It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986 as one of a very few surviving World War II PT boats.

Unlike earlier PT boats, where the layers were laid diagonally, the outer layer of PT-796's hull is laid longitudinally, a change to the design believed to have been made to Higgins boats sometime in late 1944.

The two layers are held together by copper rivets and bronze screws, with a sheet of canvas impregnated with marine glue between them.

Her three 12-cylinder 1,200 shp (895 kW) Packard V-12 engines each drove a single shaft, giving the boat a top speed of 41 knots (76 km/h; 47 mph).

With a full load of 3,000 gallons of 100 octane aviation fuel she had a range of 358 nautical miles (663 km; 412 mi) at a speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) or as far as 1,050 nautical miles (1,940 km; 1,210 mi) at a speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) using only one engine.