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Topic: Bogus PT info |
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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 Posted on: May 22, 2022 - 7:12pm
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It never ceases to amaze me how authors who haven't a clue will publish "facts" that are, in fact, not facts. Granted, errors creep into just about every book, but, for competent authors, they are usually minor, few, or esoteric in nature. But some authors get even the basic stuff wrong and/or create multiple illustrations of objects that never existed. Such is the case for the recently-published British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWI by Mal Wright. I'm only going to address the section that covers my area of research - coastal forces.
Let's start with perhaps the most bogus one (and there are many). The image is titled MTB311 ELCO 80' Type 1944. It has a crude but more or less recognizable profile of an early 80' ELCO. It approximates an RN torpedo tube (not sure which) and a camouflage pattern I've never seen on any MTB, RN or otherwise. What makes this a truly bogus illustration is that the RN never operated 80' ELCO PTs. MTB 311 was a 77' ELCO, which looks nothing like an 80' ELCO. MTB311 was part of the 15th MTB (MTB307-316) and operated in the Mediterranean. The only 80' ELCOs in the Med were the twelve boats of RON29. The US boats were unique in that they were painted Thayer Blue vertical surfaces and Deck Blue horizontal surfaces with red and yellow air recognition panels.
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Jerry Gilmartin |
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: May 23, 2022 - 12:18am
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When all else fails....just make stuff up! seems to be the current trend. Pitiful.
Jerry Gilmartin
PT658 Crewman
Portland OR |
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: May 23, 2022 - 4:37pm
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The sad part is that when this rubbish hits the market, those that know little if none about the small boat Navy look for these books to give them a clue so they can learn. Putting things like this out there only makes it tough because they think what they are reading is correct and true. Getting it right the 1st time is so very important, heck I am not perfect and I have 3 books on the market, and I like to think what information they are getting is correct
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: May 23, 2022 - 5:03pm
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Second example, same page as PT311: The heading indicates that this is what MTB267 looked like in 1944. MTB267 was the former PT18, a 70' ELCO PT. Ten of these PTs (PT10-19) were built for the US Navy and mounted four trainable 18" torpedo tubes and two twin .50s in domed DeWandre turrets. After trials, they were rejected by the USN, primarily because they couldn't mount four 21" torpedo tubes. They were then modified at ELCO to RN requirements, transferred to the RN as MTB259-268, and assigned to the 10th MTB, also in the Med. These modifications included removal of the turret domes, addition of a 20mm aft, and replacement of the four 18" trainable tubes with two fixed 21" RN pattern tubes. As you can see, the crude drawing does not reflect either configuration. The caption states that the MTB was fitted with US radar but the drawing does not show it. Just as well, though, as US radar was not fitted to either configuration. She was lost in April 1943, so showing her with an alleged 1944 camouflage is spurious. The only photos I've seen that even approximate this camouflage scheme are of MTB 314 (77' ELCO) following her capture by the Germans during a disastrous raid on Tobruk in September 1942.
Many of the other profiles, particularly those of the British Power Boat Company types, are so badly drawn that they are almost unrecognizable. The shapes are wrong, there are structures on some that didn't exist, and they are badly proportioned. If the shapes are wrong (or didn't exist) then the patterns (almost none of which I've seen photos) are wrong. How do you paint something that isn't there?
I am quite curious as to what references were used to produce these images and captions.
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