On March 21, 1939, Sparkman and Stephens won the prize in the 70-foot class and Prof. George Crouch (for Henry B. Nevins, Inc.) had won the design proposal for the 54-foot class.[5]. PT boats were also armed with numerous automatic weapons. The other competitors had copper ingots added topside (mostly in the turrets) to make up the difference. $60.00@ plus shipping. However, during the second endurance run, which was made in a very rough sea for this size boat, structural failures again occurred in PT-70. 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. Be sure to check website at www.savetheptboatinc.com PT-658 was named to the. Diy Boat. As PT boats were usually located near the end of the supply chain, their crews proved resourceful in bartering with nearby ships or military units for supplies and using munitions to harvest their own fish. Higgins developed the small and fast 70-foot (21m) Higgins Hellcat, which was a slight variation on their original hull form, but the Navy rejected them for full production due to increased fuel consumption and other considerations. Some were converted into gunboats, which could be effective against enemy small craft, especially armored barges used by the Japanese for inter-island transport. While docked, PT boat squadrons were supported by PT boat tenders or base facilities which supplied boat crews with hot meals. The interior is another example of how far Rob went to make this boat special. After obtaining excellent testing results at the Plywood Derby, the Navy awarded Huckins Yacht Corporation a contract in 1941 for 8 boats, and later added 10 more. If you find that some photos violates copyright or have unacceptable properties, please inform us about it. Starting in mid-1943, the old Mark 18 torpedo tubes and Mark 8 torpedoes began to be replaced. by Thomas Fleming 2/22/2011. 2. Ron 22 was part of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France on August 15, 1944. A common characteristic of this type of contoured hull is the "rooster tail" in the wake. Four boats - PT-8, PT-69, PT-70, and MRB - returned and Elco sent two new boats, PT-21 and PT-29. the plywood landing craft vehicle personnel (LCVP) used so successfully in the beach landings at Normandy in the Atlantic and the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific produced 199 78ft (24m) boats of the PT-71/PT-235, PT-265 and PT-625 classes. The 103 Class boats were initially armed with two sets of twin .50 caliber machine guns, a 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun, four torpedo tubes or two torpedo tubes and eight (four to a side) roll-off racks for depth charges (the 300 pound charge variety). She was preparing to leave her cozy berth inside the corrugated steel boathouse. The 85ft patrol boats replaced the ageing patrol boat fleet of Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) and support . However, the USN held two major designs as their standard PT boat and this included the ELCO 80-footer and the Higgins 78-foot. [citation needed] Crews feared attack by Japanese seaplanes, which were hard to detect even with radar, but which could easily spot the phosphorescent wake left by PT propellers. Of those proposals submitted, Three 54-ft designs and five 70-ft designs were of interest and the designers were asked to submit more detailed plans for both the 54 and 70 foot boats by no later than the 7th of November 1938. The M4/M9 37mm auto cannon had a relatively high rate of fire (125 rounds per minute) and large magazine (30 rounds). Maneuverability unsatisfactory due to inability to reverse outboard engines with a large turning circle of 443 yards (405m). Powered by three working 1,850-hp Packard V-12 gasoline engines, PT-658 . A 59-foot (18m) barrel-back (which provided increased strength to the sides and deck), a unique double longitudinal planked (mahogany outer planking and Port Orford cedar inner planking) lightweight hull on bent laminated oak framing, she was the "featherweight" of transportable PT boat design, but was later rejected by the Navy during trials in 1941 after being deemed too short to carry 4 torpedoes, as well as being able to only launch torpedoes stern first, which was a procedure considered too dangerous by BuOrd. T. Garth Connelly, Don Greer, Tom Tullis, Joe Sewell, David Doyle "Elco 80' PT Boat on Deck" (Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 2010), An excellent compendium of information about the Elco PT boats can be found in ", Haruyoshi Kimmatsu, "The night We sank John Kennedy's PT 109" appeared in, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 08:14. The wooden PT boat was less than half the displacement and intended for inshore/offshore work. A few (one 80' Elco, one 72' Vosper, and three 78' Higgins) were cut up and destroyed between 1998 and 2008, leaving (a known) total of 12 PT boats, and 2 experimental PT boat hulls in various states of repair, surviving today in the U.S.: PT-48 is possibly the last surviving 77-foot (23m) Elco PT boat. Two twin .50-inch (12.7mm) M2 Browning heavy machine guns were mounted for anti-aircraft defense and general fire support. The 1938 United States Navy PT, which has been restored and adapted to Coast Guard Standards, is a durable boat that was originally used in the US fleet for a period of time. The use of PT boat torpedoes was ineffective against these sometimes heavily armed barges, since the minimum depth setting of the torpedo was about 10 feet (3 m) and the barges drew only 5 feet (1.5 m). [40] It was used in the training squadron MTBRON4 in Melville, Rhode Island, during World War II until it was placed out of service 16 January 1946. Most of my experience as an interior designer of ships for the Indonesian government, BUMN, and private boats. Because of this boat's extensive combat history, having survived 22 months in the combat zone at Guadalcanal (more time in combat than any other surviving PT boat), a preservation group, "Fleet Obsolete" of Kingston, New York, acquired and transported it to Rondout Creek in 2009 for eventual repair. Placed in service too late to take part in World War II, PT-796 saw temporary . This resulted in severe conditions for several of the boats during the trial and accounted for the transverse failure in PT-70's deck and subsequent hull failure as the copper fell into the hull. PT-728 was acquired by Fleet Obsolete and moved to Kingston. Operating personnel reported extreme discomfort and fatigue. Even though the Elco 77-footers posted the fastest speeds, all seven Elcos suffered from structural damage and severe pounding causing the Board to recommend a redesign to correct these deficiencies. In April 1943, 25-year-old John F. Kennedy arrived in the Pacific and took command of the PT-109. Elco PT Boat: 80 Feet of Wood and Weaponry Weapons & Gear Manual Elco PT Boat: 80 Feet of Wood and Weaponry Of the nearly 400 fast, light and heavily armed patrol boats Elco made for the U.S. Navy during World War II, a few achieved notoriety and one survives today as a museum ship. Some boats carried a 20mm (0.79in) Oerlikon cannon. She was retired from service in the late 1950s. PT 48 is the only remaining 77' Elco PT-Boat and a member of the heroic WWII "Mosquito Fleet". One of the quickest ways to brighten things up is to install marine LED lights. Her deck house was reconfigured to partially resemble an 80-foot (24m) Elco instead of its original Vosper 70ft configuration. Box Dim. These features made it highly desirable due to the PT boat's ever-increasing requirement for increased firepower to deal effectively with the Japanese Daihatsu-class barges, which were largely immune to torpedoes due to their shallow draft. During the war, Navy PT boats went against the enemy's barges, tankers, sampans, and warships. The squadron acted as a diversionary force in Gulf Juan, and as an anti-E-boat screen in the Nice-Cannes area. In 1943, an inquiry was held by the Navy to discuss planing, hull design, and fuel consumption issues. PT-309 is restored (but non-operational) in a static diorama display without engines installed. PT-766 is an 80-foot (24m) Elco boat that is a private yacht ("Finished Business") located in Washington D.C. She represents the final class of Elco's with significant updates to the superstructure and radar and was intended for MTBRON 44, but was cancelled due to the end of the war. The nucleus of this collection are PT Boats 617 and 796, the world's only restored pair of PTs on public exhibition. [9], At the time, only the Elco 77-footers were loaded with armament. Even though only half as many Higgins boats were produced, far more survive (seven hulls, three of which have been restored to their World War II configuration) than the more numerous Elco boats. Charles Schumann in the 1980s. So here are a few more of my collection. The PT boat design was also exported after the end of the Second World War as an unarmed air-sea rescue launch for use by the South African Navy. Nicknamed "the mosquito fleet" and "devil boats" by the Japanese, the PT boat squadrons were hailed for their daring and earned a durable place in the public imagination that remains strong into the 21st century. The boat is owned by PT Boats, Inc., a World War II PT veterans organization headquartered in Germantown, Tennessee. If you are in doubt as to the purpose or usage of a piece of equipment, don't hesitate to ask. Other paints were used as well, and as soon as I find their nomenclature and corresponding numbers, I will post them here. Be sure to check website at www.savetheptboatinc.com PT-658 was named to the National Register of Historic Places on 04 September 2012. The 5M-2500 introduced in late 1945 had a larger supercharger, aftercooler, and increased power output of 1,850hp (1,380kW). The boats also used a lot of high octane gasoline for their size, making them too expensive to operate for a peacetime navy. As a result, the Navy ordered further investigation and refinement of the existing designs until a satisfactory working design could be obtained. The tour starts from Bow and works back to see entire boat with detail views of each weapon and piece of equipment. 153 Navy Pt Boat Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Editorial Video Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 153 Navy Pt Boat Premium High Res Photos Browse 153 navy pt boat stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. The Canadian Power Boat Company produced four Scott-Paine designed PTs for the U.S. After the war, the ex-PT459 was cut down to 65ft (20m) and highly modified into a sightseeing boat and fishing trawler. The Huckins boat experienced a high pressure oil failure and had to go "Dead in the Water" in order to effect the repair. PT-724, a surviving Vosper built at the Annapolis Boat yard in Maryland, has been used as a yacht, and has since been acquired by the Liberty Aviation Museum to be restored back to original Vosper configuration. The make-up of a typical section of the boats hull consists of the following layers: 5/8' Mahogany exterior hull planking Glue-impregnated canvas for waterproofing 1/2 " mahogany strips on the interior PT BOAT BUILDERS Three companies built PT boats for the U.S. Navy. Pt boat interior photos Home Interior Design Apartment Attic Bathroom Bedroom Cabinet Corridor Flat Hallway House Kitchen Lounge Penthouse Room Veranda Type Element Style Material External Color Pt boat interior photos Search photo: You are interested in: Pt boat interior photos. PT-69 and PT-21 experienced structural failures during the second run though these were much more localized as compared with those found on PT-70. Hyperwar: Close Quarters, by Captain Robert J. Bulkley, Jr. An example of daily life aboard a PT boat, recorded in the deck logs, HNSA Ship Page: PT Boats to visit as museums and memorials, Higgins Industries Motor Torpedo Boat Diagram Collection, https://www.pdfdrive.com/american-pt-boats-in-world-war-ii-e157218440.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=PT_boat&oldid=1141088859, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2014, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from March 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2012, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from April 2022, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, One 70ft (21m) MRB-8 (Motor Rescue Boat), built for the. [26] Remarkably, the PT486 was sold to the son of the original owner, Capt. The Navy would provide engines, and Huckins would build a PT boat at their own expense, with the caveat that the boat (upon completion) would be offered to the Navy for a later sum. When these weapons were found to be successful, they were incorporated onto the PT boats as original armament. Her external restoration was completed by the Texas group in 2002, and is to a high standard. This boat is the only U.S. Coast Guard regulation-approved PT boat licensed to take passengers for hire, and the only surviving U.S.-built Vosper design. Hundreds were built by Elco and other companies from 1942-'45, with most of them sent to the Pacific theater. Courtesy PT BOATS, INC. [citation needed]. SKILL 5. Towards the end of the war, beginning in 1945, PTs received two eight-cell Mark 50 rocket launchers,[20] launching 5in (130mm) spin-stabilized flat trajectory Mark 7 and/or Mark 10 rockets[21] with a range of 11,000 yards (10,000m). Fittings and finish appropriate for a motor torpedo boat. Of the nearly 400 small, fast, versatile wooden Patrol Torpedo boats which were built around WWII, only a handful survive to this day. There PT-728 allows up to 49 tourists the chance to ride on a "PT boat". Later in the war, several more of these 20mm cannons were added amidships and on the forward deck. The effectiveness of PT boats in the Solomon Islands campaign, where there were numerous engagements between PTs and capital ships, as well as against Japanese shipborne resupply efforts dubbed "The Tokyo Express" operating in New Georgia Sound (called "The Slot" by the Americans), was substantially undermined by defective Mark 8 torpedoes. Following the competition, contracts were placed for construction of boats: May 25, 1939, to Higgins Industries for two boats (PT5 and PT6) of the Sparkman and Stephens design, scaled up to an overall length of 81 feet; June 8, 1939, to Fogal Boat Yard (PT-1 and PT-2) and Fisher Boat Works (PT-3 and PT-4) for the Crouch design; to the Philadelphia Navy Yard (PT-7, PT-8) for 81-foot boats designed by the Bureau of Ships. [15] Part of the Mark 17 Mod 1 and Mod 2 ring mount consisted of the Bell Mark 9 twin cradle. machine guns. Connelly, Garth T. PT Boats in Action. PT-29 was assigned as a pace boat with PT-8 in order to generate a pounding comparison. [citation needed] Like many other victory claims by all parties involved (aircraft pilots, surface ships, submarines) this unclear verification was due in part to the Japanese military's policies of destroying military records. That the Elco 77-foot design be considered acceptable for future construction provided changes in the lines are made to reduce the tendency to pound in a seaway, and the structure be strengthened in a manner acceptable to the Bureau of Ships. During this trial, boats faced heavier seas, as high as 16ft (4.9m). After having demonstrated its value on board PT boats, the M4 (and later M9) cannon was installed at the factory. In 1938, the U.S. Navy renewed their investigation into the concept by requesting competitive bids for several different types of motor torpedo boats, but excluded Hickman's Sea Sled. A 78-foot (24m) Higgins, PT-309 ("Oh Frankie!") It covers PT boat hull design and construction, and provides hull test data as well as detailed analysis of the various PT boat designs.[13]. .. K. sdaf . [citation needed], After the war, Lindsay Lord, who was stationed in Hawaii during the war, recorded the Navy's planing hull research and findings in the book Naval Architecture of Planing Hulls. The Board is of the opinion that certain changes in design are required to enable PT-69 and boats of the PT-20 Class to carry safely their military loads in rough weather. Some PT boats served during the Battle of Normandy. Full-load displacement late in the war was 56 tons. Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 22, or RON22, was transported to the combat theater aboard the USS Merrimack. [44] After the war ended PT-796 was used in the Key West/Miami area for experimental purposes. This article is about US Navy patrol torpedo boats in World War II. Mufflers were used by PT's for silent running by feeding the exhaust out under the water at low speeds. The hull shape of the Elco and Higgins PT boats were similar to the contoured "planing hull" found in pleasure boats of the time (and still in use today): a sharp V at the bow softening to a flat bottom at the stern. The excellent 20-page, 52-step instruction booklet offers two build options: as a 1942 newly built boat in Navy gray or as the dark green scavenged boat at the time of its sinking on August 2, 1943, with a 37mm antitank gun mounted on the forward deck. Cost to the Government fully equipped $265,500. During some of these nighttime attacks, PT boat positions may have been given away by a flash of light caused by grease inside the black powder-actuated Mark 8 torpedo tubes catching fire during the launching sequence. Elco PT Boat Shaft and Rudder Detail. PT-3 was designed by George Crouch and employed lightweight planing hull construction methods. While visiting the British Power Boat Company, they purchased a 70-foot (21m) private venture motor torpedo boat (MTB) design - PV70 - (later renamed PT-9), designed by the power boat racer Hubert Scott-Paine. length would be sufficiently seaworthy", so Hickman built and launched his own privately financed 41-foot (12m) Sea Sled capable of carrying a single 18-inch Whitehead Mark 5 torpedo. Just months later, the boat collided with a Japanese ship, killing two of his men. Propulsion was via a trio of Packard 4M-2500 and later 5M-2500 supercharged gasoline-fueled, liquid-cooled V-12 marine engines. Period Second World War. With the exception of the experimental PT boats, all U.S. PT boats were powered by three marine modified derivations of the Packard 3A-2500 V-12 liquid-cooled, gasoline-fueled aircraft engine. The first class was for 54-foot (16m) boats, and the second class was for 70-foot (21m) boats. Many got up to four torpedo tubes and a 20mm anti-aircraft gun, while a few even got mortars or rockets. Maneuverability satisfactory, turning circle not determined photographically, estimated 300 yards.