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Topic: PT BOATS AT PEARL HARBOR |
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VCR |
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Posted on: Jan 6, 2007 - 7:27pm
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The whole forgetting about the little guys deal....I recently was thumbing thru what was billed as the "complete book of boats of WW2" and there was a slight blurb about a higgens boat.
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C Marin Faure
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 Posted on: Jan 7, 2007 - 2:23pm
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Of course another problem is the term 'Higgins boat." To PT vets or enthusiasts, a Higgins boat is the PT boat designed and built by Higgins. But to almost everyone else, a "Higgins boat" is the nickname for the ubiquitous little LCVP that was used in virtually every amphibioius landing during the war.
It was not until recentliy that I learned that a) the LCVP was made of wood, and b) they were designed and built by Higgins in Louisiana. But in recent conversations with some WWII vets and historians, when I used the term "Higgins boat" in reference to PT boats they all assumed I was talking about an LCVP.
Just last week a friend was going on at great length about the immaculately restored "Higgins boat" in a museum near New Orleans. As he talked I was envisioning a restored Higgins PT boat and was a bit surprised as I was not aware of a fully restored PT boat in the New Orleans area. Finally it came out that what my friend had seen was an immaculately restored Higgins LCVP.
I've read a number of books about Naval craft in WWII and about specific campaigns in the European or Pacific theatres, Leyte Gulf for example. In these books the PT boats were all just lumped together into one type with no distinction made between Elco PTs and HIggins PTs. The LCVP, on the other hand, was a class of boat on its own. So it's possible the term "Higgins boat" might be used in reference to LCVPs in the same book where PT boats are simply called "PT boats" with no distinction made between their manufacturers.
C. Marin Faure
Sammamish, Washington |
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