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 Author  Topic: PT's Placed In Service
Allan

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Allan   Send Email To Allan Posted on: Oct 3, 2011 - 7:34pm
Gentlemen:

I have a bit of a quandry. I have enough information to know that PT 113 and PT 114 and another PT, all three under command of Lt. Cmdr. Clifton Maddox, were sent on an excursion to Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. I have three newspaper articles indicating that the PT's were there for only a few days and left July 23, 1942 under less than "honorable" circumstances, giving the USN a black name, at least in that island community.

My problems: Maddox wasn't the commander of Ron 6 until August 4; PT 113 (Ron 5) was placed into service July 23, apparently the same day that they left Edgartown. PT 114 (Ron 5) wasn't placed into service until two days after they reportedly left Edgartown.. (All these dates come from At Close Quarters). Yet the boats and Maddox were at Edgartown on training "excursion". Worse, those PTs weren't commissioned until September 1.

Is there an explanation for these discrepancies? Were "in service" dates merely paperwork insertions? Maddox had a reputation but was he such a loose cannon that he would "commandeer" three PT's and take them on a jaunt to Edgartown for a few days as "training"?

It's a mystery right now, until I get some help.

Allan


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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: Oct 4, 2011 - 8:13am
Allan;
It must be remembered that some discrepancies are in At Close Quarters, one off the top of my head is that Ensign David M. Levy was awarded the Bronze Star for actrions at Tulagi, but it is not in the back of the book. I am sure there are some more. However, in Capt Robert Bulkley's(RON 12) favor, the massive amount of doucmentation(with after action reports, crew rosters, maps, in person interviews with PT officers passing through DC and BUPERS, photos, etc) that he dove into had to be mind boggling, even considering that he had a small staff assisting him in 1946 when the manuscript was actually written, for 16 years afterward his manuscript was used as a reference until the point that the Navy decided to print it. How he ever cut all of it down to a 509 page book I will never know, I don't even think I could get it down to 1000 pages. as far as boats being used before their acceptance date, I don't know, acceptance trails were supposed to last only a few days at the most, During these trials they are know to have traveled between the Elco Plant, NYC Sea Bouy, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Melville, so maybe they were "borrowed" for the "event" you mentioned, but if this is so, and they recieved this kind of bad press, I bet "private excursions" it never happened again.
Take care,
TED


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Allan

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Allan   Send Email To Allan Posted on: Oct 4, 2011 - 2:13pm
Ted:

I smiled as I read your reply. I have additional information regarding this "tactic" and after thinking about it most of last night and part of today and then again after reading your post, I think we're on to something here.

I'm now of the opinion that this excursion to Edgartown was some kind of "initiation" or "challenge", for lack of a better reference point. I say that for two important reasons. Within the same material (printed newspaper accounts) I have found references to Capt. A. Loring Swasey (a Naval architect) who habitually summered in Edgartown and his bringing several PT's there in July of 1941 on an excursion and for no apparant other reason. Further, another article references an excursion of PT's having been brought in during the latter part of June into early July (two or three nights at most, I should think). So, given the reputation of Maddox, it seems to me that he might have "taken up the challenge" and slipped away with three boats on his own excursion in late July. Especially after hearing the stories as related by those who slipped away and returned.

It just seems incredible that, given the reputation of Lt. Cmdr. Specht, that any boats could "disappear" for days without being challenged. But, of course, that might be what it was all about, anyway---- the challenge. It's an interesting story regarding overnight escapades with the locals and the firing of depth charges into the bay, Coast Guard involvement, washed out cabanas at the shoreline, unexploded depth charges laying on the floor of the bay, cancelled yacht club regattas, newspaper editorials condemning the entire US Navy as playboys, etc., etc. It will all be in my book if I can ever finish this work. My father (PT 113) talked about it, and Ens. De Mond (PT 113) wrote about it in his personal diary.

Thanks for your take on the subject. You're always a help. Perhaps others will have some thoughts.

Allan


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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: Oct 4, 2011 - 3:44pm
Allan;
Sorry about my typing, I was thinking faster than the fingers were moving, so I had a few spelling errors.
Remember, in the Navy,( in certain parts of the Navy) training is a very "broad" word, and encompasses, many different aspects, everything you have mentioned so far, does fall under the word training. If they happened to appear to be "terrorizing" the locals while performing this training, it usually fell under , well it’s all part of" Doing your part for the war effort ", and maybe a formal letter of apology from CDR Specht to the town council. Or maybe the just let the whole thing blow over.( It really was nothing that every town in the USA was enduring, such as Farmingdale, Long Island, the home Republic Aviation, and Bethpage Long Island home of Grumman Aviation, with hot shot Army Air Force and Navy pilots buzzing houses, parks and playgrounds, public beaches, etc.). The PT boys could not be faulted, just because they were enjoying themselves while "Training".
Take Care,
TED


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Allan

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Allan   Send Email To Allan Posted on: Oct 4, 2011 - 7:23pm
Roger that, Ted !! As they tell it- they enjoyed themselves!!


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Iain Martin

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Iain Martin   Send Email To Iain Martin Posted on: Jun 10, 2016 - 9:08am
Does anyone have copies of those newspaper articles about the PT boats being in Edgartown?

iain.cameron.martin@gmail.com




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Jimbo Melanson

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 11, 2016 - 6:54am
being a part time Cape Cod boy I'd love to see those articles if at all possible!!........

Jimbo

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Jimbo Melanson

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 11, 2016 - 6:54am
being a part time Cape Cod boy I'd love to see those articles if at all possible!!........

Jimbo

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