[ratpack] Re: In Portland, then Seattle

Yeah....I had a buddy whose stepfather served on one during WWII. He used the twin 50s,  and he said  they would cruise through the survivors of ships they had torpedoed and sunk, to make sure they didn't survive. No slingshots...they had enough ammo on them.

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From: "Ray Buck" <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 9:39:51 PM
Subject: [ratpack] Re: In Portland, then Seattle

The question of "why" they were built of wood was never directly addressed, as far as I recall.  But there was a lotta discussion of the  boat builder that produced the a lot of 'em, Higgins, in New Orleans.  They'd mainly built yachts before the war (and some fishing boats, I think) and wooden construction was what they did.  The PT boats were originally based on a British craft designed by Hubert Scott-Paine.  The Electric Boat Company (ELCO) began producing copies of it and two other companies (Higgins and Huckins) built their own designs.  All 3 companies produced PT boats during WWII.

There were numerous versions of the PT boats and according to the folks who did the presentation, each one was a little different from the rest.  The armament really varied from the beginning of the war to the end, especially since the boats' roles changed somewhat from a torpedo launcher with some defensive weapons to that of a gun boat that carried torpedoes.  By the end of the war they had (in addition to the twin 50 caliber machine guns and 20 mm cannons they had at the beginning) 40mm cannons, 37mm cannons, depth charges and 2 racks of 8 rockets.  I suppose they prolly had slingshots for the crew to use in case they ran outta ammo, too.  :) 

The 37 mm anti-aircraft cannons were the most interesting to me:



They had 2 primary operators and a loader.  The seat and crank shown is for the azimuth operator and the other side is for the elevation operator who also fired the cannon with his foot on the red pedal at the bottom of the photo.  This is very similar to the arrangement that the Nike-Hercules track radars that I worked on in the 60s used, except that the Battery Control Officer had the "Fire" switch and we also had a Range operator.  The PT boats' radar was very much like a scaled-down version of the Low-Power Acquisition (LOPAR) radar that I worked on.



The radar was something added to all PT boats after the PT 109 incident where only one boat had radar and knew that a Japanese destroyer was on a collision course but couldn't warn the 109 because of radio silence orders.

Again, it was a fantastic tour.  If you're ever in the Portland area, I suggest that ya check it out.  Btw, tonite, I'm in Everett, WA, but I rented a car and I'm driving back to the Portland area (Aurora) tomorrow to install more software on Marlo's computer.  This is gettin a lttle crazy, but it's wonna those "team" things.

Speakin of a little crazy, I was in Sedro Wooley where the Target 550 liner is being built (it's on the home stretch...going back together after having the frame painted) and here's a preview shot of the steering wheel and a control button...I can't remember what it's for....might be a shifter air pressure bleed valve. 



That white material is ancient mastodon ivory which is not regulated and can be used for any purpose without the need for special permission.  It was also used to create a knob for the brake lever:



The bluish line on the left is a natural coloration and you can see the grain in the ivory.

I gotta get some other stuff done.

r


On 2/20/2012 11:12 AM, John Christensen wrote:

These are really cool. I had no idea that they were wood. Was that for speed? Or was it just the quickest thing to do at the time?
JC

On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 12:48 PM, <humminboid@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

OSSUM!

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From: "Ray Buck" <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 6:03:35 PM
Subject: [ratpack] Re: In Portland, then Seattle

Well, since ya asked, here are a few:

''

Forward 3/4 view, starboard side,



Port side forward, showing that they weren't made of plywood, but mahogany planking.



Finally, one of the 3 Packard SOHC v12s.  This is the starboard motor, looking at it from the center forward angle.

It was an absolutely fantastic tour.  The guys who guided us around were very knowledgeable and willing to answer any and all questions and I would have been happy if this was the only thing that I'd come up here for.

Check their website.  Again:
http://www.savetheptboatinc.com/index.htm 

Gotta run,

r
 

 
On 2/18/2012 12:52 PM, humminboid@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

PT boats?  MY FAVORITE species of marine animal! Pixes soon, I hope. C

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From: "Ray Buck" <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:02:48 AM
Subject: [ratpack] In Portland, then Seattle

I'm in Portland for the Bonneville NW Reunion and to help Marlo Treit (Target 550 owner and team principal) with a new computer.  I'll start this off with a photo of Mt. Hood (I think that's what it is) that I shot with my cell phone camera as the aircraft flew over it.  Not the best, but not the worst, either: