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Topic: Boats built in Erie, PA? Perry Ship Yards? |
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Jeff Sherry
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Nov 26, 2018 - 2:59pm
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Does anyone have info on boats built by Perry Ship Yards in Erie, PA during WW II ? I was recently told by a man who was about 10 that he remembers that they were.
Jeff
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Total Posts: 84 | Joined:
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PRJM3
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Nov 27, 2018 - 2:16pm
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I checked with my brother-in-law that lives in Erie and he advised that Perry Ship Building is now PSB Industries. They were founded in 1951, as already noted by 29navy, and worked on bulk-carrier lakes freighters. It sounds like they now work mainly on boilers, valves, piping, etc.
The original question from Jeff Sherry just asks about 'boats' but I'm assuming he means PT boats. My B-I-L doesn't know of any such work and my father, who spent his last 20-plus years in Erie never mentioned it. He tended to ferret out fellow PT boaters and I'm sure he would have known and mentioned it if they had been built in Erie. There has been a boat industry in Erie since they built Perry's flagship Niagara, so repair or outfitting work may have been a possibility. I've acquired quite a few books on the history of Western Pennsylvania and Erie and have never encountered even a picture of PT boats.
The Erie waterfront does have a few docks large enough to accommodate lakes freighters and their repair business is mostly in the winter when the lakes are frozen. I like to go to the docks and look at those impressive behemoths when I'm visiting. When anyone with a brain is inside the Erie Maritime Museum I'm the nut-case standing at the end of the Holland Street dock taking pictures in February.
Randy McConnell (Randall J. McConnell III) |
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Jeff Sherry
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Nov 27, 2018 - 5:54pm
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I live in NW Pennsylvania and work in Erie. In the book "Images of America: Erie Pennsylvania, Arcadia Publishing, 1998, there is a photo of Presque Isle Bay (Erie Harbor) showing what is clearly a PT Boat or two. It does not look like a Higgins because it has something resembling a day room behind the cockpit. Heavily armed and carrying one torpedo in racks on each side. The caption states the Navy "turned to Perry Ship Yards to produce motor torpedo boats".
Perry Ship Yards predated 1951.
Jeff
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TED WALTHER |
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Nov 27, 2018 - 7:51pm
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Jeff;
Can you scan the photo and post it here?
Take care,
TED
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Jeff Sherry
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Dec 5, 2018 - 6:19pm
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No, unfortunately I can't post the photo but I did track it down. It is PT 487, ELCO from Squadron 4, a training squadron.. NOT built in Erie but at the ELCO plant in NJ.. NavSource has a picture of her going through the Welland Canal.
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Gerry McGovern
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Dec 8, 2018 - 7:48pm
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Here she is heading up the North River:
Former crew member of the Big Blue Sightseer ex-PT 486 |
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Jeff Sherry
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Dec 9, 2018 - 7:59am
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Very nice. That's her alright.
Thanks Gerry
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Jerry Gilmartin |
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Dec 9, 2018 - 5:21pm
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I am fairly certain those were the boats that went from Melville to Detroit for the 1945 Navy Day celebration. I know that among others PT557 was on that trip as can be seen on Milt Donadts photos on Bill Maloneys website. We have a link to the website that shows Milts photos listed on our Links page, under the heading PT Boat links> WW2 Motor Torpedo boats>Milt Donadts PT Photos ( it is about 20 down from the top)
Jerry Gilmartin
PT658 Crewman
Portland OR |
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