Qualla: The Destroyer That Almost Changed History

The Destroyer That Almost Changed History: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. On a moonless night in Blackett Strait, a shape materialized out of the darkness three hundred yards off the starboard bow. The crew of PT-109 had seconds to react. The Japanese destroyer bearing down on them was Amagiri -- a Fubuki-class warship that had already survived typhoons, dive bombers, and nearly every major engagement of the Pacific War. At her helm, the officer of the watch had been ordered to steer directly at the tiny wooden boat. The collision sliced PT-109 in half, hurling fuel across the water and igniting it. The young lieutenant commanding the wrecked patrol boat would spend the next six days swimming between islands, towing a burned crewman by a life jacket strap clenched in his teeth. His name was John F. Kennedy.

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Destroyer That Almost Changed History: A Ship Built to Outclass the World

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shizuo Fukui, Public domain. Amagiri slid down the ways at Ishikawajima Shipyards in Tokyo on February 27, 1930, the fifteenth of twenty-four Fubuki-class destroyers that represented a quantum leap in warship design. The Imperial Japanese Navy designated them "Special Type" for good reason: their size, speed...

Image: Shizuo Fukui | Public domain

The Destroyer That Almost Changed History: The Tokyo Express

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. By the time the Guadalcanal campaign erupted in mid-1942, Amagiri had already covered landings in Malaya, participated in the invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, and sailed with the Aleutian force during the Battle of Midway. But it was the grinding struggle for the Solomon ...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Destroyer That Almost Changed History: Two Minutes in Blackett Strait

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. August 2, 1943. Amagiri was returning from another Express mission to Vila, Kolombangara, traveling at high speed to reach harbor before dawn brought Allied air patrols. In the strait south of Kolombangara, PT-109 was idling on one engine to minimize her phosphorescent wake. Kenn...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Destroyer That Almost Changed History: A Footnote in the Charts

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Presumed official USN or IJN photographer, Public domain. The PT-109 incident became a cornerstone of Kennedy's political mythology. Books recounted it, a 1963 film dramatized it, and country singer Jimmy Dean turned it into a hit single -- "PT-109" climbed into the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, making Amagiri almost certainly the o...

Image: Presumed official USN or IJN photographer | Public domain

The Destroyer That Almost Changed History: What the Sea Kept

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit USN, Public domain. In October 2003, explorer Vidar Skoglie located Amagiri's wreck lying on her starboard side in 28 meters of water. The scene was both haunting and hazardous -- live torpedoes and depth charges lay scattered across the seabed around the hull. But the ship that divers found was alr...

Image: USN | Public domain