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ť Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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ť Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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ť Topic: ships cook additional responsibilities
http://www.ptboatforum.com/cgi-bin/MB2/netboardr.cgi?cid=101&fid=102&tid=1569

My father, Stan McArthur was a ships cook on PT 348 RON 25 and I was wondering what other responsibilites a ships cook would have on a daily basis as well as during patrol or while in combat. I am doing a project with my children (his grandchildren) who have never met my father since he passed away in 1980 and wanted to portray what a day, week, month, etc. might have been like for my dad while he was serving in the Navy. Also, does anyone have photos of the inside of a ELCO 80' PT Boat or know where i can see them? Thank you.

Scott

Scott

Posted By: SCOTT MCARTHUR | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 9:15am
Total Posts: 3 | Joined: Dec 11, 2009 - 12:05pm

welcome to the message board scott and happy holidays
i was ships cook on pt 108,ron 5.before that was cook at several different bases in the us and pacific.on the base i had to get uo about 330 am and go to work in the base galley.had to get all ranges and cooking tubs starting to heat up.had to help with cookinmg and some cleaning uip afterwards.my day was done after dinner chow.on the boat i had to see what personell was going out.crew and passengers.i had to set up meals and go to base suppply to get the rations.before patrol started in had to start cooking meals.meals were usuially served while going out on patrol just as boat was startuing out.had to clean up afterwards and secure galley.when it was time for my watch topiside i stood watch in either the aft or forward twin fifty turret.my general quarters assignment was loader on the aft 20 mm gun.if i was in the twin fifty turret at time of GQ then i stayed there till GQ was over.when it was time to leave patrol station,in the early am,i was than back in the galley to start breakfast chow.of course it was serbved after we were safely away from opatrol station.when we got back to base i cleaned up again.took a break,if i could then restarted all over again.during overhaul my assignment was the galley.i had to clean all equipment,repair it and clean the bilges in the galley as some canned goods were stored there.while doing overhaul the men usually went to the base ghalley for meals and if i was able i had sandwiches,coffe aboard the boat.i scrouinged what i could as far as food was concverned from various sources.barges,other boats,ships and base.hope this helps some.my best to the grandchildren earl

earl richmond

Posted By: EARL RICHMOND | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 10:37am
Total Posts: 319 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 1:50pm

Scott,
Welcome, there are several photos and even recipes used by the cooks on this board. Just click on search icon and type in galley.
Gary

Posted By: Gary Paulsen | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 10:45am
Total Posts: 249 | Joined: Feb 14, 2009 - 6:31am

Earl...thank you so much! Much appreciatted....Thanks for serving your country.

Scott

Posted By: SCOTT MCARTHUR | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 10:48am
Total Posts: 3 | Joined: Dec 11, 2009 - 12:05pm

ps search the message board under cooks, food,etc there have been a lot of things said about this topic on here earl

earl richmond

Posted By: EARL RICHMOND | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 10:58am
Total Posts: 319 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 1:50pm

Gary, thank you so much. In reading one message it mentioned their were 10 crew members was that the standard?

Scott

Posted By: SCOTT MCARTHUR | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 10:58am
Total Posts: 3 | Joined: Dec 11, 2009 - 12:05pm

Scott
Normal was 9 enlisted men and 2 officers. Check out
http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/05idx.htm
It is a very good historical source on PT Boats.
Gary

Posted By: Gary Paulsen | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 11:24am
Total Posts: 249 | Joined: Feb 14, 2009 - 6:31am

Hi Scott,
Welcome to the Message Board! This is a really excellent group of people who help each other out whenever we can.
As far as the "Normal" number of crew, it truly depended on which boat you are talking about and how many weapons were installed as to the number of crew. Towards the end of the war, when many boats had 40mm Bofors cannons installed, those weapons required a crew of 4 to operate. Every time you add a new 20mm or 37mm gun you need a gunner and a loader to serve each weapon. The number of enlisted men could vary for these reasons on any PT Boat from between 9 to as many as 14. One of our veterans from PT238, Maury, said his boat had 14 enlisted and 2 officers. I think the early war 77 foot Elco boats may only have had 9 enlisted, but many other boats had more than that. Just FYI Jerry Gilmartin
Save the PT Boat Inc
(PT658)
Portland OR

Jerry Gilmartin

Posted By: Jerry Gilmartin | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 12:14pm
Total Posts: 1473 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 11:16pm

My dad was skipper on PT-154. From all accounts they loved their cook. My dad said he could make SPAM taste like chicken, salmon, tuna, or beef. I guess there was a lot of SPAM. The picture below implies that members of his crew did not starve. "Cookie's" real name was C.W. Bourneman, SC2c. Pat Rogers remembers that the "original" branch of Ford Lunch was in San Francisco.
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Nathaniel%20Smith/FordLunch.png [/image]
(Pat Rogers collection) (photo credit: J. M. "Bill" Nicholson, MoMM1c, Los Angeles, CA)
Bill was on board PT-154 from November 1942 until December 1943. If anyone knows where he went next I'd like to know.

natsmith

Posted By: Nathaniel Smith | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 1:30pm
Total Posts: 211 | Joined: Jan 19, 2008 - 6:55am

On P.T. 242 we first started patrols at Vella La Vella with 10 enlisted men and 2 officers. We added two twin 50's, deck mounted just forward of the chart house and needed more men to man the guns. We ended up with 13 enlisted men and 2 officers when we were relieved of duty and the new crew took over at Green Island.

C. J. Willis

Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Dec 14, 2009 - 5:13pm
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm

Scott, first I would like to let you know that the cooks took very good care of us on the boats.

Regarding their other duties, cooks could be qualified to handle any gun on the boat.

Posted By: QM | Posted on: Dec 15, 2009 - 8:49am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered