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» Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic:
How Men Felt About Zebra Camo
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There has been much discussion on this board about the Zebra or Adaptor Camo pattern on some boats, especially RON 10 boats. BobPic served on one, PT 167, and told us that the torpedo they took in November of 1943 was, they believed, attributable to the zebra skin they wore. It was not long before the RON 10 boats were repainted. I was wondering how PT Boat sailors generally felt about the zebra camo. Did they make fun of boats that bore it? Did they call it names? How about the guys on those boats -- was it viewed as a curse and did they complain about it?
G R Powell
Posted By: G R Powell | Posted on: Feb 18, 2009 - 5:14am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered
The infamous zebra stripes. When orders came to paint the boat with stripes, we just did it. Required going into drydock. Very soon, we got whistles and jokes from other boats and base gang. It was only after we patrolled a few times, sometimes with other zebra boats, that we realized the danger it posed. We blamed minor skirmishes on the luminous stripes and the skipper protested to our intelligence officer (Whizzer White, later US Supreme court justice White). It was several weeks later after a serious conflict that we just repainted the boat without orders to do so. Other boats quickly followed. As far as I know there was no Navy acknowledgement or objections. The issue simply died.
Posted By: BobPic | Posted on: Feb 18, 2009 - 6:22am
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