Based on a true story, The Rebels Of PT-218 follows the intrepid crew of an American torpedo boat, one of the first to encounter action in the Mediterranean Theater at the height of WWII. A small hole" will be enough to allow a little gas to spurt out, create fumes and consequently an explosion and fire. Sneakers and moccasins. Lt. After heavy weather missions, collisions, or severe jolts against a dock or shipside you may find much to report. 5. Remember that the thumb screws securing the holding cables should be hand tight and not wrench tight. Stow it carefully, well lubricated and in a watertight box. Ignorance is no excuse. The danger zone to the rear may be as great as 200 feet rearward and 150 either side of the line of aim. Kelley also added he'd like included former members of the original crew, any other former PT boat crew members and those who worked on it. Heavy objects dropped on them, such as gun barrels and magazines, will crack the glass and induce serious leaks in the overhead. Protect it against dirt and water. This versatility has gained for it an important part in the fleet. Prima Cord usually requires a cap to ignite it. Serving in the Pacific during the War, she returned to serve at a Sacramento air base at . 2. It is a magnetic compass and must be free of disturbances and loose gear such as guns and engine parts. All three of these men were injured on previous patrols and were not on board when the PT-109 was sunk. This will stop the torpedo immediately. The Japanese were initially cautious when operating in waters with known PT boat presence, which disrupted Japanese supply runs to key contested battlefields such as Guadalcanal, but as soon as they realized that American torpedoes were often defective, PT boats lost their effectiveness as a weapon, but they acted as effective deterrents nevertheless. Perhaps the major cause of accidents can be traced to failure to take out the clip. During the long Solomons campaign, they operated usefully at night and times of low visibility against Japanese barge traffic in the "Slot." Gunnery Locker.-This is a spacious tubby hole located about amidships. ww2dbaseHiggins built 199 PT boats for the US Navy immediately before and during WW2. The tendency is for the gasoline to accumulate around the hull, particularly the mufflers. 7. Torpedo Director: Can be used as a pelorus for taking relative bearings as well as for its primary use. 1. Wear white socks and air your feet often. Test fire each batch of ammunition. Do not use it to wash out cuts or sores. Get acquainted with them Highly skilled technical engineers are continually working to improve the design and performance of your engines so don't try to redesign them yourself-such as changing engine timing. 4. Some served off Normandy during that invasion. Strip your guns regularly, exercise the springs, and make other routine checks. Hogwash people. When one lets down, one of the others has to take added strain and eventually weakens. They know. The tools are more accessible and the bulkheads below decks will be much cleaner. We have left all but one of these offensive stereotyped images in this online version. This operational casualty is explained quite fully in the "Packard Maintenance Manual, Bulletin," #17, 1-19-43. Their officers and men mixing more frequently than those of the "steel navy", and they were known as excellent scavengers and thieves who were capable of taking whatever they could find to bolster their supplies and armament. Your VHF is not as secure as you perhaps assume. 2. Carry a couple. Several of the boats then decided to put armor plate about the refrigerator. 2. PT boats did more than just carry torpedoes and young men into battle during World War II. Hand mirror that will not rust. Pies, cookies, and cakes flow from this modernistic kitchen if you've got a happy cook. Vice Admiral, USN Like the radio gear, operate it daily. Three loose lag screws, a heavy strain, and bingo-you've lost a cleat. This will prevent the raft from drifting away. Submarines 161 Alabama (BB8). On one patrol, a Japanese floatplane spotted the PT-109. Here are the first five rules when you are handing over a gun or tearing it down: The old saying, "Fire is a good servant, but a bad master," applies well to PTs whose wood and gasoline are wonderful ingredients for a roaring fire. At about 2:30 in the morning, a shape loomed out of the darkness three hundred yards off PT 109's starboard bow. 1. A PT can and has taken on everything from canoes to battleships. The WW2-era torpedo boat design originated in the late 1930s to the early 1940s when the US Navy requested a competitive bid for several different concepts of torpedo boats. If a hot run cannot be stopped, run to the bow of the boat. The prime rule is: "Don't give up the ship." This type of practice, "blind cocking and blind loading" is invaluable. I have been working on the PT Boaters MIA/KIA list and I have located and/or Identified what happened to them. It can be very embarrassing. Have a drip pan properly placed or the meat juices will leak into the bilges and in a week you'll be accused of carrying a dead Jap around in your bilges. Dry cells must be kept dry. monitor stations on land and they have made many experiments with VHF type of equipment. The whistle and reflector are useful in signaling. Paint the towing eye or ring to prevent corrosion and rust. If the wind, sea, or tide increase slack out more line. 8. 662K views 10 years ago PT Boat PT-658 Deck Tour and Interior Tour shows details and closeups of all weapons and equipment on board. T.P.-9, Know Your PT Boat 4 20-mm antiaircraft gun mounts. By the last patrol on the night of April 28, 1945, American PT boats had been fighting in the coastal waters of North Africa, Italy, and France for two years. Oiled or greased cartridges should not be fired. Patch cracks and ruptures in the fabric promptly. Flashlight. A brush full of paint today will keep disintegration away tomorrow. 6 towels. He said: ww2dbaseHowever, his counterparts at Washington, DC, United States did not agree. ARMAMENT.-Treated in the GQ Drill Section. Though a comparatively new weapon in naval warfare, PTs have operated in every theatre of war and have proven themselves an important part of the fleet. Osceola WI: MBI Publishing Co., 1999. Your refrigerator can make ice cream, ice cubes, and frozen delights (especially good is frozen fruit cup). The scratching irritation is terrific and the raw sores created by scratching are excellent entry spots for other foreign bacteria causing serious complications. A tick or sucker should not be yanked off. Thick vegetation, seaweed, lines and submerged trees may tangle one man up. Pumps are difficult to get. Also your most important chartroom equipment needs the steady and reliable source of current it puts out. Some PTs later received rocket launchers. If you follow this procedure you may save an eventual major job by a base force. Sailing Ships 1 Allegheny (AT19), formerly the Huron. Once a Jap bullet punctured a refrigerator unit and drained it of all its freon. So also on a PT which is often based on an island with no fresh-water supply. Maybe you can prove to the boys that Sheboygan is on the map. Don't full load the gun until signal is given. A steady push or pull will lengthen the life of the reverse gear and save you work. This disease appears generally on the feet (between the toes) at first. Give a Jap station enough transmissions and a shore battery will be laying a shell in your cockpit. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Throughout World War II, PTs operated in the southern, western, and northern Pacific, as well as in the Mediterranean and the English Channel. Once the sealing cap is ruptured, the valve cannot be closed tightly enough to hold unexpended gas. Built at Miami Shipbuilding Corp, she was immediately consigned to the USAAF and was designated P-619 (P boat like at PT Boat). Galley.-Here is where the "cook" heats up the cans. and attacked shipping and protected our ships during the war. The crew of the 109 also found themselves on patrol in and around the remote islands serving as lookouts for the larger more formidable Japanese destroyers and cruisers that may attempt to attack US warships or US Marines on beach heads in the New Georgia-Rendova area. Shoestrings. Ron 22 was part of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France on August 15, 1944. A long-handled, stiff-bristled brush will do the job. Now don't get scared. Knife. It is never safe to attempt the stopping of a hot deck run. Keep only gas protective equipment in your carrier. Knowledge is valuable, and acquiring it will make time go faster. You can't paddle or sail a crippled PT with any degree of speed or accuracy. Direct hit would often disintegrate entire boats. Incidents mentioned above are not so common as the infections that can be acquired from swimming in tropical waters. Know how to start a torpedo manually and how to stop it, and know the tools and their location so that you can lay hands on them immediately. If it is not used (like a man who doesn't take exercise) it gets sluggish and functions poorly, if at all. Always swim in pairs. In this online version of the manual we have attempted to keep the flavor of the original layout while taking advantage You never know when your enunciators will go haywire. Ammunition must be clean and well covered. Who knows when a Jap sub will pop up? Loaded magazines are easily sprung from the jarring movement of the boat. Gerard Zinser, the last surviving crewman from the sinking of John F. Kennedy's PT 109 in the South Pacific in World War II, died on Aug. 21 at a hospital in Orange Park, Fla. ww2dbaseThe Elco boats were the largest in size of the three types of PT boats built immediately before and during WW2, totaling 385 boats. Bullnose.-The bullnose is used to run your lines through when at anchor, moored alongside another boat, or when moored alongside a dock. Maintain them for the one important purpose for which they are issued-Life Saving. Lockers: For stowage of MP (Multi-Purpose) light, blinker gun, and batteries (dry cells). An unarmed warhead will not explode. Left and right drive rods are not interchangeable. Under heavy going a minor weakness may develop into major damage. ptboatguru@gmail.com Higgins 78' Boat Schnellboot latest detail - see latest news page Extra watch straps. "Tulagi rot" is another nonmedical name for this ailment. PT-305 ("Half Hitch","Barfly", "USS Sudden Jerk") is a Higgins 78-foot (24 m) boat, assigned during the war to RON22, and saw action against the Germans in the Mediterranean Sea. As a rule your boat will be fairly close to land if you meet disaster on a reef, from shore guns, plane bombing, or naval gunnery. Notes: * Not assigned to the PT-109 but went along on final mission. Another check for leaks besides sniffing and looking, is this: Feel the fuel pump drain tube. You may be able to sneak up on a Jap barge but don't try it with one of Uncle Sammie's Dreadnaughts. On August 8, 1943 departs Rendova PT Boat Base under the command of William "Bud" Liebenow to rescue the surviving crew of PT-109 from Nauro Island to Rendova. 3. Custom armament configurations, though, was not altogether strange nor unexpected for PT boats of all makes. Take a sounding before dropping the hook (anchor). The boat on hearing or seeing the noise or flashes will immediately reverse course and pick you up. Also keep it unloaded on the way to your patrol station. You are burning out the clutch throw-out collar. By the end of World War II, 399 Elco PTs had been built. It will be unusual for you to go out on patrol alone. It is very much like a 50-cal. Small Arms.-Will be in your gunnery locker. Dust, dirt, fibers, and even hair may cause your gun to jam. Although more 80-foot Elco boats were built than any other type of motor torpedo boat, other types were built by the U. S. The British-designed 70-foot Vosper boats which were built for Lend Lease fired 18-inch torpedoes. It is a tricky operation and should be done speedily and with ease, especially in the dark. Salt water corrodes the cases and moisture can make your primers useless. Inspect your mask regularly for defects. Everyone should know where the important switches are, such as for the radio, galley, refrigerator, main feed, etc. All Rights Reserved. A rocket round when assembled is self-propulsive, and if accidentally ignited will attain its full velocity and the fuse will arm in less than one second. Camouflage it. Cheap canvas luggage (will not rot or mildew as rapidly as leather and is lighter). An open-head pump underway is-like having a hole in your bottom. An extra seabag may be used to send home excess gear or souvenirs. You must nurse it and be considerate of your engines if you want the best out of them in emergencies. Have the first-aid kit topside or on the dock where you can get to it. You may be carrying an aquarium around and not know it except that your boat will be slow and loggy. Its features of speed and knockout power have been ballyhooed in the press, not without reason. ww2dbaseSources: American Caesar, United States Navy Naval Historical Center, US Patrol Torpedo Boats, Wikipedia. Based on a true story, The Rebels Of PT-218 follows the intrepid crew of an American torpedo boat, one of the first to encounter action in the Mediterranean Theater at the height of WWII. Gun.-To the "Barge Hunters" this is a fondly loved gun. Make it a practice to note any unusual movement of bulkheads, gussets, or stringers. Many boats received ad-hoc refits at advanced bases, mounting such light guns as Army Air Forces 37mm aircraft guns and even Japanese 23mm guns. 6. Off the coasts of Africa, Italy and France, the crew fights against the constant bombardment by German forces as the seas become a deadly battleground.