PT 105 [Hardcover]

Dick Keresey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

This firsthand account of 105's dramatic career throws new light on the unique contributions of the tough and versatile PT boats.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dick Keresey, a retired New York attorney and resident of Montclair, New Jersey, served with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Five from 1942 to 1944, including sixteen months as skipper of PT 105 before becoming a division leader. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 211 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press; First Edition edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557504601
• ISBN-13: 978-1557504609
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A First Rate Yarn, September 26, 2000

By 

Rory Aylward "Resident of Frank's World" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PT 105 (Hardcover)

The only bad thing I can say about Dick Keresey's memoir "PT-105" is that it is too brief.

In addition to educating the reader of his experiences as a PT Boat skipper during the Pacific War, he also shares with us what it was like to be a young American caught up in great events of his time. He is quite candid about the rather bassackwards way he joined the Navy and eventually ended up at Melville for Motor Torpedo Boat training. Once he becomes a PT man, though, he becomes fiercely loyal to the boats and the men on them.

Great stuff here, not only on how the PTs were fought, but what the day to day routine was and how decisions were made. Mr. Keresey is also about mistakes and problems, not only among his superiors but about his own as well.

This is probably the most fun I've had reading a book on the Mosquito Fleet (I have lots of them). Highly Recommended.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly written story of a vital corner of World War II, January 15, 1999

By 

Forrest R. Lindsey (Dumfries, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PT 105 (Hardcover)

Dick Keresey conveys a gripping and very entertaining story of his experiences as a PT boat commander in the South Pacific. From his fumbling and bumping start at the pier at the first commissioning of his PT boat class, to close-in and brutal fights in the dark with Japanese barges in the straits around Guadalcanal, his story conveys an uncommon realism. If I were to recommend a single book for students to read about the men who fought in WW II, I'd recommend this one.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent first-person account of PT boat operations., September 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: PT 105 (Hardcover)

Dick Keresey's days as a PT commander in the Solomons in 1942 and 1943 are the subject of this excellent memoir. Told in a series of vignettes with a loose narrative line, the book wraps up with a long account of a moral choice made in the field that came back to him years later. Keresey is honest about himself, his men, and the Navy he served in. Especially insightful is his candid admission that what made him appear so calm in combat was his "cornered-rat" impulse. Finally, Keresey loved those little boats, and he defends them against detractors who called them "expendable" and "made of balsa." (He also defends then Lt. John F. Kennedy for his actions in Blackett Strait when he sunk by a Japanese destroyer.) This reviewer did wish that he had elaborated somewhat more on the command arrangements of the PT forces, but this is probably nitpicking. A plea to the publisher : better maps and an index, please!