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Topic: Set 1 - 5 new Melville Photos from Frank Adruss |
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29navy
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 12:45pm
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I was up in Melville last October. Of the six 40x100 metal warehouses along the waterfront, one of them has been replaced, or at least the outside skin, anyway. (The one at the opposite end from the restaurant that sits next to the wooden structure or in reference to the PT 40 picture, at the far end.)
As far as orienting yourself, when you come down the hill from the turnoff of Rt 114, you are on Stringham Road (I used to live on that street in 1980). As you get to the bottom of the hill, keep going to the right towards the marina. The warehouses will be on your left. That road you are on is/was ALEXANDER Road, the main street at MTBSTC. According to GOGGLE MAPS, it’s labeled as E Passage but Google Earth has it as Alexander. The side road that you passed up the hill that is gated and locked up was not part of MTBSTC. It was part of the Fuel and Net Depot and it just lead out to the fuel tanks.
Gary's sign picture on the other post is looking down Alexander Road. From where that picture was taken, the warehouses are off to the left.
Here's Melville as of Feberuary 1945, pretty much final configuration:
Here's Melville today (from Google, Maybe a year or two old)
You can see the warehouses along the pier. The big heavy line towards the top of the 1945 picture, running from left to right, just under the two fuel tanks on the top of the picture, is the railroad tracks. You should be able to compare the two pictures and get somewhat oriented.
Charlie
Charlie |
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TED WALTHER |
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 Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 1:37pm
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Frank;
I think you did it again! Fantastic!! I think you turned up another valuable photo for me. Here is why: Look very closely at these two photos. The boat on YC 700 appears to be a second series 77' ELCO. Look at the smooth cabin near the cockpit area, it does not have the "notch" as the first series does. I also have photos of PT 47 and PT 59(which was loaded aboard YC 256), at Philadelphia Navy Yard August 1944 and they both came back to the states with their Radar masts intact.
I believe that the boat on the Barge in photo one could very well be PT 48. I wish you had a shot from the side of the basin, or any other angle. If it is PT 48, she had white shaded in black 48 on both sides of the cockpit in the Nov 43-Jan 44 photo I have of her at Bau Island, Rendova.
The boat in the second photo on the barge is probably PT 40, just that this shot is taken earlier in the day. Notice there is no hull number on this barge. Also the small crane in the foreground is just starting to off-load the torpedo tubes from the truck, and place them on the barge. in the first photo, they have already loaded 5 torpedo tubes.
Talk to later and keep these great photos coming!!!
Take care,
TED
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TED WALTHER |
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 2:07pm
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Can Dick zoom the first unloading photo and focus on the side of the cabin of the boat on YC 700.
Thanks,
TED
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Frank J Andruss Sr
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 2:47pm
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Charlie
Thanks so much for the 2 photo's of the Base. Looking at the one from maybe a year or so ago, you can really get a feel for how it was layed out. Some of the fuel tanks are still in the same spots today. Thanks so much for putting this up.
Ted,
I have passed on 10 more photo's to Dick to have them put on the site. I am sure when he is ready, he will poet them. We shall see how close Dick can get to the Boat on the Barge and if she sports any visible numbers or clues. The last 2 photo's were put up by Charlie and not myself ( although I have that same photo ) so we are really getting some great shots...................
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29navy |
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 5:25pm
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OK, let's throw some more fuel on the fire. According to the "War Diary" from MTBSTC, (basically a letter to Comm 1st Naval District about what went on) on "25 July, PTs 36, 40 and 48 (now classified as small boats) were returned to this command from the South Pacific....They will be utilized by the Repair Training Unit in its instruction Program."
The bad thing is that they didn't report the arrival of any more of the 77-footers. Could it be a typo and they meant PT 39? Or could the 38 in the picture be 36? And in "At Close Quarters", they don't report the 36 coming back to MTBSTC.
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QM
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 5:41pm
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| The old photo of Melville clearly shows the swimming pool building. It is the large building on the east side of the railroad. The Google picture shows a building in the same location, but it appears to be a little different. The pool was a good place for recreational swimming. |
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29navy
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 6:21pm
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Yes, the pool building is still there. It is occupied by a company called WATERLINE Systems, a boat yard service company. I'm going to try and get inside next time I go up there (sometime this year).
Charlie
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TED WALTHER |
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Posted on: Mar 19, 2008 - 6:30pm
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Charlie;
Thanks for adding some fuel! I will go with the typo idea, just read any after action report. Hell these guys were fighting a war, what is a typo, they did there best. I am really as interested as Wayne is, in the idea that how many 77' boats really did come back.
You know I had a copy of the war administations auction/sales list of 1946(which was lost in a computer crash. someone on this board sent it to me, and since I lost it, I would appreciate it if you resent it to me. I USE THUMB DRIVES NOW! ) and a lot of boats were listed as sold, (77' &80' ELCO's and 78' Higgins PT's into the 700's), I am talking about over 100 boats sold in the U.S. most on the east coast. Hell RON 4 alone had 32 boats plus the 77' ELCO's that came back(actually most of the RON 4 boats can all be traced, as can all the RON 22, and RON 30 boats, which were all sold after the war, but where did they all go? I have tracked down a few, but some just baffle me.
QM;
For instance were you with RON 12 at the end? Most of the boats were burned but, Ed Farley's PT 190, Rumsey Ewings 191, Ray Turnbull's 195 and Alfred Vanderbilt's196 were placed out of service and later sold. Do you know what happened to all of RON 12 boats? Sam Goddess and Bill Costello came to my unit back in 1999, but I was at Land Navigation school and E&E training so I could not ask them, But my XO gave me a copy of your RON's Commissioning program.
Talk to you soon,
TED
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Wayne Traxel |
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Posted on: Mar 20, 2008 - 12:37am
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These are really great pictures. Not sure what later series 77 footer is on the barge, YC700 but I don't believe this boat to be PT-48. Although they were second series boats, PT's 47 and 48 didn't have a locker behind the turrets as the later series boat featured in Charlies picture shows. The boat on the barge has an overhang on the stern a feature that also wasn't on PT-47 and 48. PT-48 was fitted with SO Radar and Mk-13 torpedoes. The boat on the barge appears to have the aft torpedo tube cradles in place, much like the later 77'er in Franks dock side picture.
Again, My Thanks for sharing these great pictures.
Wayne Traxel |
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