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 Author  Topic: Battle stations crew positions?
ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 23, 2007 - 5:11am
OK,
I what seems like an endless string of questions from me, here are a few more:
In GQ, on a boat with a 40mm, 37 mm and 3 20 mm on the bow, what were the crew positions?
Were there different positions for a gun attack vs. a torpedo attack?
Who manned the extra guns?

The late boats had 17 officers and crew, IIRC. How many would be below decks-Motor Macs, radar,etc. ?

Were the CO and Exec at the helm?

Thanks,
Ed


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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: Feb 23, 2007 - 9:25am
Ed;
Again, here you have a lot of leeway. If you want to man every position on your model, your best bet is to find out how many men were part of the crew, on the specific boat you are modeling(in your case PT 495, get a crew photo from PTHQ), during specific time period you want to represent. Some boats had a Skipper, Exec, and a second boat officer,(also if the boat was designated a lead boat, it would have the RON CO, or an Officer in tactical command, this officer might also be the Skipper of the boat if he was senior to the other boat captains in the section). Some boats also had a Chief of the boat(such in the case of BMC Boats Newberry of PT 155, his Skipper, LT Micheal Pessolano, had Boats at the helm during most patrols. As for crew GQ stations the 40 mm had 3-4 crewmen manning it(Aim, Shooter and 1-2 loaders), 20mm had 1 each as well as the 37mm. There was also1-2 men used as ammo runners/loaders sometimes. Radar would be in the pilothouse, sometimes he did double duty as comm guy, otherwise the was a seperate comm guy. 2-4 motormacs. and 1 each in .50 cal tubs. if there were more .50's or .30's mounted behind cockpit, and 1-2 more guys.
hope this helps,
TED


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ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 23, 2007 - 10:22am
Thanks Ted. That helps a lot. How about torpedomen. Were there 2? Did they do double duty and ammo runners/loaders for gun actions?

It looks like:

1 CO
1 Exec
1 Boat Chief
1 Radar/Comm
2 50 Cal
4 40 cal
1 37mm
2 (?) Torpedomen
2 Motor Macs
3 20mm (The 495 had 3 on the bow)

That's like 18 men and doesn't include ammo runners/loards unless the Torpedomen did double duty.
I'll try the PTHQ. Good idea.
Thanks,
Ed


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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: Feb 23, 2007 - 6:06pm
Ed;
2 torpedomen were the norm. What you have to remember is PT crewmen were cross trained in everyones job, this way if a gunner for instance was wounded, a motormac could take over the downed mans weapon. Or if the Torpedoman was hit, the radar or comm guy could take his place and if the electronic firing mechanism failed, this guy could( take a hammer/mallet and whack the manual firing charge, atop of the tube in early boats, or pull the manual release on the roll off racks). In other cases, you had cooks and storekeepers as gunners. Everyman was trained in all of the weapons, communication, navigation, engineering, and maintenance and hull repair, and I am not talking like in the fleet of today, where you train in certain areas just to get your ESWS/SWO pqs signed off and get your pin. You were cross trained because your life depended on the other guy and his life depended on you being able to do your job and his. This is still a pratice carried on today by the Navy SEALs
and in the SWCC community(of which I was a member for 12 years)which stands for Naval Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen(todays Descendants of the PT Boat men), just because its good business and for the same reasons as in WW II, every guy is trained in weapons, comms, navigation, engineering, self defense, etc.
hope this helps,
TED


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ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 23, 2007 - 7:07pm
Thanks. That all makes sense. I appreciate the help.
Ed


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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: Feb 24, 2007 - 6:37am
I WAS THE COOK ON PT108.MY FIRST GQ ASSIGNMENT WAS LOADER ON THE AFT 20 MM.MY DUTY STATION WAS IN THE TWIN 50MM COCKPIT TURRET.OF COURSE THIS WAS ALL AFTER MY REGULAR ASSIGNED DUTY AS COOK.I WAS ALSO INSTRUCTED IN HOW TO TURN ON THE AFT SMOKE SCREEN GENERATOR.ONE TIME MY SKIPPER CALLED ME TO THE COCKPIT AND GAVE ME INSTRUCTIONS ON STEERING THE BOAT AND LET ME ODO IT FOR ABOUT 1/2 HOUR.QUITE A FEELING WITH ALL THAT POWER IN YOUR HANDS. EARL

earl richmond

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ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 24, 2007 - 7:06am
Cool Earl. Thanks for the insight. Did you go "balls to the wall"?

Give me wood just thinking about it and at my age, that's a good thing!
Ed


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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: Feb 24, 2007 - 11:33am
sorry,.my memory is not that good.i think i heard the term before but cannot recollect the meaning.sounds interesting though. did you ever ride the "bullnose"?

earl richmond

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