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PT Boats of WWII
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PT Boats - General
Post a reply to: .30 cal cockpit gun
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[StartQuote] My reasearch has uncovered the following: At least two of the Division 17 boats, the 114 and the 120, had .30-cal. Browning M 1919 A4 machine guns mounted on top of one of the torpedo tubes on each boat. I have not been able to ascertain whether it was a forward or after tube. These were added early summer of 1943. These particular guns must have become available in a lot and they were mounted by the base force assigned to USS Hilo. These same type guns were used in the standard tripod mount system on the deck and forward of the chart house on PTs 113 and 120. But it appears that these two guns may have been moved from boat to boat, depending upon who was going out on patrol. CMoMM John Masters was killed while operating one of these on the foredeck of the 120 during a lively attack in January of '43. They became available early to the Div 17 boats but it seems that the first two may well have been "traded" away from Australian units before they were to become available "officially". Action reports show very large amounts of .30-cal. ammo being expended during attacks. Biggest drawback was that they had to be fired in short bursts because the lightweight barrels were prone to severe overheating. They were used "in close" where the fifties became inneffective on the low-riding troop laden barges. And-- they were highly maneuverable, therefore, effective against enemy personnel. Those six little boats of Div 17 did a lot of damage-- with damned little in the way of support. Allan [EndQuote]
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