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PT Boats - General
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[StartQuote] GUYS; I hope this one does not go the same way the PT 109 paint topic went, but here is my two cents and few cents more: In reference to some photos I have seen, a common practice around Guadalcanal.....in the early days(Nov 1942-Feb 1943 time frame), was to have the mast in the stow positionRON 2, and 6. This was for 77' as well as 80' Elco's. The thing making the two boats different in regards to this was the 80' was "folded" down on top of the dayroom. This would obviously create a tangle foot situation for the rear .50 cal gunner who might be in another location of the boat when GQ was sounded(for instance, a diving enemy plane coming out of the sun during daylight hours. If the gunner had to scramble across the top of the dayroom, he might trip and injure himself. I suppose this would also be true at night, but it is my impression the gunner would already be in the turret, since at night, the crew was already at a hightened sense of alert, and already at their posts/GQ stations, but it could happen. As for 109, I have only seen the really bad water damaged photo in Donovans book that might suggest, that 109 had her mast removed, however, it must be remembered, that during the time the photo was taken, JFK was op testing the boat, and honing the crews warfighting skills. So it is possible the mast was removed for some repairs/replacement. Even though the photo mention was taken between May-July 1943, it will be remembered 109 was supposed to recieve radar, which would have made her the first boat in RON 2 to get radar. If the line in the movie can be used as a loose reference point, this would have meant, she would have recieved her radar in SEPT 1943. Every other photo of 109 I have seen, does not have the correct angle to determine if the mast is removed or simply folded down in the stow position.The RON 6 PT 116 photo on Gene Kirklands site also shows 116 with either the mast folded or removed, the photo has to be enlarged to be sure. Lets face some operational facts her, the RON 2 boats at times only used the small mast on the stern to carry the national ensign, sometimes they got underway without it even up and at the time that was the only purpose for the large mast on the dayroom roof. Nobody used mast mounted signal flags, signaling was done with semaphore hand flags, or at night with blinker light. It is interesting to note here, PT 109 was the first boat in RON 2 to mount a radar unit, under Bryant Larson command, a PBY surface search radar unit(the same unit seen on PT 28 on Gene's website) was mounted on the bow, but was removed after unsuccessful operational tests were performed. Even though JFK was supposedly to get radar installed on 109 in SEPT 1943, He was still the first Skipper in RON 2 to get radar permanently installed on the boat as PT 59, got hers in late SEPT 1943 and he was Skipper. Take care, TED [EndQuote]
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