As a testament to the strength of this type of construction, several PT boats withstood catastrophic battle damage and still remained afloat. For example, the forward half of future President John F. Kennedy's "PT-109" (Elco) stayed afloat for 12 hours after she was cut in half by the Japanese destroyer "Amagiri". "PT-323" (Elco) was cut in half by a "kamikaze" aircraft on 10 December 1944 off Leyte, yet remained floating for several hours. "PT-308" (Higgins) had her stern sheared off by a collision with "PT-304" during a night mission in the Mediterranean on 9 March 1945 and yet returned to base for repairs. "PT-167" (Elco) was holed through the bow off Bougainville on 5 November 1943, by a torpedo which failed to detonate; the boat remained in action and was repaired the next day.