The most famous collision in American Navy history took place on a hot, starless, moonless night in 1943. PT109 was idling off the South Pacific island of Kolombangara. With virtually no warning a Japanese destroyer smashed into the boat, slicing it in half and igniting its thousands of gallons of gasoline. PT109's commander and surviving crew were flung or leaped into the blazing water, beginning an ordeal that writers, relatives, and friends would use to create a drama that propelled John F. Kennedy to the presidency of the United States. Here, from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is the story of what really happened that night.