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 Author  Topic: Japanese barges
Nathaniel Smith

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nathaniel Smith   Send Email To Nathaniel Smith Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 2:57pm
Is this what the Japanese barges looked like that Solomon Island PT's hunted? Does someone have a better picture of these barges?



natsmith

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BobPic

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 4:34pm
There were various types of barges and different sizes. Large ones could be fitted with big guns (75 mm) and small ones were towed, carrying only freight. I have one of them depicted on my website that I painted from memory. I'll try to insert it here .I hope it works.


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BobPic

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 4:38pm
Something didn't work right. If you want to see my memory of a typical barge, go to my website www.rpickett.com and chech under PT WW2. Click on the thumbnail


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Nathaniel Smith

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nathaniel Smith   Send Email To Nathaniel Smith Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 4:56pm
Thanks for the quick response. I download it. You did this from memory? I'd love to have your memory.


I also found this drawing on the web.


natsmith

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BobPic

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 5:45pm
Well, it wasn't completely from memory, I found a picture about the quality of the one you originally posted, then embellished it from memory. We had attacked one and thought we had sunk it, but in circling in the dark we lost it. At dawn there it was sitting relatively undamaged. Three men we had seen on board were gone. We threw a line on it and proudly towed it back to base. We were chewed out by the base intelligence officer (Whizzer White, remember him?).There was a firm rule against boarding such vessels because of the threaat of booby traps, disease and perhaps a load of sake.


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CJ Willis

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of CJ Willis  Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 7:12pm
Hi Bob: There was one on the beach at the entrance to Lambu Lambu Cove on Vella La Vella that looked like the one in your picture. Was that the one you towed back to base? It was already there when our squadron moved into Lambu. Don't know where it came from. The barges we encountered and sunk were much bigger and were armed.

C. J. Willis

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  Jerry Gilmartin

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jerry Gilmartin   Send Email To Jerry Gilmartin Posted on: Mar 8, 2010 - 8:09pm
Hey guys,
I found these in my collection from Alvin Hansen who was on the 222 boat in Samar. THese are a couple of Jap barges he took pics of. Jerry



The last picture is from the "Peter Tare" website, courtesy of EP Baker Brown.





Jerry Gilmartin

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BobPic

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Mar 9, 2010 - 8:25am
If it was a wooden vessel as opposed to a destroyer, corvette, etc, we classed it as a barge. Some were quite large , armed and dangerous. Some were over 100 ft long, has lower hold engines and sported large calibre gunnery. Even one with no fixed guns were dangerous if they carried a cargo of rifle totin' infantry. I don't know what happened to the one we towed home. We felt bad that Navy Brass rained on our parade by scolding us for one of our proud accomplishments. The Skipper wouldn't even let me write it up in the rough log, he was embarassed.


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Nathaniel Smith

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nathaniel Smith   Send Email To Nathaniel Smith Posted on: Mar 9, 2010 - 1:42pm
Were these barges wooden or metal (or both)?

I have read action reports that imply the 50 cal bounced off the barges.
At Close Quarters:
Some of the barges are tough. On the night of July 26-27, PT's 106,
117, and 154 engage six large barges so well armored that gunfire from the PT's ricochets harmlessly off their sides. These barges show no hesitation. When the PT's stop firing to reload, they close the range and open fire on the PT's. The PT's are hit many times by small-caliber fire, but suffer no casualties.

The action report for this night states:
One hundred fifty rounds of 50 caliber were fired at the center barge with no visible effect. Most all shots seem to ricochet harmlessly off it.



If these barges were wooden there would be no ricochet. My dad thought they were sand bagged.

I just found this on the internet:



natsmith

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Frank J Andruss Sr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Frank J Andruss Sr   Send Email To Frank J Andruss Sr Posted on: Mar 9, 2010 - 2:38pm
The Japanese quickly learned that PT BOATS were a dangerous foe in shallow waters. If they had any hope that one of their barges would survive an attack by PT BOATS, they needed to be fitted out with automatic weapons, and larger caliber guns. Certainly the barges would not be able to outrun the boats, so they depended on darkness, and running very close to shore.

It was quickly learned that by lining the barges with Sand bags, much of the PT BOATS smaller caliber weapons could be absorbed. Several barges were also outfited with light armor plate, as weight was not that big of a problem. After all, they were not built for speed. The PT BOATS quickly learned that these juicy targets were not so easy to sink, and in reality could cause big problems for the boats in the weapons they carried. It was not uncommon for the boats to need several firing passes to inflict damage on the barges. I recall speaking to one PT BOAT CREWMEN who said he must have fired 20 rounds of 37MM ammo into one barge with hardley no results.

As the barges were low to the water with high sides, troops could easily duck down and fire their weapons at the passing boats. With the massive amount of barges lost in the Pacific, one might think barge busting was an easy job when in reality it was tough business...........


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