Motor Torpedo Boat PT - 337 PT - 337 was a PT - 103 Class Motor Torpedo Boat that was sunk in action during the Pacific Theater of World War II in Hansa Bay , New Guinea on March 7 , 1944 . Events at Hansa Bay . PTs 337 and 338 headed out to a known enemy stronghold on March 7 , 1944 . Picking up a radar target close to shore and closing to , they encountered two heavily camouflaged luggers moored together . Heavy machine gun fire opened from the beach , and as the boats turned and started to strafe the beach , more machine guns opened up , along with a heavy caliber battery from Awar Point , along the northwestern entrance to the bay . One shell had hit so close to PT 337 that fragments went whizzing by and water some of the crew . Three or four more shells dropped near the 337 , then one hit the tank compartment , just below the port gun turret , going through the engine room . All three engines were knocked out and the tanks burst into flames . Motor Machinist First Class ( MoMM1c ) William Daley Jr was badly wounded in the neck and jaw . The order was given to launch the lifeboat and abandon the boat . The crew paddled and swam trying to pull away from the exploding 337 . The currents were against them and after two hours , they were only from the boat . Outside the bay , PT 338 was also under fire from shore batteries . Just prior to the 337 being hit , PT 338 had laid smoke and ordered a high speed retirement . When PT 337 did not come through the screen , 338 tried to re - enter the Bay , but each time the boat came under heavy fire and had to retreat . Daley died before dawn , which left three officers and eight enlisted men on the raft . At dawn on March 7 , the raft had drifted and was less than a mile off the entrance to Hansa Bay . During the morning the current carried it toward Manam island , about six miles ( 10 km ) from the shore . The current was working against the men . That night , Ensign s Bruce Bales and Henry Cutter tried to paddle ashore on logs . After three hours the current swept the two exhausted men and the raft back together . While they were away , Ensign Robert Hyde and Quartermaster Second Class ( QM2c ) Allen Gregory set out to swim to shore . By dawn on March 8 , the raft had drifted no more than a mile from the beach . Soon after dawn , Bales , Fucili , and Schmidt set out for shore . Most of the men had thought the three had reached the Island , but Watson , who said he saw Bales walking on the beach , is the only one who claimed to have seen any of them ashore . Soon afterwards Japanese personnel were seen on the beach . After dark a small boat came out from shore and at 200 yards ( 200 m ) circled the raft . Two men were in the boat , but made no attempt to bother the raft . After a squall blew up 6 – 8 ft ( 2 – 3 m ) waves for a while , the boat was nowhere to be seen after things calmed down . On the morning of March 9 , the remaining men in the raft saw an overturned Japanese collapsible boat , floating a few yards away . They righted the boat , bailed it , and boarded it . Many of the men were suffering from exposure and were covered with salt water sores . Around noon on the March 10 , a B - 25 flew over , and circled the boat . Cutter waved his arms to signal the plane , and they dropped supplies of water , food , cigarettes and medicine . The next morning a PBY Catalina , from US Navy Patrol Squadron VP 34 , picked up the five survivors and took them to Dreger Harbour . Little is known of the PT - 337 crew members who attempted to reach the shore . A captured Japanese document indicates that one officer and two enlisted men were captured , although none of them was ever officially reported to be prisoners of war .