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 Author  Topic: Elco interior colors
C Marin Faure

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of C Marin Faure   Send Email To C Marin Faure Posted on: Jan 4, 2007 - 5:29pm
On the subject of boat colors, does anyone know or remember what the predominant interior colors were in a PT-103-class Elco boat? I am not a modeler but I'm writing a full-length story that takes place on a new 80' Elco in early 1943 and I'd like to make my descriptions of the boat as accurate as possible. I have crawled all over the inside and outside of the Elco at Battleship Cove, but that was final model Elco and it has many differences from the earlier boats. The interior of that boat is primarily white, or off-white, which makes sense as it makes the inside of the boat lighter.

So I'd be curious to know if all the Elco 80' boats were painted more or less the same way on the inside or were there other colors or shades used?


C. Marin Faure
Sammamish, Washington

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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: Jan 5, 2007 - 5:16pm
I spoke with former gunners mate, Wallace Mcneish who was on PT 374 for 3 years 7 months. Last year we drove to Battleship Cove so he could check out the 2 PT Boats on display. Of course Wallace went thru the boat topside and below deck and made his final report so to say. As most PT Vets who go thru the boat, they always seem to say. " Hey I don't remember that or we did not have that on our boat, or this is not correct". One thing I will remember Wallace saying was that the color of the interior of the boat was just like his, an off white, white color, which of course brightened things up below deck. During one inspection, Wallace said the Squadron Commander was not happy with the paint on the interior of his boat, so they hijacked some white paint and redid the crews quarters.


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C Marin Faure

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of C Marin Faure   Send Email To C Marin Faure Posted on: Jan 5, 2007 - 5:38pm
Thanks much Frank. I took photos when I was crawling around inside the Battleship Cove Elco but I've managed to misplace them. The well-lit interior photos in Victor Chun's book on PT boats show a "white" interior but one never knows with a black and white photo.

I thought it was kind of neat that inside this very utilitarian boat where the diagonal hull planking was exposed and minimal or no effort was made to cover up the construction that there were some nicely made, natural-finish wood components in the small officers' quarters on the port side of the boat. Just enough to give it a bit of a nautical look.

I've ridden on the Higgins boat in Portland, and while at the time that boat still had a ways to go in terms of its restoration it was obvious that the Higgins had a much more utilitarian and stark interior than the Elco. I guess that was part of the tradeoff for having a much larger engine room that could accomodate three direct drive engines instead of having to run two of them through V-drives. It was interesting to see at Battleship Cove that Elco finally managed to eliminate the power-sapping V-drives in their final version.

Thanks again for the information.


C. Marin Faure
Sammamish, Washington

Total Posts: 27 | Joined: Dec 20, 2006 - 11:43pm | IP Logged

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: Jan 5, 2007 - 7:44pm
No doubt that the Elco Crews Quarters was much more spacious and comfortable then that of the Higgins Boat. After the many times I have been to Battleship Cove, I still marval at the construction of this once great boat. To think that a wooden boat would fight among steel hulled vessels in a sometimes turbulant Sea still amazes me. Each time I stand in the Crews Quarters I can't help but drift back in time wishing it was me that was part of a Squadron.


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VCR

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jan 5, 2007 - 8:11pm
Way back in the day before the internet i was going to college at Johnson and Wales university in RI-I had no idea at the time that there was an actual elco there.
Do they allow tours on the inside of the boat?


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C Marin Faure

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of C Marin Faure   Send Email To C Marin Faure Posted on: Jan 5, 2007 - 10:56pm
I don't know what the policy is now regarding interior tours of the boats at Battleship Cove but in the late 90s when I was given permission to spend several hours alone inside the Elco boat the policy was that the general public could view the outside of the boat only. The curator told me the plan was to cut some viewing windows in the hull so people could see into some of the interior spaces from vieweing platforms-- I don't know if this was subsequently done.

PT vets were allowed to go inside the boat if they wished. The only other people allowed into the boat (at that time) were members of PT Boats, Inc who had made prior arrangements with the curator to tour the interior.

The Elco boat (the Higgins was stil undergoing restoration when I was there) is surprisingly tricky to get around in. There are lots of oppotunities to whack your head, particularly on the huge transverse beam in the crew's quarters which I never did learn to duck under. All the ladders are narrow and vertical and the doors between compartments require some real bending and twisting to get through. No problem for a crew of teen and twenty-somethings but for folks more advanced in age the interior can be a real challenge. The curator told me this is one reason they are, or were, so restrictive on access to the boat's interior. There is the real danger someone could get hurt in the process of climbing around.

Plus they have done a great job of "outfitting" the interior in much the same way it would have been in service, and having a lot of people filing through could jeopardize some of the items inside the boat.

I'm sure one could find out the current visting rules from PT Boats, Iinc. or the current curator of the PT exhibit.


C. Marin Faure
Sammamish, Washington

Total Posts: 27 | Joined: Dec 20, 2006 - 11:43pm | IP Logged

earl

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of earl  Posted on: Jan 6, 2007 - 6:06am
HELLO THE INTERIOR OF PT108,IN JULY,1944, WAS OFF WHITE.INCLUDING THE BILGES.I USED TO STORE SOME CANNED GOODS UNDER THE DECK,IN THE GALLEY,IN THE BILGES. ALSO WHEN WE WERE ON PATROL AT NIGHT WE USED RED LIGHTS BELOW DECK AND IN THE CHARTROOM.THAT WAS SO THAT,WHEN THE HATCH OVER THE GALLEY WAS OPENED THE LIGHT WOULD NOT BE SEEN FROM THE BEACHES,ETC.
I RECEIVED A VERY SEERIOUS INJURY TO MY FACE,WHILE HEADING OUT TO PATROL STATION ONE NIGHT.THE SEAS WERE VERY BAD AND WHEN I WENT BELOW DECK TO GET A SHIRT FROM MY LOCKER WE HIT AN EXTORDINARILLY BIG WAVE AND IT THREW ME UP INTO THE AIR IN THE CREWS QUARTERS AND I LANDED FACE DOWN ON THE BOARD SEPERATING THE BUNKS.KNOCKED ME OUT AND BLOOD WAS ALLL OVER THE PLACE.ONE OF THE CREW CAME DOWN AND SAW ME.AND CALLED THE SKIPPER. HE SAID HE COULDN'T SEW IT UP THEN AS IT WAS SO ROUGH OUT.I TOLD HIM TO PULL THE SKIN TOGETHER AND APPLY A LARGE BUTTERFLY BANDAGE ACROSS IT.HE ALSO GAVE ME A SHOT OF HIS MEDICINAL BRANDY.THIS DESCRIBES A LITTLE OF THE DANGER OF BEING BELOW DECK. AFTER A SHORT I STILL HAD TO RESUME MY WATCH STATION TOPSIDE. EARL

earl richmond

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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: Jan 6, 2007 - 6:24am
VCR and EARL

First, VCR you must have a membership in good standing with PT BOATS INC, which is $25.00 for a single membership per year. That gets you the PT BOAT NEWSLETTER twice per year, plus discounts in the ships store and the chance to go onboard the Elco or Higgins boats at Battleship Cove. Before going to the Cove it is recommended that you contact PT Boat Coordinator Don Shannon, who will make sure someone is there to let you onboard. Yes, you can go below decks as well. As a non member, you can only view the boat from the catwalks built around the boat.

Earl, I was always amazed at the non combat dangers that sometimes plagued these small boats. No one including myself can fully understand mother nature and the dangers of the Sea. One Skioper had told me once that no one was allowed below decks on his boat during General Quarters except of course in the chart house and engine room. Being out on patrol every man could possibly be injured while on duty, and most times those injured would be tended to by his fellow crewmembers, layed out below decks or above, and left to be on his own until such time the boat returned or in some instances another ride in was possible. Today, if one cuts a small cut, they rush themselfs to the Hospital. Can you imagine being injured by machine gun fire or worse, then laying there with minimal First Aid, and hopefully a shot of moraphine, while things are going on around you, then getting the ride of your life back to Base. This is why you guys to me will always be my Hero's....


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earl

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of earl  Posted on: Jan 6, 2007 - 7:08am
GOOD MORNING FRANK YOU ARE CORRECT IN THAT,DURING GENERAL QUARTERS,NO ONE WAS ALLOWED DECK.BETWEEN,DURING,BEFORE AND AFTER GQ YOU WERE ALLOWED TO DO SO. I HAD COFFEE ,DRINKS AND SANDWICHES MADE UP BEFORE WE WENT OUT ON PATROL SO THAT THE CREW WOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO EAT ON WAY TO STATION, WHILE ON STATION AND AFTER WE LEFT STATION. WE WERE ON ALERT UNTIL GQ WAS CALLED.
YOU ARE ALSO CORRECT AS TO INJURY.I WAS TOLD THAT I COULD NOT BE STITCHED UNLESS IT WAS BEFORE 12 HOURS.WHEN WE GOT BACK TO BASE THE NEXT DAY ALL THEY COULD DO WAS CLEAN THE WOUND,APPLY SULPHA AND BANDAGE.I THEN REPORTED BACK TO SICK BAY REGULARLY TILL THE WOUND WAS HEALED.I GRADUALLY TOOK OVER THE PROCESS OF TAKING CARE OF IT MYSELF.THE WAITING FROM TIME OF INJURY TILL YOU SAW SOMEONE THAT CVOULD PROPERLY TAKE CARE OF IT WAS THE WORST.YOU IMAGINED ALL KINDS OF THINGS HAPPENING. I REALLY FELT BAD FOR THE GUYS THAT WERE REALLY HURT BAD.THEY WENT THRU A TERRIBLE ORDEAL. MY INJURY WAS MINOR COMPARED TO THEIRS. EARL

earl richmond

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