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 Author  Topic: Did Israel Get 80' Elcos Post WW2?
PeterTareBuilder

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of PeterTareBuilder  Posted on: Jan 11, 2009 - 1:22am
Hi there.

Just curious. Did Israel ever use any 80' Elco boats after WW2?

Cheers from Peter

"Give me a faster PT boat for I'd like to get out of harm's way!"

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  TED WALTHER

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of TED WALTHER   Send Email To TED WALTHER Posted on: Jan 11, 2009 - 7:00am
Peter;
What a curious question, why do you ask? I would say if they got any boats, they would be Vosper, BPB, or Fairmile B.
Let me know if you have anything about this, I am interested, I was in that area of the world last year. I have also had reports as late as 2000, that some of those Higgins/or Hggins copies which were built in the 1950's were still around in Yugoslavia, or the former Yugoslavia.
Take care,
TED


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PeterTareBuilder

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of PeterTareBuilder  Posted on: Jan 11, 2009 - 10:07am
Hi Ted.

It was just an idea I had. Curious is my middle name. Actualy, I thought it might be interesting to build an Elco in Israeli service if they had ever used them. After all Israel did get a lot of surplus WW2 equipment from just about everyone.

Cheers from Peter

"Give me a faster PT boat for I'd like to get out of harm's way!"

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rcr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jan 12, 2009 - 6:52pm
you might refer to a previous post I made about PT 740


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PeterTareBuilder

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of PeterTareBuilder  Posted on: Jan 12, 2009 - 10:24pm
Hi rcr.

Would you be kind enough to provide a link to that post?

Thanks from Peter

"Give me a faster PT boat for I'd like to get out of harm's way!"

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rcr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jan 13, 2009 - 9:48am
photo of nine returned lend lease pt boats Germany October 13


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PeterTareBuilder

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of PeterTareBuilder  Posted on: Jan 13, 2009 - 11:26am
Shalom rcr.

It took a bit of searching but I finally found that post.

A few questions.

1) So, the planned transfer of boats to the Israeli navy *WERE* 80' Elcos?

2) Do you know *WHY* the transfer never took place?

3) Do you know how the boats were reconfigured? What weapons they mounted?

Thanks and cheers from Peter

"Give me a faster PT boat for I'd like to get out of harm's way!"

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rcr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jan 13, 2009 - 5:09pm
I only know that the boats were in that batch that was returned at that time including PT 740 and they were Elco boats and someone nixed the transfer to Israel. They were subsequently stripped and sold to various civilian buyers. They would have been configured exactly as you see them in that photo.


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Chip Marshall

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jul 7, 2009 - 8:26pm
I have been trying to track down what happened to all the boats after the war. My main source of information is the BuShips records for each boat at the National Archives. Unfortunately, the records are not complete and, in some places, erroneous (the MTB hull number was used rather than the USN PT number). Anyway, I have not run across any HARD information concerning the transfer of US MTBs of any kind to Israel.

However, I have heard rumors and other whispers that they did get one or two Higgins PTs. I know (think I know anyway) the Vospers they got were English built, not lend lease from the US.

One of the places Russian lend lease boats of all kinds were returned was a Turkish port on the Black Sea. I have copies of desk logs from the USS Mount Rushmore (an LSD) describing the return of the boats, their movement to Izmir, stripping the boats of all military equipment, and turning them over to the State Department to sell off. All of the boats I have records of being returned in this fashion are Vospers. I suspect some are the kit boats from Annapolis Yacht Yard that were transported by rail to a Black Sea boatyard and assembled there. No way the boats could have been delivered directly to Sevastapol and other Black Sea ports.

Where I am going with this is that the Israelis may have gotten their hands on some of the hulls in Turkey. Supposedly, the Egyptians got their hands on two US PTs. But according to the survey reports for those boats, their condition was barely floating and missing all sorts of parts, like engines and props. Turkey would be conveniently nearby.

Chip Marshall
Silver Spring, Maryland USA

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