can react the PT 109 is rammed and sliced in half, killing two of her 13 crewmen. Towing a badly burned crew member by a life jacket strap clenched in his teeth, Kennedy leads the survivors to Plum Pudding Island. The next day the abandoned wreckage is spotted by a reconnaissance plane, and the 109'''s crew is presumed lost with all hands. After dark, Kennedy swims out into the channel with a signal lantern, staying out all night in the hope of flagging down a passing U.S. vessel. The next night, he sends out a friend who tagged along on the mission, Ensign George Ross. After several fruitless days morale drops and Kennedy is forced to quell an uprising determined to surrender. Hoping for better prospects of food and water on a nearby island, he leads the crew on another three-mile swim. There two rifle-armed natives show up in a canoe and hold the men at gunpoint, confused as to their identity and affiliation. As the pair do not understand English but appear receptive, Kennedy carves a message on a coconut requesting rescue and gives it to them. They take it to Australian coastwatcher Lieutenant Reginald Evans. Evans notifies the U.S. Navy, and the men are rescued by PT boat without any further loss of life. As a result of their ordeal Kennedy and his men are eligible for leave back in the U.S., but he and several loyal crewmembers elect to stay and continue the fight on a new combat-weathered boat. Cast Cliff Robertson as Lieutenant (j.g.) John F. Kennedy, skipper of PT Boat 109. James Gregory as Commander C. R. Ritchie, base boat maintenance officer of Tulagi Naval Base. Ty Hardin as Ensign Leonard J. Thom, XO of PT Boat 109. Robert Culp as Ensign George "Barney" Ross Grant Williams as Lieutenant Alvin Cluster, Commander MTB Squadron 2. Michael Pate as Lieutenant Reginald Evans, RANVR. Lew Gallo as Yeoman Rogers John Ward as John Maguire, Radioman 2nd class. Biff Elliot as Edgar E. Mauer, Seaman 1st class. David Whorf as Raymond Albert, Seaman 2nd class. Sam Reese as Andrew Kirksey, Torpedoman's Mate 2nd class. Robert Blake as Charles "Bucky" Harris, Gunner's Mate 2nd class. Buzz Martin as Maurice Kowal, Gunner's Mate 3rd class. Norman Fell as Edmund Drewitch. Motor Machinist Mate 2nd class. Clyde Howdy as Leon Drawdy, Motor Machinist Mate 2nd class. Joseph Gallison as Harold Marney,