PT-617
 The boat in 2008
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PT-617 (fully Motor Torpedo Boat PT 617 , also Big Red Cock or Dragon Lady ) is the name of a PT speed boat of the United States Navy . The boat , built in1945 by Electric Boat , is now out of the water as a museum ship in a specially built hall within Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts . PT-617 was addedto the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark inDecember 1989.
description
The 24 meters (80 feet ) long boat consists of two layers Mahogany - planks diagonally on frames of spruce -, oak are mounted and mahogany wood. The construction was additionally reinforced by various measures, including a textile layer between the planks.
Below deck from stern to bow are the aft peak , the engine room, a lounge for the crew, two officers' cabins, a mess , the magazine, the galley , the crew quarters and the forepeak . From the fair, a ladder leads up to the navigation room with radio and radar system and on to the bridge.
The three 12-cylinder Packard 4M-2500 engines were specially developed for use on PT speedboats and were liquid-cooled . Each of the motors drove its own propeller, giving the boat a total output of 4,050 hp (almost 3,000 kW), which it could accelerate to a maximum of 40 knots. With the 9 tons of AvGas usually on board , the PT-617 had an average range of 500 miles.
The weapons on board in addition to the torpedoes were mainly designed for firing at aircraft, smaller boats and stretches of beach. In particular, the 40 mm Bofors gun was standard equipment on PT boats.
A steel container filled with titanium tetrachloride at the stern of the boat served as a fog generator , the contents of which formed a thick fog in connection with the humidity of the surroundings .
Shortly before it was accepted into the Naval Museum, the PT-617 , which was converted into a yacht, was used as a tour boat for divers in Florida. The museum restored the boat inside and out and returned it to its original condition using similar and equivalent materials. Most of the armament was also reassembled.
Historical meaning
Although the motor torpedo boat had been developed by the Royal Navy at the beginning of the 20th century , it only gained international fame through its use by the United States Navy during World War II . The American adaptation was manufactured as a PT speedboat in large numbers and was mainly used to disrupt enemy supply lines in the South Pacific and to attack coastal facilities on the islands and atolls of the region. Better known missions include assisting the defense during the attack on Pearl Harbor and facilitating Douglas MacArthur's escape from Corregidor . PT boats took part in almost every Pacific battle and were also used in the Aleutian Islands , the English Channel and the Mediterranean . The PT speedboats became famous after the end of the war, especially through John F. Kennedy , who was the captain of PT-109 .
In 1989 there were only four PT boats from World War II left in the United States, including the PT-796, which was also registered as a National Historic Landmark . PT-617 is the only remaining 80-foot class boat while the other three are 78-foot class.
See also
- List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in Fall River
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
literature
- Robert J. Bulkley Jr .; John F. Kennedy ; Earnest McNeill Eller: At Close Quarters: PT Boats In The United States Navy . Verdun Press, San Francisco 2015, ISBN 978-1-78625-206-7 .
- James P. Delgado: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. (PDF) United States Department of the Interior , National Park Service , June 28, 1989, accessed December 5, 2017 .