PT speed boat
PT boat is an abbreviated name for Patrol Torpedo Boats ( German : Patrol Torpedo Boats ) used by the US Navy during World War II . Contrary to this designation, the official classification was motor torpedo boat , as in the British Royal Navy . The US Navy's PT boat fleet was also known as the Mosquito Fleet .
The PT boats were used in large numbers to monitor the islands of the Pacific , which are characterized by reefs and atolls , but also in the Mediterranean and the English Channel . In total, more than 700 PT boats were built during the war. The standard crew was 14 men who were trained for all positions on board.
construction
The Elco Naval Division , Bayonne , New Jersey , built the majority of the boats, about 200 boats were built by Higgins Industries in New Orleans , a few of which were Canadian.
The design of the boats was heavily influenced by the British MTB . The wooden boats were manufactured in industrial series, some inland, and were powered by supercharged twelve-cylinder V-engines . The petrol engines of the Packard Motor Car Company type 4M-2500 (M = Marine) with a displacement of 2,490 cubic inches (equivalent to 40.8 liters) contributed 1,200 to 1,500 bhp ( brake horsepower ), ie from 1216 to 1521 hp. The engines developed from the Liberty L-12 aircraft engine had an extremely high consumption: With more than 11,000 liters of gasoline on board, the PT boats could only travel about twelve hours.
Mission concept
The large number of boats should allow the US Navy to monitor the confusing sea areas of the Pacific and to prevent enemy ship movements from being noticed. Their torpedo armament should, under favorable circumstances, allow the PT boats to sink an enemy battleship . In fact, no battleship or other capital ship was sunk in the war.
Because of their shallow draft, the small speedboats could go right up to the shore and provide fire support during landing operations. Sometimes they were also used to transport smaller troops.
Technical data of the standard version
Dimensions
- Length: 24.5 m
- Displacement : 55 t
Motorization
Armament
- Double-barreled 50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns on port and starboard
- 20 mm Oerlikon -Fla- MK rear
- four MK-8 torpedoes in tubes,
- Smoke generator
- Handguns
- Hand grenades
on some boats:
- two to four depth charges
The equipment varied. The armament in particular increased steadily in the course of the war, so towards the end of the war the following were also in use:
- Rocket launch rack for 16 unguided rockets
- 40 mm Bofors rapid fire cannons (instead of the 20 mm MK)
- 22.5-inch torpedo launch racks in place of the tubes
Some boats were also converted to gunboats for use against coastal freighters, although torpedoes were not carried to compensate for the weight.
Trivia
- In retrospect, probably the most famous speedboat was PT 109 , which was used in the Pacific War under the command of the later US President John F. Kennedy ; biographically edited by the author Robert J. Donovan as book PT 109: John F. Kennedy in WWII and filmed in 1963 under the title Patrol Boat PT 109 .
- PT 41 evacuated Douglas MacArthur from the Philippines in 1942 , which is, among other things, the subject of the film Speed Boats off Bataan , made by John Ford in 1945 .
- In the anime Black Lagoon , a PT boat plays an important role as a means of work and transportation for the protagonists.
Web links
- Battleship Cove - America's Fleet Museum (English)