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Topic: Two great Elco 80' photos |
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 29, 2018 - 11:56am
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I hadn't ever seen either of these two great photos before, of 80' Elco PTs at Tulagi. They are from Gene Kirkland's PT King website, with permission.
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 29, 2018 - 4:58pm
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Thanks to Gene, and thanks to Dick for posting these.
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 29, 2018 - 6:16pm
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Anyone know the name of the river at Tulagi -- or was it Florida Island -- they used to run the PTs up, and moor along the shoreline?
I think they moored the Niagra up that river also.
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Will Day
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Posted on: Aug 30, 2018 - 1:54pm
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Drew: I think the river was called the Maliali. Not positive.
Will |
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TED WALTHER |
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Posted on: Aug 30, 2018 - 5:59pm
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Gents;
As per Alexander Wells(PT 116 RON 6 and PT 525 RON 36) description(REF:https://books.google.com/books?id=D6-vOYPKOvcC&pg=RA5-PA9&dq=Maliali+river&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjs0byi-ZXdAhUlZN8KHZhZBjEQ6AEIMDAB#v=onepage&q=Maliali%20river&f=false) The "River" was not really a river, It was more an inlet, with a small stream at the head.
After reading Wells description, I now think this photo is of USS Niagara (AGP-1) moored at the mouth of the Maliali River prior to departing with RON 8 DIV 23(which was detached from RON 2, PT 110, PT 144, PT 145, PT 146, PT 147, PT 148) and being sunk on 23 May 1943. The ship was originally incorrectly identified as USS Hilo(AGP-2)
Enlarge the photo and you will see the port side inboard aft boat is a 77" ELCO, outboard is a Zebra 80' ELCO (RON 10) the two forward boats on the port side are 80' ELCO's (NOTICE: All of these 80' ELCO's on port have that weird T.V. type radar(?) that PT 133 has in Morobe photos. I think it is based off of the surface search radar on PBY's(usually under wing). The two boats on the starboard side are from PT 144-PT 148 with the SCR-517 radar(Beehive). As per the description below, I believe the photo was taken from USS Rail(AM-26).
"On 7 April the Japanese raided the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area with 177 planes, of which about 25 were shot down. Two bombs sank the New Zealand corvette HMNZS Moa. Niagara, in the thick of the fight, was north of the harbor, moored to the west bank of the Maliali River, heading downstream with minesweeper Rail (AM-26) tied up outboard well aft. Nine enemy planes came up the river, none of them over 150 feet above the water. Niagara and Rail took them all under fire". (REF: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5, 1970: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/niagara-vii.html).
Take care,
TED
P.S. Drew thanks for the photos, there is something going on with Gene's website, It comes up as only a directory after I click on the PT Logo.
P.S. #2: Drew the 1st photo look closely, the boat has no mast elevated!! Maybe they threw it on the beach!
The second photo the boat appears to have twin .50's on the forecastle, like RON 8 boats at Morobe, so this maybe PT 144-PT 148 MTB DIV 23, it also looks to have something above the boat, maybe the surface search radar antenna I mention above. Aft torpedo tubes have been removed.
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 31, 2018 - 5:06am
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Thanks, Will and Ted. Ted, neither of those 80' Elcos in those photos has a mast up!
I've read of this "river" in accounts of PTs at Guadalcanal, the one I can lay my hands on at the moment being PT 111 skipper John Clagett's novel "The Slot," a fictionalized version of his WWII experiences.
This is how Clagett describes (I think) the Maliali in "The Slot":
"...After a while a Higgins boat came up the creek and Noble (Clagett's character) climbed in... The creek narrowed to a 100-yard wide strip of water running through dense jungle, then widened into a round pool some 300 yards in diameter. The Marlboro, the PT tender (the fictionalized Niagra), lay against the west shore of this pool, covered with camouflage netting studded with palm branches."
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 31, 2018 - 5:09am
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Duplicate. Don't know why -- I touch the clicker on the mouse lightly - once - and a second identical post appears. |
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 31, 2018 - 5:12am
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Another bloody duplicate! |
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 31, 2018 - 5:13am
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Duplicate. |
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Drew Cook
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Posted on: Aug 31, 2018 - 5:14am
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Duplicate. |
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