Captain Ens George H. Gucker (USNR)
Crew Lt. Hall
Sunk March 27, 1943 by friendly
Wartime History
This boat, along with PT-121 were investigated a schooner,
and were navigating the reefs at Ewasse in Bangula Bay (near Talasea) on March 27, 1943.
Four 78 Squadron P-40s overview the ships, that via radio confirmed
the schooner was hit and no longer a target.
Friendly Fire Accident
Later, four
other RAAF P-40s from 78 Squadron and a Beaufighter
from 30 Squadron attacked the PT-Boats. Another Beaufighter sucessfully
identifed the ships as friendly, but was not able to stop the attack.
After they made several passes, PT-Boats returned fire, but the captains
of each boat made them cease fire. Both
PT-Boats were hit, burned and sank.
Shortly after the attack, the first
group of P-40s returned to the area, reported the tragedy and dropped
life raft. Five hours later, other P-40s guided PT-346 and PT-354
to the site to look for survivors. A total of four officers and four
enlisted men were KIA, four officers and four enlisted men were WIA.
This was the first friendly fire incident in the South-West Pacific
area of aircraft attacking PT-Boats (operating for a year prior), but
would not be the last.
References
At Close Quarters PT Boats in the US Navy, pages 232-233
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