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Topic: MTB 22.5 inch A.W. Torpedo Tube MK I |
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Andy Small
MASTER
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 8:02am
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Hi All,
While down at Huckins Yacht last month, I located their copy of a Feb 43 BuOrd plan of the MK I, 22.5 inch A.W. Torpedo Tube, which was designed to fire the Mk 13. While never installed on a Huckins PT, I understand these were mounted on a few boats before the switch to the roll-off racks?
I know Jerry mentioned these a while back and something about photos.
Cheers,
Andy
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 9:21am
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Great find! Thanks for sharing. I've been looking for official drawings for this tube for some time. Higgins drawings indicate it was to be fitted to PT295-301. Here's a shot of 297 with them fitted:
Al
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 3:21pm
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Those look like shortened versions of the tubes on the Elcos and Huckins PTs in "They Were Expendable."
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Will Day
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 3:48pm
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What about the Mk19 Mod 4 tubes that were fitted to the late Elcos that went to the Soviets? Were those designed for the MkXIII fish?
Will |
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 5:03pm
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Will, great question, especially since it caused me to dig a little deeper into research. After looking at the ELCO and Higgins drawings for the US and Soviet boats, I discovered that the MK19 MOD 4 tube fitted to the Soviet ELCOs and most of the Soviet Higgins is about four feet longer than the MK19 Mod 0 and Mod 1. This makes sense, as the 533mm Type 53 Soviet torpedo was about 3 feet longer than the US MK8.
Based on the Higgins drawings, RPT1-12 had the shorter MK19 Mod 0 or Mod 1 tubes, while the rest had the longer Mod 4 tubes.
Al |
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Will Day
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 6:59pm
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Thanks, Al. On the subject, anyone have a theory as to what model tubes were used on the 139 & 141 boats during THEY WERE EXPENDABLE?
Will |
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 7:27pm
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Based on the photos in BEHIND THE SCENES, they were crude fakes, essentially a long skinny tube on top of a longer, fatter tube.
Al
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Andy Small
MASTER
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Posted on: Feb 8, 2017 - 7:46pm
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They were prop tubes on stationary wood supports. On the 101 and 102 boats, that still had the old tubes, so they added the fake air tubes on top to match.
From PT98
From PT102
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Feb 9, 2017 - 7:13am
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Well, they had to have had some kind of real tubes to launch those Mark XIII fish in the battle scenes, right?
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Andy Small
MASTER
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Posted on: Feb 9, 2017 - 8:16am
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Drew,
I stand corrected! I just replayed portions of the movie and there sits the 22.5 inch tubes on the forward spots of the Elco playing PT41! So one boat of the six could fire the Mk13s.
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