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 Author  Topic: Speed of PT Boats?
Bob Butler

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Bob Butler  Posted on: Jul 12, 2013 - 1:16pm
I was under the impression that on a clean boat it was around 40+ knots. In the Elco Rudders post a few days back talked about a 55 Elco and a 78* Higgins in a race on July 4 1945 doing 75 mph. During the Plywood Derby a Huckins was 33.8 knots while a 77 Elco was at 39.7 knots. On top of that I've read where a boat encrusted with sea life couldn't outrun japanese destroyers. I realize other factors involved such as a clean boat , calm sea and weight , but there's a big difference between 30 mph and 75 mph. What do you guys think?


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Frank Andruss

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Frank Andruss   Send Email To Frank Andruss Posted on: Jul 12, 2013 - 3:01pm
Bob, no PT BOAT during WWII has ever reached a speed of 75 MPH. I have original time trials from Lt. Cmdr. Alan Montgomery, who was in charge of the PT SHAKEDOWN in Miami, Florida. These trails were conducted with the Higgins Hellcat, which was PT-564, another Higgins, PT-295, and PT-552, an Elco eighty-footer. In one test Montgomery has written down for the measured mile, a top speed of 48.25 knots for the Higgins Hellcat, 46.39 knots for PT-295, and 51.30 for the Elco. Now this was just one test, and his book has many different entries, but from what I can see, the top speed for any boat that was entered into his book was 56.30 knots for the Elco with Elco planes installed, and 53.80 knots for the Hellcat. I don't know for sure how fast that is in MPH, but I know it's not 75 MPH, and those were the fastest boats produced. There are many other entries, and I have two of his original pocket notebooks, so it is possible those boats may have gone faster in other tests.


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Bob Butler

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Bob Butler  Posted on: Jul 12, 2013 - 3:41pm
56.3 knots is 64.79 mph.


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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: Jul 12, 2013 - 4:20pm
YEAH!!! GO ELCO!!!!!
Take care,
TED


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PeterTareBuilder2

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of PeterTareBuilder2  Posted on: Jul 12, 2013 - 6:28pm
Quote:

I was under the impression that on a clean boat it was around 40+ knots. In the Elco Rudders post a few days back talked about a 55 Elco and a 78* Higgins in a race on July 4 1945 doing 75 mph. During the Plywood Derby a Huckins was 33.8 knots while a 77 Elco was at 39.7 knots. On top of that I've read where a boat encrusted with sea life couldn't outrun japanese destroyers. I realize other factors involved such as a clean boat , calm sea and weight , but there's a big difference between 30 mph and 75 mph. What do you guys think?





Ahoy there.

I wonder if the 75 mph comes from the old PT boaters' song:

"Oh, some PTs do seventy-five
And some do sixty-nine.
When we get ours to run at all
We think we're doing fine."

(From PT-109 by Robert J. Donovan)

Cheers from Peter


"Give me a fast boat for we want to get out of harm's way too."

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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: Jul 12, 2013 - 7:20pm
Peter;

65 Knots = 74.9 MPH
Speaking from my experience in later day fast boats, YES, this can be attained on a world war two PT BOAT, with a totally cleaned hull and religiously tweaked engines.
TED


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Will Day

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Will Day   Send Email To Will Day Posted on: Jul 12, 2013 - 9:57pm
It's all kind of esoteric. What mattered most was operational speed with a war load. . .

Will

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David Buck

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of David Buck   Send Email To David Buck Posted on: Jul 13, 2013 - 1:04am
From the British

1 Mile = 5,280 Feet (statute mile)

1 Sea Mile = 6,080.20 US Feet or 6,080 feet Great Britain

IE; 10 Knots = 10 Sea Miles

In case anyone's interested.

D.buck

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Iowabrit

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jul 13, 2013 - 6:52am
You forgot the most important one David

10 NM = 2 Cups of Tea ( North Atlantic in February substitute Kye for Tea)


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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: Jul 13, 2013 - 3:20pm
We used to have races when we would sight land at the base coming in off patrol. That was a good time to race because of less fuel weight. We did not have M.P.H. gauges so don't know how fast we were going. I'd guess 35 - 40 knots at the most. Elco's were usually faster especially the 77 footers. In races our engineers would remove the air mesh covers to the super chargers. The additional air to the carburetors would give 1 to 2 inches more manifold pressure. With that secret we could outrun most Higgins. Also the crew would all get on the bow to make the boat plane out better.

C. J. Willis

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