previous videos
Hahahaha glad I wasn’t the only one
"Kennedy swam X distance with a man on his back... and also swam out a good few miles only to just return"
this sounds like complete fantasy. I'm not saying its wrong... it just sounds so unbelievable.
What a man
JFK suffered from severe back pain for the rest of his life.
I would say it is 'fake news" from the 1940's because you have an influential father.
That’s how you get the MOH
I doubt his comrades would support this story if it was made up.
On a serious note how good of a swimmer was JFK, to swim 3.5 miles in open water alone is a hell of a thing but with a guy on your back!
I knew he was cited for bravery but didn't realise he did that,
Bloody hell fair play
Then the cowardly deep state did him because they hate integrity and honour
Kennedy grew up spending summers at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts - on and in the water. So - all the Kennedy's were good swimmers and this Small Boat experience had helped him with being in PT Boats.
Teddy - after driving his car off a pier he thought was a bridge and killing the girl in the car with him - not only had managed to swim out of the car - but - he subsequently swam across the body of water he had thought he was crossing on a bridge.
So - yeah - they were all good swimmers.
Jack was 26 at the time.
Kennedy was criticized for his boat handling in trying to attack the destroyer (his torpedoes wouldn't have armed at that range) - but - he was awarded the Navy Life Saving Medal. Here - it wasn't just the guy he towed with a strap from the guy's life jacket in his mouth - but right after they were rammed - he had swum around the wreck of the 109 looking for people in the water and helping them back to the wreck. He made repeated trips out from the wreck to help people in and searching for those they could not find.
.
@BobSmith-dk8nw even being brought up around the water, as have I. That is another level. Your fitness level and swimming ability have to be through the roof!
I do question how a destroyer can sneek up on you, but being at sea at night isn't a cakewalk, especially when lights out are enforced and depending how noisy the PT Boats engine is it could mask anything nearby on the water
Was Ted Kennedy car submerged? I thought he got out pretty much on impact ? How he got away with that is mind blowing but the Kennedy Family was pretty dodgy as a rule look what they did to there sister
Anyway still credit to him absolute batshit crazy what he did and without doubt saved a lot of his mens lives if not all as I am pretty sure Japanese policy was just to dispose of any POW which was a extra mouth and hassle.
Yeah that's objectively badass.
@@calumclark1719 I will also add that, in addition to being closer to the engine noise, PT109's crew were much lower down than Amagiri's spotters, who would have had a better vantage point and probably better optics--remember the Japanese emphasis on night fighting. Moreover, Amagiri had about fifty times the horsepower of a PT boat, a long, hydrodynamically efficient hull, and a top speed of 38 knots--sufficient to sneak up on all manner of things at sea.
Lesson of the day: PT boats have terrible torpedo accuracy
The Mk 14 torpedo also sucked ass
Thank you and same I agree that the mk14 is ass even in a video game called war thunder still makes it ass
Lesson of the day : american torpedoes didnt work at all until september 1943+.
Cause I don't believe they calculate solutions like subs do. They just line up and fire by sight.
The torpedoes were duds and until 1943 te yanks would not admit it
With how bad US navy torpedoes were early on in the pacific war, its a wonder how many "misses" were actually hits but the torpedoes failed to detonate.
The Mark 8 Torpedoes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss%E2%80%93Leavitt_Mark_8_torpedo
the PT Boats were using were OK. They were left over WWI torpedoes and hadn't been fouled up. They just weren't very fast. The PT Boats were barely faster than their Torpedoes and the Destroyers were just as fast.
The other thing is - the Submarines and Destroyers - could fire 6-10 torpedoes at the same time. Each of the PT Torpedoes was launched individually - so they'd launch the front and then the back on one side - then change the boat's heading and launch the other two one at a time.
Lastly - it was very rare for anyone with anything to get a torpedo hit on a Destroyer. They're just to fast and maneuverable. They can see the Torpedoes coming - and dodge them.
The ships that were devastated by Torpedoes - were Merchant ships. They were big, fat, slow, unmaneuverable targets. It was really hard to hit a warship with torpedoes.
The later torpedo attacks on such as the _Mushashi_ were made by a very large number of planes. The other thing is - if they could get hits with bombs and restrict the Warships Speed - it was easier to hit them with Torpedoes.
There were of course Destroyers hit by Torpedoes - just nothing like what they could do to Merchant Ships.
.
PT did not use mk14
@treyriver5676 All American torpedoes early on had problems. The Mk.8's that the PT's originally carried had to be launched from a completely even keel or they wouldn't stabilize. Their black powder launching mechanism would fall to propel them into the water correctly. And they had a comparatively small 466lb TNT warhead, so that even when they hit & detonated, they routinely wouldn't sink their targets.
They were replaced just before -109 sank with the Mk.13, which had the exact same issues as the Mk.14 & 15 because they were developed together. In fact, it was the Mk.13s (being air dropped) that allowed airmen to see the torpedoes routinely running under & into their targets in the Solomons with no detonations. That's also why PT's routinely would up-gun, such as -109 adding a 37mm anti-tank gun the night before it sank, because the torpedoes were incapable of hitting the barges & destroyers that the PT's would target.
One of the most powerful harrowing tales of the Second World War. The sheer willpower and strength Kennedy showed is inspiring. A man most definitely worthy of being President of the United States.
He gets his boat sunk due to negligence of duty and then does what he can to survive afterwards? "One of the most powerful harrowing tales of the Second World War" get the fuck out of here, plenty of people suffered way worse and still got out in the end, take your historical revisionism goggles off and pull uncle sam's dick out of your throat.
Who would win?
A PT boat.
A ship type that was originally created to destroy PT boats.
Who would win? A distinguished Japanese captain of the IJN who took their job seriously, or a millionaire playboy nepo baby who only got there because his father pulled strings to groom him for presidency who probably was too busy drinking and goofing around instead of, oh I don't know, looking out for Japanese destroyers.
While true (& destroyers' original name was Torpedo Boat Destroyer), decent torpedoes & firing systems would go on to make PT's & subs quite capable at sinking destroyers.
The problem was that the American torpedoes of all types sucked up until right around this very moment.
Thank you. Always happy when you drop content.
Ultimate distance swimmer challenge.
Joseph Kennedy Sr. was a real life Tywin Lannister. He never served as president, but he definitely knew of how to set up his heirs to serve in key political positions.
That was his goal
As an Irish immigrant he couldn’t run for President
But set it up so his sons could
He knew how stupid the american populace was. Just sprinkle some manufactured war stories in with his patriotism and invest tons of money and boom. American president. I bet the PR team had a hell of a time flipping Kennedy's failure as a captain to something positive.
If you read Mr S....by Sinatra's butler....Kennedy Sr was hated by nearly everyone.
He was an incredibly vile and despicable person.
What an astonishing tale of survival!
Agreed 👍
Australian Coastwatchers like Reg Evans were the unsung heroes of the Pacific war.
Absolutely, Admiral Halsey said they saved the Pacific. Not to mention they were constantly hunted by the Japanese who would summarily execute them.
The crew bravely backing up the captain before during and after the attack is what really impresses me.
Duty.
@@DaveSCameron Necessity. Every one of these guys did nearly exactly the same as Kennedy, except they didn't crash their boat into a japanese destroyer. Where's their presidential nomination? Or is that only reserved for the rich and influential. Some democracy you guys have..
@@avocadotoast6369location: moscow
@@owenfranco9441 You americans always provide a good laugh, what with how you project your view of your own society unto other nations.
If I like my police and law and order, according to you, I clearly must be a bootlicker. If I like the way my government treats everyone fairly, poor and rich alike, I clearly must be a socialist devil. If I give critique of america, I clearly must be a russian or chinese asset/troll.
No. Pretty much the whole world is laughing at your flawed democracy and the shitshow that you are, somehow outdoing yourselves every year, edging closer towards ruin, all the while screaming you are free while being the most indebted generation barely affording to live.
So no, I'm not some bastard russian, in fact, I'm Scandi, one of the guys your people revere as a model society, but we're laughing at you, too.
@@avocadotoast6369So why did none of them say anything about the ship until it was too late? Why’s it Kennedy’s sole job to ensure the safety of the crew? Are they not equally as capable, as you said? I wonder why none of them called out an enemy ship to avoid collision. Probably because nobody knew it was going to happen until there was nothing they could do.
I knew the story and didn’t think too much about it, but your visuals, pacing, and storytelling really made me realize how harrowing it really was.
Thank you for the very good video. Kind of surprised you haven't done this earlier!
Wow it’s incredible that under so much pressure he was able to keep his head together 🙏🙏
i see what you did ☠
Brilliant, many thanks for your work and efforts uploading this one. 🇬🇧📚🇺🇸☘️
The sheer NERVE this took
I knew he survived, but not with such an hazardous journey. He had guts. Trully deserved any awards and the presidency.
It is admirable how he saved his crewmate but a couple things sour the story for me.
1) It was his incompetence as commanding officer that got them seperated from the other boats and wrecked in the first place ;
2) How his rich influential daddy used the story and his service to make him president. (In fact that was the reason he even enlisted in the first place).
I'm sure many more heroic tales exist but hardly anyone knows them cause these heroes' dads weren't rich.
Maybe you could do a video on Operation Aphrodite? That was the operation in which Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. died.
You know, Kennedy was by no means perfect. But, whatever you think of him, his conduct in this situation was off the charts. That's heroism in my book.
His father, Joseph Kennedy Sr, pushed for his son to receive the Congressional Model of Honor.
Upon reviewing the case, Gen McArthur felt that Kennedy should have been court-martialed for getting his ship destroyed.
Imagine being an officer named Warfield. No pressure or anything...
Fantastic channel
You'd think a swimming course would be the very first thing in any serious navy sailor training. How can you send people out to sea without teaching them how to not immediately drown in the likely case their boat is sunk?
There is an old thought process that people who can’t swim make good sailors because they won’t abandon their post or the ship.
They do now. When I was in boot camp in 99 they asked everyone to go could not swim to go to the other end of the pool for instruction. I was shocked how many people went down there.
Cant believe this doesnt have more views
7:41 you show Army corporal Ben Nash wearing a US Naval Officers' uniform with Lieutenant Junior Grade stripes. Huh?
Incredible history!
Later this man attempted to apply nuclear non-proliferation principle evenly, and got shot for his trouble.
He was pissed at the CIA for the Bay of Pigs and was going to split them up.
He got shot for a lot more than that mate
You've gotta be joking if you're thinking that was the reason alone
This is the kind of men that make good presidents. Brave, lead by example, and is willing to sacrifice himself for the team and country.
So very much unlike cowardly Donald Trump.
What a child you are
@@ashleymarie7452 Don't forget Biden.
@@ashleymarie7452 What's the difference, besides "bone spurs", several bankruptcies', sex crimes, disrespect of veterans, and several felon convictions. Besides this, they are like two peas in a pod.
@@bigginpc5805 You admire the six time draft dodger with fake bone spurs?
Thanks
Incredible story!
I noted the conspicuous absence of the story of the coconut that Kennedy allegedly carved a message in...
Just commenting for the algorithm
Very interesting
Okay I just want to point this out but you can be derelict in your duties and also be incredibly brave at the same time. Those things are not mutually exclusive.
1:19 my great grandmothers first husband died taking the Solomon Islands. He was the first casualty of the buckeye division in the pacific theater. I have the Japanese empire to thank for my life.
y'know, from your other videos, i always have the mental image of destroyers being these tiny small boats. Turns out, they are actually pretty f*in large lol
Their was a movie made about Kennedy's fight for survival at this time. It was actually made while he was President and still alive. It was an interesting watch.
the PT fleet, some blamed “Crash” Kennedy for the collision. His crew should have been on high alert, they said. Warfield, the commander at Lumbari that night, later claimed that Kennedy “wasn’t a particularly good boat commander.” Lieutenant Commander Jack Gibson, Warfield’s successor, was even tougher. “He lost the 109 through very poor organization of his crew,” Gibson later said. “Everything he did up until he was in the water was the wrong thing.”
Hmm - go read the original report of the incident. PT109's engines were at idle and most of the crew were asleep. There was no radio operator at the radio. They missed a radio warning of the Amagari's approach. When they saw the Amagari, Kennedy slammed the 109's accelerator flooding the engine and stalling it. The Amagari didnt see them at all and didnt realise they had hit PT109. It's a story in two halves: of negligence by Kennedy leading up to the crash followed by heroism after the hit.
Wow I had no idea about this
Here is a little cooincide for you: Kennedys Heritage stems mostly from.a small Irish County called Wexford. Wexford was bombed by a lone luftwaffe bomber, killing 3 women. Its not clear if the bomber got lost or why he bombed Ireland. But nonethless Kennedys family is from the only Irish (tiny) county bombed in WWII.
Thats not true, Duleek in Co. Meath was also bombed, and most famously the North Strand Road in Dublin was bombed killing about 50 people.
As one who is deathly afraid of wide open water, hearing about them swimming and even canoeing through the southwest pacific is absolutely terrifying, I could never swim out to ocean, let alone to another island and it sounds cowardly but I would be the first to give up just because of it.
Great video mate. Do you know what became of the local scouts that saved them?
First Kennedy loses track of the boat in front of him, and the 4 PT boats get separated. Then, he tries to take on a destroyer all by himself instead of running and setting up a safer shot.
Great president, terrible skipper.
I learn about the P.T. 109 from Jimmy Deans song about it
3 words- "I am amazed."
The Mark 14 Torpedo, then failure is like onions.
PTs didn't use the Mk.14. They originally used Mk.8 & Mk.10, which had numerous problems of their own. They moved onto Mk.13 during 1943, but the Mk.13 had the same issues as the Mk.14.
Sooooo many Japanese ships survived numerous battles simply because Bureau of Ordinance couldn't be bothered to properly test their new weapon even once.
In a completely unrelated incident 24 fishing boats were also sunk that night
I recall reading that in the collision Kennedy suffered a back injury, and its resulting pain plagued him the rest of his short life. So it's likely he did those courageous swims, carrying an injured mate across miles of open ocean, all while rallying his crew, in extreme pain.
Torpedo boats, being very small ships, the simple fact of going to war with them was/is a clear proof of great courage. At one point, even the great actor John Wayne made a film about the American torpedo boats in the Philippines, which after many acts of bravery, evacuated even General Macarthur and his family. It seems that at one point they even captured a Japanese cruiser, etc. I don't remember the name of the movie right now. The facts about JFK have also been translated into feature film, too. What's very strange, we don't really find these old masterpieces online anymore, much better than today's cinema art. It seems that now all men are rags and not heroes! Three out of four actors today don't even have talent. So the old movies are very watched, the last really full quality blockbusters were The Fellowship of the Ring, The 2 Towers and The Return of the King, the rest were rubbish!!! Not to forget the series The Last Kingdom was also quality and the Vikings. The rest of the last 20 years, to be diplomatic in the characterization of films and series, were a dozen. As a cartoon and a sci-fi series, the Star Wars Clone Wars franchise, and I also put Andor, Mandalorian and Ashoka Tano here as fiction, I liked them above average. From the Star Wars movies, the last 3 were a disaster, Acolyte as well, ...
This "John" guy should be a President fr
No mention of Cliff Robertson? :)
LOL must be storm troopers Piloting those torpedo boats given their accuracy.
At a time when families sent sons to war hoping they would come home in one piece, Joseph P. was already calculating newspaper coverage and the potential veteran's vote.
Who doesn't already know this story!
Kennedy deserved the Medal Of Honor. But because his was the only PT Boat to be taken by surprise and rammed by an enemy vessel he got the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. About as low down on the Award Pole as you can get.
Oh how ridiculous. He was a crappy commander, and the PT boat was cut in half because of that.
Kennedy was lucky to avoid the same scrutiny that Captain McVay received after the sinking of the Indianapolis. "A proper lookout must be maintained at all times."
Well, he didn’t have Joe Kennedy - and all his myth making - as a father.
Well this may be controversial but any other PT boat captain and yes I know he was a LT. that had his boat sunk and two men killed on a quiet dead calm sea in the middle of the night by a Japanese destroyer would of been court marshaled and relieved of command. This happens to be the son of a prominent Democrat with close ties to the President of the United States and a former United States US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Yes after the fact he was a hero and helped save the remaining men. The US Navy is famous for covering up bad press. USS Iowa incident, Tail Hook, Kara Hultgreen first woman US Navy fighter pilot, USS Indianapolis. And many more.
JFK could have easily avoided military service due to poor health. But he used his family's influence to get in. He also chose a job which would be brutal on his physical condition. One tough dude
"In April 1943, Lt. Kennedy took up command of motor torpedo boat, 109."
Mission 2 of Battlestations Midway: December 13th, 1941
Hmmmmmmmmmmm
The Wexford Ireland Coat of Arms is three burning ships. The motto " Per Aquam Et Ignem" through fire and water. All JFK fans know the Kennedy roots in Wexford. 🇮🇪🇺🇲
Making videos about black sea raid and russian ottoman naval wars at ww1 could be interesting especially battle of cape sarych which an battlecruiser designaded yavuz and 5 russian pre dreadnoughts Fighted
why you have to add that PTSD inducing soundtrack, im affraid to contonue to listen
Late night surprise 😮
My dad, a USN Intelligence officer, shared a story from a former PT Squadron Commander that JFK was a mediocre officer and his crew was asleep when the 109 was struck.
Or playing cards.
Even though Kennedy snr had it all cooly planned nevertheless, JFK accomplished a rescue of him and his crew in extreme conditions.
JFK… what a stud. Wouldn’t have guessed given is scrawny frame.
What they were doing was a common practice; idling their engines since the mufflers were not effective otherwise; and watching and looking. They simply did not see the Japanese Destroyer in time. That is the long and short of what happened.
Left out the part about Kennedy writing a message on a coconut that the natives took to the Americans. (If memory serves he had it in the Oval Office when he was President.)
My dad was in Kennedy's squadron and was an officer on one of the boats and pretty much the consensus of the officers was that Kennedy should have faced a court martial for the actual collision. What he did afterward was indeed heroic, but was solely due to his inaction. Another case of the family name preventing too much scrutiny.
My father was also a veteran. He and all his contemporaries said that story only came up when JFK entered politics. They had been officers too, and believed this was political character assassination and a perfect example of politicians having zero character themselves.
@@morstyrannis1951 My dad passed away many years ago so I can't call and ask him when they came to this decision. I do know that when we met with several of his crew in the very early 70s that they still grumbled about Kennedy getting away with it. YMMV.
What should he have done differently? Turned away from the destroyer and been shot out of the water? Turned away at the last moment like a hollywood film? C'mon man
@@loungelizard3922 how about you head to Heaven and ask my dad? But I doubt that would satisfy someone who says, “c’mon man”…
@@kfeltenberger How out of all the things you get mad at the phrase "C'mon man" is it?
In a stressful situation of life or death it's easy to go "they should of done x,y,z" but I feel like the amount of effort he put into saving the crew was more than enough to show he did actually give a shit about being a leader and fixing his mistake. A lesser Leader would of left the 2 who couldn't swim to just drown writing them off as loss causes.
Plus the fact the navy assumed they were all dead only to bring each one home meant the navy were way more excited over having everyone alive.
How JFK failed to follow standing order became the only pt boat rammed then failed to follow standing order by moving is injured crew and was not court marshalled due to father being high gov official.
Solid
Historigraph upload!
He was known as a so so officer
It was his rescue of his men that got him the medal
JFK was very brave. I respect him even as a president
President JFK held no grudges.😊
Myth-making starts at 4:42.
I’m in my 40s and I had no idea JFK fought in WW2…. Never stop learning.
All the Presidents from Eisenhower to Bush Sr. were WWII Vets. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Bush were all Navy. Truman was a WWI Vet and technically was in the reserves through WWII but was rejected from active duty.
Doesn't matter if you're a war hero.
If the secret service doesn't like you -...
Just so you know Kennedy wasnt a hero. He risked his crews lives by not listening to mechanics advice. He was warned not to run the engines at full speed because they needed overhauling. He blew the engines at full speed. Thats why he was rammed. He did save his men heroically after he almost killed them all.
What was PT 109's full crew? 15 or 16 men?
Thirteen.
While Jack was being groomed for politics post war, most of his father’s effort was being put into Joe jr. This changed when during the PT 109 incident, Joe was killed when explosives in his experimental radio controlled PB2Y Privateer detonated with him and his crew still in the plane.
Also, my great grandfather was Kennedy’s prefect at Harvard and sailed with him on multiple occasions. According to him, Jack was at best an “average” sailor.
Source: My grandmother
Your grandma is not a proper source my dude.
Try his fellow pt captains
Many wrote about it
Thumbnail makes jfk look like Tony hinchcliff
JFK earned the nickname "Crash" for his inability to control his boat and being involved in many mishaps.
I was the first to discover his terrible secret!
“Ich bin ein Berlin”
WHO ON EARTH JOINS ANY NAVY WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO SWIM???😂😂😂
growing up in the 70's i had a neighbor that even then would get a christmas card from the kennedys. he was in the navy with jfk... i wish i knew the details.
Bad driver; great swimmer.
JFK must be the only person ever to become a war hero for causing a collision that sunk his own boat.
God damn.
WHO?????COMRADE
Neat