History

PT Boats: “Half Bird and Half Fish”

PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat (hull classification symbol "PT", for "Patrol Torpedo"),
a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The
PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet".The boats were fast and maneuverable.
Constructed with laminated wood frames and plywood and fabric hulls, and powered by three 1500
hp engines, these boats could cruise at speeds of up to 50 knots.
The initial mission of the American PT boats was to battle destroyers. Experience showed that the
boats could be used for a variety of missions. Perhaps the most effective use of PTs was as "barge
busters". Since both the
Japanese in the New Guinea
area and the Germans in the
Mediterranean had lost
numerous resupply vessels to
Allied airpower during daylight
hours, each attempted to
resupply their troop
concentrations by using
shallow draft barges at night in
very shallow waters. 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.
PTs had sufficiently shallow
draft to follow them inshore
and sink them. Using torpedoes was ineffective against these sometimes heavily-armed barges, since
the minimum depth setting of the torpedo was about ten feet and the barges only drew five feet. To
accomplish the task, PTs in the Mediterranean and the Pacific installed more and heavier guns which
were able to sink the barges. One captured
Japanese soldier's diary described their fear
of PT boats by describing them as, "the
monster that roars, flaps it wings, and shoots
torpedoes in all directions".
Though their primary mission continued to be
attack on surface ships and craft, PT boats
were also used effectively to lay mines and
smoke screens, rescue downed aviators,
rescue shipwreck survivors, destroy Japanese
suicide boats, destroy floating mines, and to
carry out intelligence or raider operations.
Among the famous PT boats was PT-109,
commanded by future United States
President John F. Kennedy.

Another was PT-41, a 77 foot Elco boat commanded by Lieutenant
John D. Bulkeley, who rescued General Douglas MacArthur from certain
capture by the Japanese in a daring escape from Corregidor Island,
Philippines. This story inspired both the book, “They Were Expendable”,
and a movie of the same name. This story of the diminutive PT boats
beating overwhelming odds went a long way to prop up sagging
American morale in the dark days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The major builders of US Navy PT boats were ELCO in Bayonne, NJ,
Higgins Industries in New Orleans and Huckins Yacht Corp in
Jacksonville, FL. The British firm Vosper also built a few PT boats late in
the war.
All US PT boats were powered by three 12-cylinder gasoline-fueled
engines. These engines were built by the Packard Motor Car
Corporation, and were a modified design of the 3A-2500 V-12 liquidcooled
aircraft engine. Their aircraft
roots gave them many features of
aircraft engines, such as
superchargers, intercoolers, dual
magnetos, and two spark plugs per
cylinder, Fuel consumption of these
engines was phenomenal; a PT boat
carried 3,000 gallons of 100 octane
avgas. A normal patrol for these
boats would last a maximum of 12
hours. The consumption rate for
each engine at a cruising speed of
23 knots was about 66 gallons per hour per engine, or 200 gallons per hour for all 3 engines.
However, at top speed, gasoline consumption greatly increased - if underway at 41 knots, the boats
would burn 3,000 gallons of gas in about 6 hours.
PTs would usually attack under the cover of night. With their small size, low profile, and high speed,
they could use the night to get very close to the enemy without being detected, and could quickly
maneuver and escape once detected. They could also operate very close to the beach in shallow
waters (which both larger surface vessels and submarines could not) and used this ability to ambush
or hide, perform intelligence missions, commando team landings, rescue missions (mostly of downed
airmen), and even attack targets
ashore with gunfire, including
daring penetrations into
protected enemy harbors.
The boats would lie in wait to
ambush a target from torpedo
range, generally about 1000
yards. Once their position was
given away by the launch of a
torpedo, they would lay down a
smokescreen from sternmounted
generators to help
conceal their escape from ship searchlights or seaplane flares attempting to illuminating the PTs for
targeting by heavy-caliber guns. Depth charges were sometimes used as a last-ditch weapon to
confuse and scare off pursuing destroyers.
The wooden deck houses of PT boats were protected against small arms fire and splinter. However,
direct hits from enemy guns could and did result in catastrophic explosions with near-total crew loss.
Boat 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. Bombing attacks killed and
wounded crews even with near misses.

Living conditions aboard PT boats were cramped and primitive. They lacked refrigerators for meat,
milk, butter and eggs, so crews depended on the ingenuity of their cook (who might also be
quartermaster and signalman) and what he could do with Spam, Vienna sausage, and beans. Crews
would trade with other ships for supplies, or
sometimes even fish by aiming rifles or tossing
grenades into schools of fish.
At the end of the war, almost all surviving US PT
boats were disposed of shortly after V-J Day.
Hundreds of boats were deliberately stripped of all
useful equipment and then dragged up on the beach
and burned. This was done to minimize the amount of
upkeep the US Navy would have to do, since wooden
boats require much continuous maintenance, and
were not considered worth the effort. The level of
gasoline consumption relative to the boat's small size
also made their operational expense impracticable for
a peacetime navy. Much of this destruction activity occurred at PT Base 17, located on the island of
Samar, Philippines.

Fleet Obsolete has the largest existing collection of PT
boats. This nonprofit educational organization is based in
the historic Cornell Steamboat Company shop building in
Kingston NY. In addition to PT 728, the collection
comprises:

PT 48, a 77-foot Elco, located in Leesburg, Florida and in
need of major restoration. She has been cut down to 59
feet and used as a dinner cruise boat. At the time of this
article PT 48 is in the process of being moved to Kingston.

PT 459, a Higgins with documented 1943 combat history
off Cherbourg. She is out of the water in Albany, NY
awaiting restoration

PT 615, an 80’ Elco awaiting restoration in Kingston, NY.
The modified deckhouse has been removed and her
sleek shape is again in evidence.

PT 728 is the only surviving US-built Vosper designed hull. This boat is moored in Kingston NY and is
he only US Coast Guard inspected PT boat licensed to take passengers for hire. PT 728 was built in
the Annapolis Yacht Yard under license from the British company Vosper. The keel was laid on
August 10, 1945, launched on September 25th and completed with combat configuration on October
20th. PT 728 was slated to join the Soviet Navy, but with W.W.II at an end, she was decommissioned
November 28, 1945. She was sold to a private owner on August 18, 1947.

PT 728 appeared in the television series McCale’s Navy, the Julia Roberts film Sleeping With the
Enemy (made up to look like a Coast Guard vessel) and a History Channel program PT Boats (Great
Ships) about the role of PT Boats in World War II

Fleet Obsolete and the Historic Kingston Waterfront Museum encourage visitors to experience the
maritime heritage of the Hudson River by sponsoring rides and educational programs aboard a fleet
of PT boats, tug “Gowanus Bay” and other historic visiting vessels.
Robert Iannucci is the primary patron of the Fleet Obsolete collection. Tim Ivory is the-chief engineer
and preservation manager for PT 728. Tom Whyte is the captain and director of PT-728.