The Gansevoort was towed to the PT base. There she was given the bizarre task of torpedoing the burning Porcupine to knock off the blazing stern before the fire reached the gasoline tanks forward. The trick didn’t work, for the blast just spread burning gasoline on the water, endangering the Gansevoort herself and setting new fires, so she had to be towed to a new anchorage. There she was abandoned, but a volunteer crew of a nearby PT boarded the destroyer and put out the fires. Porcupine burned to the waterline.
The most grievous blow of the kamikaze attack, however, was struck at the PT navy.
The fifth Japanese dive bomber dove on the PT tender Orestes, was hit by tracers from PTs and LCIs, hit the water and bounced upward into the starboard side of the tender. The plane’s bombs punched through the side and exploded within, blowing many officers and men into the bay. The ship burst into violent flame, and fire mains were ruptured by the blast. Fifty-nine men were killed and 106 seriously wounded.
The waters around the Orestes were teeming with swimming sailors, and PTs bustled about, pulling in the stunned survivors of the blast.
The LCI 624 went alongside and Commander A. V. Jannotta, the LCI flotilla commander, led a volunteer fire-fighting and rescue party aboard the ship, which had become a hell of exploding ammunition and burning aviation gasoline.
Commander Jannotta was awarded a Navy Cross for his heroic salvage work of that afternoon. Captain Mentz had been severely wounded in the kamikaze blast, and his chief of staff, Commander John Kremer, Jr., had been killed, so Commander Jannotta took over as commander of the whole task group. He was given a Silver Star for his performance in that capacity.
Led by Lieut. Commander Davis, many PT sailors went aboard the burning Orestes to pull wounded shipmates out of the fire.
By 9:45 P.M., flames were out on the Orestes and Commander Jannotta lashed an LCI to either side and pushed it up on the beach.
At dusk, PTs and LCIs scattered and hugged the shoreline, to make the worst possible targets for night marauders. The small craft had good reason to be shaken. The five kamikazes had made 100 per cent hits, and any weapon that is 100 per cent effective is a fearsome weapon.
That same night four PTs shot down a plane as they left the bay on patrol.