PT boats engaged enemy warships, transports, tankers, barges, and sampans. As gunboats they could be effective against enemy small craft, especially armored barges used by the Japanese for inter-island transport. Generally they carried 4 torpedoes, two twin .50 cal. machine guns and a 20mm Oerliken gun. The US Navy nicknamed them " the mosquito fleet ", while the Japanese called them " The Devil Boats."

PT 108 on patrol

Battleships USS West Virginia (BB-48) - on the right and USS Tennessee (BB-43) - on the left in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese air attack; December 1941.
USS West Virginia was sunk by six torpedoes and two bombs during the attack. On 17 May 1942, she was salvaged from the seabed by draining the water from her hull.
USS Tennessee was damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor but was repaired and modernized.

Two battleships

On the left is the battleship USS Maryland (BB-46); on the right is the overturned USS Oklahoma (BB-37), that was hit by 9 Japanese torpedoes, killing nearly 400 sailors. Rescue team is visible from the USS Maryland to aid for survivors. In the background smoke rises from the burning, heavily damaged battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48). 