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PT Boats of WWII
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PT Boats - General
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[StartQuote] Hello rcr, PT3 was built by Fisher Boat Works in Detroit to compete in the 59 foot class that the Navy said they were considering. "On June 8, 1939, a contract was let to the Fisher Boat Works, Detroit, Mich., for PT's 3 and 4. These boats were essentially the Crouch design, modified in some details by the Bureau of Ships." It was built and tested but the Navy did not accept her for use as a PT Boat since they decided it was too short to carry 4 torpedoes. Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons 1 and 2 were ordered south for the winter of 1940. Squadron 1, comprised of PT's 3, 4, 7, and 8, was beset by engineering mishaps. In Florida the boats were joined by the first PT tender, USS Niagara, whose repair facilities were limited, but she was the best available at the time, and the experience gained in operating with the Niagara was to prove valuable in planning later tenders. Squadron 2, completed with the delivery of her last 70 foot Elco boats on December 31, 1940, made the trip to Miami without undue difficulty. All boats had been scheduled for shakedown cruises to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, but the Squadron 1 boats were clearly so inadequate that Squadron 2 sailed alone for Cuba. Squadron 1 stayed in Florida, where it took delivery of the Higgins boats, PT's 5 and the second PT6. (aka PT 6 "Prime") After the cruise to Cuba, further plans for cruising in the West Indies were cut short at the end of March, when the squadrons were ordered to proceed to New York to transfer most of their boats to the British under lend-lease. Of the Squadron 1 boats, only the Higgins-designed PT 6 was considered worth keeping for further tests; the British did not want the aluminum-hull PT 8, so PT's 3, 4, 5, and 7 were scheduled for transfer to the British, who desperately needed them in the Mediterranean. The Squadron 1 boats and PT's 9 to 15 were transferred in April. Transfer of PT's 16 to 19 was delayed until July, so that those four boats, with PT's 6 and 8, could be sent to Newport, R.I., to assist in training new personnel pending delivery of the first 77-footers. Then sometime in late 1941 the PT3 was reclassified as a "Small Boat" and changed to become a Harbor Patrol Craft for the duration fo WW2. I am unsure why she was never sent to England. Today, the PT3 still exists and is for sale I believe by the current owner. I got this info from the book "At Close Quarters" by Captain John Bulkley. Here is a photo from that same book. Jerry [image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/PT3andPT9.jpg[/image] The Scott-Paine PT 9 paces PT 3, the Fisher Boat Works' 58-foot boat. (ACME PHOTO) Jerry Gilmartin[EndQuote]
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