Posted on 03/10/2016 7:35:16 AM PST by Charles Martel
WWII patrol-torpedo (PT) boats were a perfect naval expression of the American Spirit at war. Today, just four of these combat-veteran PT boats still exist in the United States. PT-305 is the only one that is fully restored.
Now, after a $3.3 million restoration effort and more than 100,000 hours of work by a dedicated corps of over 200 volunteers, PT-305 is ready to hit the water.
(Excerpt) Read more at pt305.org ...
THE IMPORTANT PART -> The museum is seeking WWII U.S. Navy veterans of PT Boat service and would like them to be part of the launch ceremony. If you know of any such veterans, please pass along the information so they can participate.
For years, I thought this boat was going to be a static display in the museum, like the Higgins landing craft that they started out with. Surprisingly, they're going to get a USCG certification and run PT-305 regularly on Lake Pontchartrain (where it was test-run before going off to combat in the Mediterranean). Ride aboard a restored PT Boat? Definitely an item for the bucket list.
Made from PLYWOOD, these were the original fast-boats, and armed with torpedoes and 50s.
John Wayne so liked them he had one upgraded and fitted for his personal use.
Perhaps the best PT movie I remember is “They Were Expendable.”
Seems surprising today that they had wooden hulls.
Not surprising when there was no fiberglass yet. It was marine grade mahogany plywood, not your run-of-the-mill chipboard from Home Depot.
Laminated wood was high tech back then. The British Mosquito bomber was made out of plywood too, as I recall.
According to sources online, they were not plywood as commonly believed but were constructed of mahogany planking with a layer of glue impregnated cloth between inner and outer planks.
Ernest Borgnine is no longer with us, but Tim Conway still is. I think Yoshio Yoda (Fuji) is also.
Expendable is the first flic I ever saw.
John Wayne had a Yard Mine Sweeper (YMS) called :Wild Gooose”and had it totally rebuilt, even removing one deck to raise the headroom....
I had a chance to board it while working on a friends boat tied up on the same pier
I’ve watched that flick over a dozen or two times ever since I was a little boy in the 50s. Hard cold fact and action.
Splinters from bombs & shell explosions would slice right through these. Gotta hand it to the sailors who fought in em.
Understand. I’m remembering 60s descriptions of them.
I don’t think so never heard he had a pt boat
USS YMS-328 was a US Navy YMS-1-class (YMS-135 subclass) Yard Mine Sweeper (YMS), built in Ballard, Washington at Ballard Marine & Railway in Ballard, Washington (Seattle). She was classified as a Mark II design and her hull is constructed completely out of 3” vertical grain Douglas-fir. Sister ships include Jacques Cousteau’s RV Calypso. After naval service during World War II, she became a private yacht. Later renamed Wild Goose she is most notable for having been owned by actor John Wayne. The yacht was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places on 19 July 2011.[2][3][4]
My bad then. The show I saw described it as a PT boat.
Don’t let anyone named Kennedy near the helm.
I was on it a few times too
See #14.
The hull was a double hull of mahogany, the planking angle opposite for each layer for strength. There was a layer of canvas between the two, probably impregnated for waterproofing.
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