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 Author  Topic: PT boats that never were
JEno

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of JEno  Posted on: Nov 23, 2021 - 3:32pm
A Never was story starring a "PT" boat.
Growing up my family summered on Mount Desert Island, Maine, in Bar Harbor. We had a lobsta yacht and toke many a picnic cruise on it. We often went around the Island, passing Seal Harbor where the Rockefellers lived and Nelson had a house on a point, a large boathouse and his many floaters in the harbor. He had a yacht, named Dragon Lady, that purported to be a PT boat. I can remember my mother always pointing her out as we sailed by, but being perplexed because, being the naval expert that I was, at age 8, I saw nothing resembling a PT.
Fast forward 55 years and I had lived on Mount Desert full time for 30 years. There were many locals that recalled the stories of Nelson's PT. There was the story of two local youths that swam out one night and painted PT 109 on the dark blue side of the bow. There is some truth to that as verified by the boat yard crew. Anyhow, in my boredom I started a history project involving naval vessels that had visited the area and the Dragon Lady figured into the project, but there was very limited local knowledge remaining of her. Was she a PT or not? The boathouse was enlarge to accommodate her, that much was determined. I contacted the Rockefeller Archives and hit the mother load. Sadly, no, she was no a PT....but she was something.
it turned out that she was an Admiralty design HDML( Harboor Defense motor Launch) # 1443. She was lengthened by 10 ft. Nelson bought her for $10. She served the RN as a fast dispatch boat during the war. coincidentally, three HDML's were built 15 miles down the road in Ellsworth, Maine during the war. They all served the Royal Australian Navy.
Nelson;s PT that never was.


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  Jerry Gilmartin

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jerry Gilmartin   Send Email To Jerry Gilmartin Posted on: Nov 23, 2021 - 4:29pm
Pretty cool story JEno! Thanks for sharing it with us! I love hearing about stuff like this. Wasnt one of the Elco RONS in the Pacific known as the "Millionaires Squadron"? and was one of the Boats skippered by a Rockefeller? My memory is unlear on this detail. Does anybody have more detail on this? Thanks Jerry

Jerry Gilmartin
PT658 Crewman
Portland OR

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Nov 24, 2021 - 10:17am
I have several photos of the 2 Rockefeller brothers in PT service but can't find them... I'll look some more after Thanksgiving, my son is visiting.


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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: Nov 24, 2021 - 11:28am
Jeff and Jerry;
You guys are slipping. RON 12 was The Millionaires Squadron. LT Alfred Gwynn Vanderbilt Jr. was Skipper of PT 196, his brother LT George Washington Vanderbilt lll was RON 12 Intelligence Officer.

Dragon Lady was/is the name of PT 617, now restored at Fall River.

Nelson Rockefeller was never in the military, as he worked for during WW2. However, his brother David was a Captain in Army Intelligence, and later a “Ritchie Boy”. This was a US special German-Austrian unit of Military Intelligence Service officers and enlisted men of World War II who were trained at Camp Ritchie in Washington County Maryland. Many of them were German-speaking immigrants to the United States, often Jews who fled Nazi persecution.They were primarily utilized for interrogation of prisoners on the front lines and counter-intelligence in Europe because of their knowledge of the German language and culture.

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Nov 25, 2021 - 5:18am
Doh, I mixed up my ultra-wealthy thanks Ted nice catch. In a sad attempt to save some face, here are the photos of the VANDERBILTS:

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j82po.jpg



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Stearman

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Stearman  Posted on: Nov 25, 2021 - 9:01pm
I had always heard that quite a number of the early Skippers were from well off families. They were picked, because they were born with one foot in the sailboat! Would be nice to know how many were from rich families?


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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: Nov 26, 2021 - 7:30am
By 1940’s standards Most of the early Officers were from well off families. For example Robert Buckley jr who wrote At Close Quarters , he father was Senator Robert J. Bulkley from Ohio.


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Stearman

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Stearman  Posted on: Nov 27, 2021 - 8:27pm
Weren't Leonard Thom, George Barney Ross and Paul Red Fay, all from prominent families?


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