# Was JFK Ever Court-Martialed? (PT-109 Loss)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jfk-ever-court-martialed-pt-109-loss/601658>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 2, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jfk-ever-court-martialed-pt-109-loss/601658 "2011-11-02T18:14:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jfk-ever-court-martialed-pt-109-loss/601658/41 "2017-04-12T18:00:46Z")

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The Japanese excelled at night fighting, and had special optics made for that. That was an early advantage they enjoyed. In the back and forth naval encounters in 1942, sometime radar was better for the US and sometimes the Japanese did better with their eyes. A lot more far more important _ships_ were lost because the Japanese got the drop on them at night.

On a DD there would have been more and better lookouts than on the PT boat.

I would not be surprised at all if the IJN DD did actually see the PT boat first.

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**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jfk-ever-court-martialed-pt-109-loss/601658/42 "2017-04-13T02:22:41Z")

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> [@Pantastic](#):
>
> PT-109 was a _boat_, not a ship (it would be designated USS-109 if it was a United States Ship).

Correction: It would have been USS _PT-109_.

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**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jfk-ever-court-martialed-pt-109-loss/601658/43 "2017-04-13T04:18:14Z")

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> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> It was more due to his politics than his success or failure as a naval officer. He sailed on behalf of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, but was often suspected of having Royalist sympathies, and possibly even providing covert support to the Royalists.
> 
> An adept sailor, he eventually saw which way the wind was blowing and was one of the naval officers who brought Charles Stuart back to England to succeed to the Restoration throne, while personally becoming a strong supporter of James, Duke of York, whom Charles put in charge of the Royal Navy.
> 
> He died before James succeeded Charles, so we don’t know if he would have changed with the prevailing winds a third time.
> 
> See the wiki article: [William Penn (Royal Navy officer) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Penn_(Royal_Navy_officer))

Note to self, don’t ever rely solely on a book written for elementary students when posting in GQ.:smack:

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jfk-ever-court-martialed-pt-109-loss/601658/44 "2017-04-13T12:49:49Z")

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> [@Fubaya](#):
>
> Submarines are called boats out of tradition. They started out as small submersible boats that were launched from a ship and the informal term “boat” stuck although they are officially ships.

My Dad served on the **USS** Alaska (nuclear sub) as a CPO but repeatedly corrected people who called it a ship. My home town is a Navy town and I’ve known many submariners, all insisted that subs were boats.

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