Into the Dark Water

The Story of Three Officers and PT-109

by John J Domagalski

Imprint: Casemate

288 Pages, 6 x 9 in, 16pp photos

Paperback
9781612007120
February 2019
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$19.95

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9781612002354
April 2014

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9781612002347
May 2014
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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

"With this new offering, John Domagalski brings PT-109 and her crew back to life once again and, in doing so, honors all who served in the patrol torpedo service." — Military Review

Main Selection of the Military Book Club

Made famous by her final commanding officer, John F. Kennedy, PT-109 is one of the most celebrated warships in American history. However, a full chronicle of PT-109’s wartime story has heretofore been lacking. Behind the familiar account of the future president and the boat’s violent demise is the little-known record under two previous officers during the swirling battles around Guadalcanal.

In these mainly nocturnal fights, when the Japanese navy was at its apex, America’s small, fast-boat flotillas would sally out to probe enemy strength, vying with enemy destroyers, who were similarly roaming the waters and able to blast a PT-boat out of the water if main armament could be brought to bear. It was constant hit-and-run and dodging between searchlights across Iron Bottom Sound, as the PT-boats darted in among the enemy fleet, like a “barroom brawl with the lights turned out.”

Bryant Larson and Rollin Westholm preceded Kennedy as commanders of PT-109, and their fights with the brave ship and its crew hold second to none in the chronicles of US Navy daring. As the battles moved on across the Pacific the PT-boat flotillas gained confidence, even as the Japanese, too, learned lessons in how to destroy them.

Under its third and final commander, Kennedy, PT-109 came a cropper as a Japanese destroyer suddenly emerged from a dark mist and rammed it in half. Two crewmen were killed immediately but Kennedy, formerly on the swim team at Harvard, was able to shepherd his wounded and others to refuge. His unsurpassed gallantry can not resist retelling, yet the courage of the book’s previous commanders have not till now seen the light of day.

This book provides the complete record of PT-109 in the Pacific, as well as a valuable glimpse of how the American Navy’s daring and initiative found its full playing field in World War II.

"…Domagalski performs a highly proficient job as he brings these skippers, their crews, and their boat to life, in the process emphasizing that while PT-109 remains most closely connected to Kennedy, the little warship had plenty of other adventures before the future president arrived in the South Pacific" ~Stone & Stone Second World War Books

"I thoroughly enjoyed the book, inasmuch as I learned things that I never knew. . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in PT boats and their history.” ~T. Garth Connelly, PT Boat World

"History has long recorded that John F. Kennedy's heroic efforts after the sinking of his PT-109 led to his successful political career as Representative, Senator, and ultimately President. But, as John Domagalski demonstrates in this thoroughly researched narrative, there was far more to the boat's achievements in the South Pacific than the terrifying night when a Japanese destroyer cut her in two. This account crackles with intensity." ~Paul Stillwell, Naval historian and author

"Well researched and written,Domagalski has done something admirable with the PT 109 saga." ~Naval Historical Foundation

"The author is a Pacific War Historian specializing in Guadalcanal fighting. His account of one ship and its three commanding officers not only sheds light on PT-109, but also on the service of the torpedo boat crews in general. It took daring initiative to command a tiny warship aggressively and this book conveys their audacity in full measure. ~WWII History

…illuminates the difficult conditions of PT Boat combat. The Brave crews of these undersized vessels routinely fought at night, endured poor logistics and rough seas, and engaged much larger ships, while enduring attacks from land, sea, and air… Domagalski brings to life a host of other brave officers and sailors who consistently fought insurmountable odds to contribute capabilities uniquely fitted to the island waters they patrolled. Kennedy himself later remarked that The war made us. It was and is our greatest moment" In Into the Dark Water, Domagalksi illustrates exactly how and why" ~The Journal of America’s Military Past

"...an insightful and well-written new work that pays homage not only to PT-109 but to the patrol torpedo community as a whole... .With this new offering, John Domagalski brings PT-109 and her crew back to life once again and, in doing so, honors all who served in the patrol torpedo service." ~Military Review