Prior to starring in the television series this boat was purchased as war surplus by Howard Hughes and was used as the camera chase boat when the Spruce Goose made its only flight. Model Dim. In early 1941 the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships (BuShips) lent Packard engines to both Huckins and Higgins, which wanted to build competitive boats at their own expense. This is the definitive source on US PT Boats and impact they had on history. These rapid machines proved deadly as highly mobile machine . Since both the Japanese in the New Guinea area and the Germans in the Mediterranean had lost numerous resupply vessels to Allied air power during daylight hours, each attempted to resupply their troop concentrations by using shallow draft barges at night in very shallow waters. [4] The larger boat was used for experiments until 1930. The overall result was an extremely light and strong hull which could be easily repaired at the front lines when battle damage was sustained. All PTs prior to the 77ft (23m) Elcos had been found defective, and it was probable the extended 70ft (21m) Elco would not be an improvement. Crews varied from 12 to 17, depending upon the number and type of weapons installed. Fuel consumption of any version of these engines was exceptionally heavy. In 1942, the scheme initially applied to the Elco 80 footers utilized Navy Gray (#5) and Dark Gray (5-D) The bottom paint for all of these schemes was Copperoyd. Boat Building Plans . PT-29 was assigned as a pace boat with PT-8 in order to generate a pounding comparison. Plans are for restoring the vessel to recreate the World War II appearance. [3] Using his previous design from September 1914 and the previous unsuccessful bid for C-250, the new boat C-378 was completed and fully tested just in time to be cancelled by the Armistice. [5], The final PT boat design competitor was Huckins Yacht Corporation of Jacksonville, Florida. But his fury and grief at the loss of two men sent him on a dangerous quest to get even. 2. More information PT boat interior More like this Model Boats Building Boat Building Plans Utility Boat RMKECG59 - Interior of JFK Library, Boston, USA. An accelerometer was installed in the pilot house of each boat to record "pounding". Other paints were used as well, and as soon as I find their nomenclature and corresponding numbers, I will post them here. In early July 1941, the Navy accepted PT-69. She was surplused in 1947 and used for various purposes until being purchased as a museum ship in 1979, finally going on display in 1985 after restoration. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". Most probably due to the lateness in joining the PT boat program and unlike Elco and Higgins, the Huckins yard was never provided any government support to construct a larger facility prior to the war. PT Boats, or Patrol Torpedo Boats, were a secondary element in World War 2 navies, but an essential one. PT-617 is an 80-foot (24m) Elco boat located at the Battleship Cove Naval Museum in Fall River, Massachusetts. However, subsequent additions of weaponry offset this potential increase in top speed. PT Boat Model Builder's PT Boat PT Boat Plan 10812 Type Model RC Scale Military. The cockpits of PT boats were protected by armor plate against small arms fire and splinters. With its stylish look, cold molded cabins, reverse S bend stem, it was one of the first successful . I've always felt that living on our sailboat is like living in a basement apartment because it is totally lacking in natural light!. Over 200 photographs, 236 pages, 8 3/4" x 11 1/4" format, and drawings of profiles and deck plans. by Jon Guttman 5/1/2013 The accelerometers ranked the boats as follows: first was the Philadelphia Navy Yard PT-8 with the least pounding, second was the Huckins PT-69, third was the Higgins PT-6, and last were the Elco 77-footers. For other similar vessels, see, United States naval ship classes of World War II, Board of Inspection and Survey's findings. 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. On 2 November 1943, PT-59 participated in the rescue of 40 to 50 Marines from Choiseul Island and a foundering landing craft (LCP(R)) which was under fire from Japanese soldiers on the beach.[19]. The race was a PT boat scramble in the South Pacific during World War II. I chose the latter with red oxide below the waterline tempered with a bit . PT Boat PT-658 Deck Tour and Interior Tour shows details and closeups of all weapons and equipment on board. 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 two boats were paired for night patrol near the . . She was sold several times, and moved to Kingston, NY for possible restoration. PT-21 suffered minor cracks in the deck in the same location, but not to the same extent, as previously observed in PT-26, PT-30, and PT-33. The vessel was sold in 1952 to Otto Stocker who operated the "Sightseer" as an excursion vessel from Otten's Harbor in Wildwood, New Jersey. PT-309 is restored (but non-operational) in a static diorama display without engines installed. PT-615, an 80-foot (24m) Elco originally assigned to MTBRON 42, was commissioned after the war ended. Also, the PT Boat speed is nearly 66 knots. Elco PT Boat Shaft and Rudder Detail. This is the PT Boat listing page, here you can download the plan, article and see the main thumbnail and extra images. The performance specification was to achieve 40 knots with an operating radius of 275 miles at top speed (550 miles at cruising speed). 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). 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. It's the only place you can see both PT boats at once. During the D-Day invasion, PTs patrolled the "Mason Line", forming a barrier against the German S-boats attacking the Allied landing forces. In the August 1943 engagement in which PT-109 was lost, fifteen boats shipping 60 torpedoes fired over half without a single one hitting an enemy vessel. Five Elco Boats were manufactured in knock-down kit form and sent to Long Beach Boatworks for assembly on the West Coast as part of an experiment and as a proof of concept. This contract for C-250 ended up going to Greenport Basin and Construction Company, of Greenport, NY. The interior is another example of how far Rob went to make this boat special. According to the deck log of PT-305, she was kept on board the Merrimack for several days, anchored in the port of Mers El Kbir in Algeria until 25 April. The smaller boat proposal was to weigh no more than 20 tons so that it could be easily transported by larger cargo ships. The Higgins boats had the same beam, full load displacement, engines, generators, shaft horsepower, trial speed, armament, and crew accommodation as the 80ft (24m) Elco boats. Although their primary mission continued to be attack on surface ships and craft, PT boats were also used effectively to lay mines and smoke screens, coordinate in air-sea rescue operations, rescue shipwreck survivors, destroy Japanese suicide boats, destroy floating mines, and carry out intelligence or raider operations. The Higgins 70' (British) boat did not complete this run because of engine trouble. Higgins built an additional PT-6 "Prime" redesigned by Andrew Higgins personally using his own methods. [14] Almost immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Dewandre turrets were replaced on the entire PT boat fleet with open ring twin mounts. Maintained by an all volunteer group, it is powered by the three Packard V12 5M-2500 gas engines[42] and includes all weapons, electronics, equipment and accessories restored to appear as they did the day the US Navy accepted the boat, 31 July 1945. PT-728 was acquired by Fleet Obsolete and moved to Kingston. Direct hits from Japanese guns could and did result in catastrophic gasoline explosions with near-total crew loss. In spring of 2012, PT-728 was acquired by the Liberty Aircraft Museum of Port Clinton, OH for further restoration. That the Packard power plant having been found highly satisfactory be adopted as standard for future construction. 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. The handcrafted Huckins PT was produced at their civilian facility at a speed of one per month. Higgins Industries of New Orleans, Louisiana later famed for developing Frank P. Huckins and his innovative Quadraconic planing hull design were latecomers to PT boat design. Hampden. 1,429 Pt Boat Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO mtb 1,429 Pt Boat Premium High Res Photos Browse 1,429 pt boat stock photos and images available, or search for mtb to find more great stock photos and pictures. The MK VI patrol boats are designed and built by American boat manufacturer, Safe Boats International (SBI), to serve as the next-generation patrol boats for the US Navy. In John Ford's 1945 war film, They Were Expendable, two 80-foot (24m) Elcos were used during filming along with four former MTBRON 14 78-foot Huckins.[50]. I'm looking for a challenging environment to utilize my creativity, add more . In an important note after winning the design competition for the smaller PT boat, George Crouch wrote that Hickman's Sea Sled design would be far superior "in either rough or smooth water to that of the best possible V-bottom or hard chine design". The first class was for 54-foot (16m) boats, and the second class was for 70-foot (21m) boats. 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. Sometimes you just have to create a custom yacht to go with your custom Ferrari. [3] In the summer of 1915, Lieutenants Hampden, Bremner, and Anson approached John I. Thornycroft & Company about developing a small high speed torpedo boat, and this effort eventually led to the Coastal Motor Boat which first went into service in April 1916. 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. PT 109 boat model. I'm studying English and Deutsch to become my second language. Along with PT-557, the vessel was purchased from BFM Industries (Brooklyn, NY) by Capt. These torpedoes were launched by Mark 18 21-inch (530mm) steel torpedo tubes. As the war went on, the PT boats also lightened their torpedo load and increased t Continue Reading 8 Sponsored by PureCare Knee Protector They seems to be confused about the scale, some issues say 1:96 others 1:100 scale. These 16 rockets plus 16 reloads gave them as much firepower as a destroyer's 5-inch (127mm) guns (albeit without their accuracy). PT boat interior S Stephen Borona 642 followers More information PT boat interior Naval History Military History E Boat Plywood Boat Plans Radio Controlled Boats Boat Interior Military Weapons Military Memes Model Boats More information . Control 2 channels. 735 X 471 X 103 mm. The US Navy plans to procure a total of 48 Mark VI boats. Relaunched after hull restoration from 1995 to 2005,[41] it is located at Pier 308, Vigor Shipyard in Portland, Oregon's Swan Island Lagoon. They dominated a specific part of naval warfare, that of night warfare in coastal waters, but in that part they were essential because neither other vessels nor aircraft could perform as they did. As a result, the average boater expects superior levels of luxury interiors. Maneuverability satisfactory with a turning circle of 336 yards (307m). The only main-stream plastic kit of a Higgins PT boat is by Revell. Growing up in Rhode Island at a young age I knew what a PT Boat was; especially famous one's like Kennedy's PT 109. PT-8 (built at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard) in Louisiana was built entirely from aluminum but did not pass the speed acceptance criteria for use as a PT boat for the U.S. Navy due to its weight. Please help support the further restoration and preservation of this historic treasure by visiting the above website and donating. In the interval between the first and second test periods the PT-70 was repaired and an effort made to eliminate the causes of the structural failures. PT658 - Virtual Boat Tour PT658 VIRTUAL TOUR SEE - HOW TO USE - BENEATH THE TOUR WINDOW: This virtual tour was created and supplied by: Visiting Media, Portland, OR - (503) 427-9786 or visit their website: visitingmedia.com Much of this destruction (121 boats) occurred at PT Base 17, on Samar, Philippines, near Bobon Point.[32]. As an Interior Designer with over five years of experience visualizing, conceptualizing, and building up design plans as per client goals. Many PT boats became famous during and after World War II: According to the book "At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy"[30] 99 of the 531 PT boats that served during World War II were lost to various causes. PT-8 was stored in a yard for several decades in Baytown, TX, but has since moved. Boat Stuff. PT boats were also armed with numerous automatic weapons. A Higgins Class PT Boat (Based mostly off the PT-658) This is the fruit of my labor since 1.0.5's release (also doubles as a early Christmas present for some), smashing personal records by clocking in at 678 parts, with a complete detailed stock interior while being able to scream past at (35 m/s) 68 knots at it's top speed (with the Panther engine . Marine Boat. Coincidentally, the PT-309 ("Oh Frankie! Now located in a New Jersey boatyard in awaiting restoration.[46]. "), was named in honor of Frank Sinatra, with whom the boats' Commanding Officer met at a nightclub shortly before MTBRON 22 left New York for the Mediterranean Theatre. [5], By September 1938 the U.S. Navy had received a total of 24 design proposals for the small boat and 13 design proposals for the larger 70-footer. If you are in doubt as to the purpose or usage of a piece of equipment, don't hesitate to ask. 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. INSTALL INTERIOR BOAT LIGHTS. Later that same year, Higgins was to build PT-70 (at their own expense) that incorporated slight improvements over PT-6 Prime. Date October 1981 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. Maximum sustained speed of 27.2 knots in rough seas; maximum speed 40.9 knots. PT Boat Background Japanese Planning Pearl Harbor Patrol Torpedo boats were built during a war that changed the way of life for Americans virtually overnight. 03:33. Courtesy PT BOATS, INC. The Japanese were initially cautious when operating their capital ships in areas known to have PT boats, knowing how dangerous their own Type 93 torpedoes were, and assumed the Americans had equally lethal weapons. Two of the experimental PT-Boats also still survive, PT-3 (built by Fisher Boat Works) in New Jersey and PT-8. Their superchargers, intercoolers, dual magnetos, and two spark plugs per cylinder reflected their aircraft origins. Early PT boats (Elco PT20 through PT44) mounted Dewandre plexiglas-enclosed hydraulically operated rotating turrets. While docked, PT boat squadrons were supported by PT boat tenders or base facilities which supplied boat crews with hot meals. Finish adequate. Beginning in mid-1943, some boats were fitted with one or two .30 cal Browning machine guns on the forward torpedo racks on pedestal mounts. Many got up to four torpedo tubes and a 20mm anti-aircraft gun, while a few even got mortars or rockets. In 1943, an inquiry was held by the Navy to discuss planing, hull design, and fuel consumption issues. A PT boat carried 3,000 US gallons (11,400L) of 100 octane aviation fuel, enough for a 4M-2500 equipped boat to conduct a maximum 12-hour patrol. PT 48 was one of the first 4 boats to arrive at Tulagi, on 12 October 1942. The resulting PT boat designs were the product of a small cadre of respected naval architects and the Navy. The shallow depth meant Allied destroyers were unable to follow them due to the risk of running aground and the barges could be protected by an umbrella of shore batteries. The Board of Inspection and Survey, headed by Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr., conducted comparative service tests[9] off New London, 21 to 24 July 1941, using the following boats: Each member of the Board conducted an independent inspection of every boat class, evaluating them for structural sufficiency, habitability, access, arrangement for attack control, and communication facilities. [23] Afterwards, the PT mission in the Solomon Islands was deemed a success.[23]. She is available for public viewing, and has portions of her hull cut away to display the cramped interior of the crew's quarters. He named the vessel Schumann's "Big Blue" and ran the business until 2002. Boat ID: 36552. Shortly after her retirement from service, the PT-796 was used as a float during President John F. Kennedy's inaugural parade to represent PT-109, with the PT-109 hull number painted on the bow, and several of PT-109's surviving crew members manning the boat. Five 78-foot (24m) boats were assigned to Squadron 14 (PT-98 through PT-102) which was commissioned in early 1943; and ten boats assigned to Squadron 26 (PT-255 thru PT-264) which was commissioned in mid 1943. The course started from the mouth of New London Harbor, to Sarah Ledge, then led around the eastern end of Block Island, then around Fire Island Lightship, finishing at Montauk Point Whistling Buoy. A sailor in training to handle a US Navy PT torpedo boat mans one of the twin 50 cal AA machine guns which form the ship's aerial defenses, circa 1944. Improvements upon Packard's World War I Liberty L-12 2A engine, the successive "M" for "marine" designated 3M-2500, 4M-2500, and 5M-2500 generations all featured slight changes and more power. As a result, two types 45-foot (14m) and 55-foot (17m) of British Royal Navy Coastal Motor Boats were obtained for testing. Very little tendency to pound in a seaway. 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. Not invited to participate in the original design competition, by late 1940, Huckins had a meeting with Captain James M. Irish, Chief of Design of BuShips, and offered to build a "planing seagoing hull" PT boat, on the condition the Navy loan Huckins engines and agree to look at the Huckins boat. (Here are selected photos on this topic, but full relevance is not guaranteed.) The exaggerated claims by Bulkeley about the effectiveness of the PTs in combat against larger craft allowed him to recruit top talent, raise war bonds, and caused overconfidence among squadron commanders who continued to pit PTs against larger craft. So here are a few more of my collection. [9], The Elco 77-Footer Design Demonstrates:[9], The Huckins 72-Foot Design Demonstrates:[9], The Navy Yard Philadelphia 81-Foot Design Demonstrates:[9], The Higgins 81-Foot Design Demonstrates:[9], The Higgins 76-Foot Design Demonstrates:[9], The Board arrived at the following recommendations:[9], The Board also had the following opinion on structural sufficiency: "During the first series of tests (2124 July) the Huckins design (PT-69), the Philadelphia design (PT-8) and the Higgins design (PT-6) completed the open sea endurance run without structural damage. PT-796 ("Tail Ender") is a 78-foot (24m) Higgins. Be sure to check website at www.savetheptboatinc.com PT-658 was named to the. [16][17] Another automatic weapon commonly mounted on PT boats was the 20mm Oerlikon cannon. In spite of Bulkeley's claim that introduction of the Mark 13 torpedo to PT boats in mid-1943 all but eliminated the early problems that PT boats had with their obsolete Mark 8s,[23] difficulties remained. 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. Beam 22in, Engine Electric. 70 cm. Most of my experience as an interior designer of ships for the Indonesian government, BUMN, and private boats. The "PT" in a PT boat is an abbreviation for patrol torpedo. The M4/M9 37mm auto cannon had a relatively high rate of fire (125 rounds per minute) and large magazine (30 rounds). After the war, American military interviews with captured veterans of the Imperial Japanese Navy, supplemented by the available partial Japanese war records, were unable to verify that all the PT boat sinking claims were valid. by Thomas Fleming 2/22/2011. The discussion on rounded doors and my post with a couple of shots of a WWII PT interior got me thinking somebody might like to see a bit more of what* an Elco PT boat actually looked like inside.*. [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. Ability to make a maximum sustained speed of 39.7 knots; maximum speed 44.1 knots with heavy ordnance load. The first three of the new design (PT-95 through PT-97) were initially kept in the Jacksonville area for testing, resulting in several important modifications to the overall design (these boats were later assigned to Squadron 4 in 1942). PT-305 was looking good, with a lifeboat on her foredeck, jauntily tied fast over one-half of her charthouse. While serviceable naval vessels in their own right, the group lacked the performance and capabilities that the USN sought. In the USN they were organized in Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons (MTBRONs).[1]. 146 boats, armed with 18in (460mm) torpedoes, were built for Lend Lease, and exported to Allied powers such as Canada, Britain, Norway, and the Soviet Union. Charles Schumann in the 1980s. PT 48 is the only remaining 77' Elco PT Boat and a member of the heroic WWII "Mosquito Fleet". The nucleus of this collection are PT Boats 617 and 796, the world's only restored pair of PTs on public exhibition. PT-728, a surviving Vosper boat built under license at the Annapolis Boat Yard in Maryland, was restored in Key West, Florida. The first Higgins boats for the U.S. Navy were used in the battle for the Aleutian Islands (Attu and Kiska) as part of Squadrons 13 and 16, and others (MTBRON15 and MTBRON22) in the Mediterranean against the Germans. Some 200 US gallons (760L) an hour were consumed at a cruising speed of 23 knots (43km/h), increasing to 500 US gallons (1,900L) per hour at top speed. [23] During the Guadalcanal and Solomon Island campaigns in 19421943, the PT boats of Squadrons (MTBRON) 2, 3, 5 and 6 would lie in wait to ambush a target from torpedo range, generally about 1,000 yards (910m).[23]. All boats suffered from some sort of structural failure: forward chine guards ripped away, bottom framing under bows broken, side planking cracked [indicating lack of longitudinal strength], and other weaknesses. [3] In February 1915, this Hickman sea sled demonstrated 35kn (65km/h; 40mph) speeds in rough winter seas off Boston to both US and foreign representatives but again, he received no contracts. Volume builders such as Beneteau and Sea Ray have now commissioned French and Italian design companies. Motor torpedo boat PT-796, was laid down on 3 May 1945, launched on 23 June, and completed after the end of the war on 26 October as a 78-foot PT boat built by Higgins Industries of New Orleans, LA. She was preparing to leave her cozy berth inside the corrugated steel boathouse. The brand new Trawler Forum Burgee is now available for order. The Admiralty representative for this sea sled demonstration was Lieutenant G.C.E. [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. PT Interior. These were to be provided to the Dutch forces under Lend Lease but were re-requisitioned to the USN as PT 368371 after the fall of the Netherlands to German forces. 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. Propulsion was via a trio of Packard 4M-2500 and later 5M-2500 supercharged gasoline-fueled, liquid-cooled V-12 marine engines. 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. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the war by ineffective torpedoes, limited armament, and comparatively . 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). It has been released as PT 207 and PT 212 and maybe others. Equipped armament for the smaller proposal was to be either two torpedoes and two depth charges, or .50-cal machine-guns and a smokescreen generator. [9], The average speed results from the 185nmi (343km; 213mi) course were: Elco 77-footer (PT-21), 27.5kn (50.9km/h; 31.6mph); Higgins 76-footer (PT-70), 27.2kn (50.4km/h; 31.3mph); Higgins MRB and Philadelphia Navy Yard boat (PT-8), 24.8kn (45.9km/h; 28.5mph). Check back soon for further detailed videos about starting up the engines and other operational details. The boatyards were located in Annapolis, Bristol, City Island, Miami, and Los Angeles. On early series of boats, this cannon was mounted on the stern. Technically the stem post ends at frame 9 and the keel begins. The wooden PT boat was less than half the displacement and intended for inshore/offshore work. The 691 P boat is boathouse kept and the work continues at the current time with the gun carriages for the two twin .50 cal gun turrets under construction and as well, the interior accommodation continues to go forward.