Since WW2 was such a big war fought on land air and sea in such huge quantities, there was not a safe place to have duty on the front lines in any branch of service. If you were lucky enough to have duty with a casualty rate less than 15%, it had to be shore duty on continental US. Well, I can think of one exception - serving on a battleship because they were so heavily armed, protected and the main targets the Japanese went after were the carriers.
Hopefully, he never had to bunk with that asshole John Kerry. But to your comment, I hope your father did well in his transfer to civilian life. It's hard, even for those who haven't been in combat.
My father was stationed at Melville RI at the PT training base. He taught navigation and later was sent to the Pacific. One of my goals is to visit the PT Boat Museum at Battleship Cove. They have an Elco and a Higgins PT all restored and on display.
- My uncle Brent Creelman was trained at Melville. Then he went to the Higgins yard in NOLA as PCO for PT-311. That boat went to Ron 22 in the Med. She was lost on Nov 18, 1944, when they hit a mine near Livorno. My uncle Brent’s body was never found. -
The Higgins boat is currently not on display...the building it was housed in was damaged and they are trying to raise money to build a new one. The US WWII Museum in New Orleans has a Higgins boat, PT 305, and for the first few years offered rides...for a high price...but they've since taken the boat out of service and off display.....I really wanted to ride it. The ELCO is my favorite.....
Yep.....even the "American Heroes Channel" is going in the dumper. I guess stupid people doing things in Alaska shows must be cheaper to make than documenting events by real heroes.
The fact is thee PT was one of thee most devastating weapons man ever made. The short fall was lack of radio communications & coordination. Most of the boats were already suffering lack of maintenance and the radios were always out. Today a litoral boat like this would be invincible especially with todays horse power...
@@terryrussel523rewriting history? Oh god 🤦 go on dude provide some proof of such a nonsensical claim. Only people who think that are the far right who attack the truth & objective reality itself on the daily
My uncle Leo Piersall served aboard PT 532. In April 1943 radar sets began to be installed on some PT boats (1 out of 4 or 6). By fall all new boats were getting them. PT 532 sailed October 1943. This greatly aided navigation as many were lost to reef groundings. In about November 1944 the received 5 inch rockets they shot out of a 4x4 launcher. In seconds they could shoot 16 rockets and the weren't too bad to reload. Devil boats are rocket equiped patrol boats. This gave these 80 foot boats a punch they previously lacked.
That is very interesting! My Grandfather was one of the first submarine sonar operators in WW1 aboard the K2. In WW2, he was a subcontractor who helped build Camp Van Dorn along the Mississippi-Louisiana border, when that camp was finished he moved my Grandmother and mother to New Orleans and joined the Coast Guard Reserve and guarded the Higgins facility doc yards. My Grandmother became Andrew Higgins' chief stenographer. As a kid, I grew up in their home with photos of PT Boats on trails and of Andrew Higgins, I still have a few bits of memorabilia including Higgins PT Boat lapel pins and a booklet that Higgins gave each PT boat crew along with a shortwave radio so that they could listen to popular music instead of having to use the official military radio. I know that most of the Higgin's PTs went to the Mediterranean but some did go to the Pacific. I don't know if you uncle Leo was on an Elco or Higgins boat, but who knows, maybe he was on a Higgins boat made at the time my Grandparents were down in New Orleans. If not, we have a connection, you and I.
@@TraderRobin Interesting. My Uncle described a raid their squadron of five boats made early one morning after they had gotten the rockets. He mentioned the Captain's boat had a 37 mm gun salvaged from a Army plane when they were replaced with 20mm. Also the last boat had an English recoilless rifle. These boats were pretty small.
@@TraderRobin The Japanese had begun armoring the barges and putting machine guns, so the 37 mm and recoilless rifle helped. They were also issued Armor piercing 50 caliber ammunition. Half of the boats were lost (especially to reef snags) and a third of the crews. Very dangerous front line duty.
Yes, it was educational then and not just trash entertainment, must be too many 30/40 something’s that have a different view of educational entertainment
The PT’s were my favorite ship of ww2 ,little devils of the ocean. Hit and run. Used to build models of them as a kid. My father drove landing craft and told of them escorting them to and from the beaches.
@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe The Packard M2500 V12 were a purpose designed for PT boats and were not used in any other application, except the British version PT Boats, these engines were NOT the Merlin Packard made, no relation, do the research and if you have ever seen both engines it is very obvious they are very different engines !!!
Could you imagine if the History Channel revisited its own archives and released the originals or remastered everything? I can barely make out what I'm watching for the most part.
That would be cool. As soon as I saw the 240p I thought of abandoning the video, but I love the PT boats. It's a shame that it's not in a higher quality. Great information, though.
Love this video. Not enough praise is given the PT's for their service, not so much for the damage they caused but the lives they saved and the harassment they did.
The island where Kennedy swam to was called Plum Pudding Island (they now call it Kennedy Island). Years back (1977) I passed by it when travelling on a Solomon Island coastal boat. An old missionary identified which one it was. It wasn't very impressive.
PTSD was unheard of after WW2. Dad had lost 75 % of the use in both legs when his boat was destroyed. From the time I was a little boy my dad used to watch the 6:00 news during every conflict the U.S. was in from Korea to Viet Nam etc. , and sit there an cuss at the television until his death in 2015 ,at 91. All he would say is give me my boat and my crew and we'll kick the shit out of them. For 65 years it never left his mind. However ,he never ever discussed it.
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what the orator is describing. Special thanks to the veteran ( P.T. ) boat crew members. For serving & sharing personal information/experiences pertaining to their daily activities. Making this presentation more authentic and possible -!!!😉. Wishing viewers & Navy personnel a safe/healthy/prosperous ( 2024 ) 🌈🎉😉.
My grandpa worked at Higgins boat yard during the war. He lived about 30 miles away. My dad says he was picked up bus dropped at the train to get there. He was born in 1899 and i was 9 when he passed. Man be nice to talk to him again.
Thanks for these videos , thank you Yankees for liberating the Solomon islands. I heard many stories of the war in the Solomons from my father who was a young man at that time. I heard especially about the late US President JF Kennedy.
@Bernie lomaxs Mustache 107 is documented as being on patrol 8/1-8/2, 1943 at the southern entrance of Blackett Strait. She fired all four torpedoes at Japanese destroyers. The 109 was rammed to the NW of there by the Amagiri which had traveled through Blackett Strait. While 107 was not overly close to the 109, my original statement is factually correct. 107 was indeed in the area (10 miles or so?). Please let me know if I am missing something. Cheers.
We had a PT Boat on Kwajalein in the 60's. It was a fast and able boat for ocean side and often used for fishing. Smaller boats from ski to cabin stayed in the lagoon.
In the early part of 1962 or three I was in the US Navy on board a destroyer escort in one day we were in Cam Ranh Bay and then I saw six World War II type torpedo boats going across the bed of the formation really beautiful to see him running❤
Born in 1946 and raised in San Francisco. When I was young the family would sometimes take day trips to Santa Cruz to the beach and boardwalk. While there, we would see a very large wooden speed boat with a nice wooden deck with four or five cockpits of seats, taking people for a fast ride on the ocean just off shore. I remember being told that the boat was a converted PT boat. Don’t know if this was true or not, but it was fast and loud like a PT boat.
That was actually PT 769, a Higgins-built PT boat, dressed up to resemble the 109. The 769 (tail-ender) is on display with PT 617 (Elco) at Battleship Cove, Massachusetts.
@barrysimmons5489 Then what PT boat is sitting beside PT 617 then? I just looked at the boat in the PT boat museum web page in Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. It is a 78-foot Higgins-built PT that was the last one in service as late as 1970. I don't know what boat you're referring to, but it's not the 796. She was towed on a trailer for Kennedy's inaugural parade in 1961 and made up to look like PT 109 for that event.
My dad was the skipper of a PT in the Mediterranean. He saw the Savannah get hit by a radar-controlled bomb and his crew later fought German flak convoys in the Ligurian Sea.
As I understand it, MacArthur's obsession with returning to P.I. extended the war by as much as a year. His ego got in the way of an efficient island hopping campaign as envisioned by Nimitz. There wouldn't've been a return if MacArthur wasn't a personal friend of FDR. A really outstanding documentary on the PT Navy. As mentioned elsewhere, it's too bad that the real History Channel, along with the A&E network, went kerflooey with the reality craze. I've got all of the Horatio Hornblower movies produced by A&E. What a shame they never finished it.
I watched the "Infographics Show" on PT boats and it painted PT boats as the most awesome boats ever. This video tells of the casualties and the brave guys on the boats
Had I been born 25 years earlier, I would have gladly joined the Navy to serve upon a PT boat. They were the best at what the mission to sink Japanese ships.
Great for mild weather, unfortunately poor in rough seas because of planing type hull. The German S boat was far superior in terms of its sea-worthiness, manueverability and and robustness. Nonetheless the PTs are beautiful boats.
It was such a pity that these beautiful boats were burnt and not offered to the Philippines like the jeeps. They still have the jeeps. The igneous Filipinos would have kept the PTs too.
And why would America hand over these boats after the war? So much know-how went into these boats. From the early 1900s - beginning of WW2-You think the USA will just give these up for free? LOL.
The Phils. can probably use something like these now to patrol the southern islands, but instead they are sitting on their asses waiting for handouts from other countries. Why they cannot take the initiative to further their defenses is beyond me.
@@kimberlainodriscoll4781 It was amazing . You should have seen his face. ,Not a computer guy so he never would have seen it, Glad he got to see it before he passed. Thanks, and have a great day.
Pt Boat Skippers usally rate Lt. JGs and the XOs were Ensigns. A Lt. Cmdr , ( fictional ) like Mc Hale for example would have been in Command of the entire MTB RON Squadron. Futhermore , Lt. John Bulkeley , who took General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor to Australia was in Command of MTB RON 3.
@@u.s.veteranstephan And they took almost all of the PT Boats used in WWII in the Pacific to an Island near the Solomon's or somewhere in the Philippines, and burned them all to the water line and left them there. The US Military does a lot of absolutely stupid stuff from time to time.
5:00 the filmmakers seem to have neglected the fact that the Germans had set the precedent for "small boat triumphs of the first World War" four years earlier during the Siege of Tsingtao, when the torpedo boat S-90 sunk the Japanese cruiser Takachiho, which resulted in the loss of all 271 men on board.
I know men was here on the Philippines,, one person there 2 time.I love to watch movies like this. John E. May and my dad was here to and my step-dad was too. 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖
The engineer was MM (motor machinist) "Pappy" McMahon, who did survive the collision but was badly burned. He's the man Kennedy towed by a life jacket strap clenched in his teeth to the first island after they abandoned what was left of the boat. Gunner Andrew Kirksey and another man named Marney were killed. The 109 wasn't actually cut in half but was split practically down the middle. The "Amigiri" struck just forward of the forward 50-caliber mount cut diagonally down the boat, which took off the starboard engine, where the engineer sat with the engine controlls.
The Machinist Mate "Pappy" McMahon survived but was seriously burned when he surfaced in a sea of burning gasoline. Kirksey and Marney were the two crewmen killed in the collision.
JFK and PT109 still hold the record for being the only PTBoat to be rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the entire Pacific campaign of World War 2.
TheY were wrong: The PT Boat did have a true successor, the PTF a Norwegian designed craft of the NASTY class, the USN operated a number of them in S.Vietnam; they were 81 feet and powered by two Napier Deltic diesels making 1600 hp each, armed with a single 40mm Bofors aft and a 20mm Oerlikon forward.... just thot ya otta know.⚓️
Officers and crew totaling up to 17 on a boat that could barely sleep 10, and I thought the submarine services were the only ones that did the "Hot racking".
My grandfather who recently passed (4/8/20) was on one of these boats. I'm trying to figure out which boat it was. I only know that he was part of the RON 28 squadron. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for your loss John keep your head up. My grandfather was on a PT as well in ww2 and am also interested in finding out some history on it. Unfortunately you have more info than me but maybe we could help each other out?
Dad was in DesRon 23, destroyer squad , 43-45 , told me about PT’s he’d seen , P-38 flyover, and the Enemy ! Look up US Navy ! See what happens ! 🇺🇸 Good Luck ! Stay True !
@@wilburfinnigan2142 REMEMBER YOUR HISTORY BOOKS? ....... THE ARMIES WHERE LED ON THE GROUND BY THE RULER'S ....... I say make the ruler's and everyone in government be the first to go into action at the very heads of our troops! That way they may think twice before the at so foolishly!
Torpedoes in PY Boats and submarines were ineffective early in the war. Either they failed to reach the target -- the alcohol fuel had been drained by sailors as liquor -- or they hit the target but failed to explode. Improved models were developed quickly.
The problem wasn't fixed very quickly the heads of the navy blamed the sailors for missing and forbid anyone to adjust the torpedoes to make them work with the threat of court marshal.. the captain of 1 of the ships got sick of them not going off and fired off a bunch to test them and finally the leaders had to act to fix the dud torpedoes
It is amazing how or military fought in WW2.They were named the greatest generation in our history.Growing up and the military in my family went hand in hand.But now I am old and I would have reservations to go into the military or ok my children to enter only due to the current political leadership that is in office and how they give more money and concerns to illegal immigrants invading our county than the VETS THAT PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR OUR CITIZENS.
20:24 The commander in charge of the cruiser force. He was warned about the possibility of IJN destroyers and told about their night fighting prowess. He even had the latest radar installed on one of the cruisers and even still he failed.
John f Kennedy's PT boat was cut in half one dark night by a Japanese destroyer that never saw them, he was injured and would suffer from back pain for the rest of his life
The torpedoes that these boats used were the same defective ones given to the submarines. With better torpedoes they could have done a lot better than they did. Most exploded prematurely because the magnetic field of the ship was elongated at that latitude and triggered the magnetic pistol too early.
That is wrong. The PT Boats were armed with old WW1 Mark 8 torpedoes, not the same as the subs which used the Mark 14. The Mark 8 torps did have gyro problems but not the exploder detonator issues that plagued the Mk14's. After 1943, the PT Boats were supplied with newer Mk13 aircraft dropped torpedoes, which did not require being launched from a tube. These torps were much more reliable than the older Mk8.
PT boats took almost a 20% casualty rate during the war. Very hazardous duty. Brave men manned these boats.
Often just College age kids fighting and dying for Uncle Sam and the enemy held islands of The South Pacific.
I'm sure those college kids along with a certain college kid named Kennedy fought on these boats. Yes they fought and died fighting the IJN
Since WW2 was such a big war fought on land air and sea in such huge quantities, there was not a safe place to have duty on the front lines in any branch of service. If you were lucky enough to have duty with a casualty rate less than 15%, it had to be shore duty on continental US. Well, I can think of one exception - serving on a battleship because they were so heavily armed, protected and the main targets the Japanese went after were the carriers.
That better then our subs
My father did two tours on PT boats - he survived but now I realize why he hardly talked about it.
Tours World War 2? Vietnam?
Hopefully, he never had to bunk with that asshole John Kerry. But to your comment, I hope your father did well in his transfer to civilian life. It's hard, even for those who haven't been in combat.
My father was stationed at Melville RI at the PT training base. He taught navigation and later was sent to the Pacific. One of my goals is to visit the PT Boat Museum at Battleship Cove. They have an Elco and a Higgins PT all restored and on display.
-
My uncle Brent Creelman was trained at Melville.
Then he went to the Higgins yard in NOLA as PCO for PT-311.
That boat went to Ron 22 in the Med. She was lost on
Nov 18, 1944, when they hit a mine near Livorno. My uncle Brent’s body was never found.
-
@@AWa-ik2ez My sincerest condolences. Wooden boats and mines are a terrible combination.
You should be very proud
The Higgins boat is currently not on display...the building it was housed in was damaged and they are trying to raise money to build a new one. The US WWII Museum in New Orleans has a Higgins boat, PT 305, and for the first few years offered rides...for a high price...but they've since taken the boat out of service and off display.....I really wanted to ride it. The ELCO is my favorite.....
Ah,back in the day,when history made history on the history channel.Many thanks.😊😊😊
I really miss watching the history channel when it actually showed actual history.
44 Pachino I’m with you! Now it’s just Liberal Horse Shit ..... Fake History! I won’t even watch it anymore.
DITO MY FRIEND!
Yep.....even the "American Heroes Channel" is going in the dumper. I guess stupid people doing things in Alaska shows must be cheaper to make than documenting events by real heroes.
@@dockmasterted A Ditto-head who can't spell "ditto."
@@lookythat2 A GRAMER SCHOOL TEACHER? ... OR JUST A GRAMER, AND SPELLING TROLL? .....LOL@YOU
My dad was evacuated from the South Pacific in WW2! They saved his life and other Marines!
The fact is thee PT was one of thee most devastating weapons man ever made. The short fall was lack of radio communications & coordination. Most of the boats were already suffering lack of maintenance and the radios were always out. Today a litoral boat like this would be invincible especially with todays horse power...
Did you join the military.....?
Your dad was a great man , now we're is your place in making our country great?..?....you can't just live on your dads laurels😮😮😮😮
@@marioncobaretti2280 Jesus Christ, lady. You gals have the ability to join as well now, so go or stow it.
@@marioncobaretti2280 I spent 2 tours in Nam! What about your pushy ass
Man I miss the old History channel when they aired actual documentaries about history. Now It's just homesteading & blacksmiths blacksmithing it up.
Yea. They are too busy distracting us and re-writing history.
I absolutely concur. You can't go wrong with a History Channel documentary of old. Ahh, the good ol' days.
Same with the old Discovery Channel. - Now there's nothing but reality-show programming.
@@terryrussel523rewriting history? Oh god 🤦 go on dude provide some proof of such a nonsensical claim. Only people who think that are the far right who attack the truth & objective reality itself on the daily
They have almost no historical programs at all.
My uncle Leo Piersall served aboard PT 532. In April 1943 radar sets began to be installed on some PT boats (1 out of 4 or 6). By fall all new boats were getting them. PT 532 sailed October 1943. This greatly aided navigation as many were lost to reef groundings.
In about November 1944 the received 5 inch rockets they shot out of a 4x4 launcher. In seconds they could shoot 16 rockets and the weren't too bad to reload. Devil boats are rocket equiped patrol boats. This gave these 80 foot boats a punch they previously lacked.
That is very interesting! My Grandfather was one of the first submarine sonar operators in WW1 aboard the K2. In WW2, he was a subcontractor who helped build Camp Van Dorn along the Mississippi-Louisiana border, when that camp was finished he moved my Grandmother and mother to New Orleans and joined the Coast Guard Reserve and guarded the Higgins facility doc yards. My Grandmother became Andrew Higgins' chief stenographer. As a kid, I grew up in their home with photos of PT Boats on trails and of Andrew Higgins, I still have a few bits of memorabilia including Higgins PT Boat lapel pins and a booklet that Higgins gave each PT boat crew along with a shortwave radio so that they could listen to popular music instead of having to use the official military radio. I know that most of the Higgin's PTs went to the Mediterranean but some did go to the Pacific. I don't know if you uncle Leo was on an Elco or Higgins boat, but who knows, maybe he was on a Higgins boat made at the time my Grandparents were down in New Orleans. If not, we have a connection, you and I.
I have often wondered why they never tried to mount a 105mm recoilless rifle on PT boats?
@@TraderRobin Interesting. My Uncle described a raid their squadron of five boats made early one morning after they had gotten the rockets. He mentioned the Captain's boat had a 37 mm gun salvaged from a Army plane when they were replaced with 20mm. Also the last boat had an English recoilless rifle. These boats were pretty small.
@@markpiersall9815 Very cool, Mark! 🙂
@@TraderRobin The Japanese had begun armoring the barges and putting machine guns, so the 37 mm and recoilless rifle helped. They were also issued Armor piercing 50 caliber ammunition. Half of the boats were lost (especially to reef snags) and a third of the crews. Very dangerous front line duty.
Back when the History Channel actually showed history.
Yes, it was educational then and not just trash entertainment, must be too many 30/40 something’s that have a different view of educational entertainment
The 80 foot Elcos were beautiful 😍 . Thank you Electrc Launch Co. pride of Bayonne , N.J. 👍
The PT’s were my favorite ship of ww2 ,little devils of the ocean. Hit and run. Used to build models of them as a kid. My father drove landing craft and told of them escorting them to and from the beaches.
The Packard engines have always been music to my ears😊
Sucked up too much high octane aviaton fuel better suited to the P38 etal.
@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe The Packard M2500 V12 were a purpose designed for PT boats and were not used in any other application, except the British version PT Boats, these engines were NOT the Merlin Packard made, no relation, do the research and if you have ever seen both engines it is very obvious they are very different engines !!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 Fuel! Fuel! The Petrol.
@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe Aviation gasoline !!!! DUUUUUHHH!!!!!!!
@wilburfinnigan2142 That's correct and if you read My article on the subject you would have understood my point from the onset. Thank you.
Could you imagine if the History Channel revisited its own archives and released the originals or remastered everything? I can barely make out what I'm watching for the most part.
With all of the fancy machines and computer programs out there they have
no excuse for not 're-mastering' everything they can get their hands on.
That would be cool. As soon as I saw the 240p I thought of abandoning the video, but I love the PT boats. It's a shame that it's not in a higher quality. Great information, though.
The adds are pretty easy to see 😅😅
I've seen better pictures of the Loch Ness Monster.
Love this video. Not enough praise is given the PT's for their service, not so much for the damage they caused but the lives they saved and the harassment they did.
The island where Kennedy swam to was called Plum Pudding Island (they now call it Kennedy Island). Years back (1977) I passed by it when travelling on a Solomon Island coastal boat. An old missionary identified which one it was. It wasn't very impressive.
ONE OF THE BEST PATROL TORPEDO BOAT VIDEO'S!
The two most famous PTs were the one that took MacArthur off Corregidor and the other was PT 109 under the command of Lt.J.G. John F. Kennedy!
Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3, absolute US Nsvy legends.
I saw these beauties at David Taylor Navy Yard on the North Severn River back in the day my Dad work there. I love the sound of the PT's for sure.🇺🇸
PTSD was unheard of after WW2. Dad had lost 75 % of the use in both legs when his boat was destroyed. From the time I was a little boy my dad used to watch the 6:00 news during every conflict the U.S. was in from Korea to Viet Nam etc. , and sit there an cuss at the television until his death in 2015 ,at 91. All he would say is give me my boat and my crew and we'll kick the shit out of them. For 65 years it never left his mind. However ,he never ever discussed it.
The background music sounds like Monty Python. Great vid
My family use to watch the history channel every week and it was great
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what the orator is describing. Special thanks to the veteran ( P.T. ) boat crew members. For serving & sharing personal information/experiences pertaining to their daily activities. Making this presentation more authentic and possible -!!!😉. Wishing viewers & Navy personnel a safe/healthy/prosperous ( 2024 ) 🌈🎉😉.
It used be a fantastic channel
My grandpa worked at Higgins boat yard during the war. He lived about 30 miles away. My dad says he was picked up bus dropped at the train to get there. He was born in 1899 and i was 9 when he passed. Man be nice to talk to him again.
Fantastic Documentary, I Love History of all the Ages 😊
The History Channel is history. Thanks for the memories.
Thanks for these videos , thank you Yankees for liberating the Solomon islands. I heard many stories of the war in the Solomons from my father who was a young man at that time.
I heard especially about the late US President JF Kennedy.
Grandpa was in sq. 5 on PT107. They were in the area when Kennedy's boat was rammed.
@Bernie lomaxs Mustache 107 is documented as being on patrol 8/1-8/2, 1943 at the southern entrance of Blackett Strait. She fired all four torpedoes at Japanese destroyers. The 109 was rammed to the NW of there by the Amagiri which had traveled through Blackett Strait. While 107 was not overly close to the 109, my original statement is factually correct. 107 was indeed in the area (10 miles or so?). Please let me know if I am missing something. Cheers.
A story I heard recently was JFK carved a message with his position on a coconut and friendly natives in canoes took it to base!
We had a PT Boat on Kwajalein in the 60's. It was a fast and able boat for ocean side and often used for fishing. Smaller boats from ski to cabin stayed in the lagoon.
In the early part of 1962 or three I was in the US Navy on board a destroyer escort in one day we were in Cam Ranh Bay and then I saw six World War II type torpedo boats going across the bed of the formation really beautiful to see him running❤
Born in 1946 and raised in San Francisco. When I was young the family would sometimes take day trips to Santa Cruz to the beach and boardwalk. While there, we would see a very large wooden speed boat with a nice wooden deck with four or five cockpits of seats, taking people for a fast ride on the ocean just off shore. I remember being told that the boat was a converted PT boat. Don’t know if this was true or not, but it was fast and loud like a PT boat.
This would make a good Hollywood movie about pt boats in the Pacific campaign
Kevin already done. Watch the movie they were exspendible.
He means something more in depth and up to date.
That music had a part that's almost from the tune from "where eagles dare"
Hard core bloody fighting battles. Serious men saved the country.
They fought is Asia, not america
The PT 109 boat replica float at JFK's inauguration parade was manned by his former crew. Neat bit of historic nostalgia'
That was actually PT 769, a Higgins-built PT boat, dressed up to resemble the 109. The 769 (tail-ender) is on display with PT 617 (Elco) at Battleship Cove, Massachusetts.
@@ronaldrobertson2332I would love to get a close up view of that boat.😀
@@ronaldrobertson2332Sorry... No, that was the 796, Service Craft USNMDL Panama City, FL. 🇺🇲
It ended up in a municipal park in Tenn.
@barrysimmons5489 Then what PT boat is sitting beside PT 617 then? I just looked at the boat in the PT boat museum web page in Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. It is a 78-foot Higgins-built PT that was the last one in service as late as 1970. I don't know what boat you're referring to, but it's not the 796. She was towed on a trailer for Kennedy's inaugural parade in 1961 and made up to look like PT 109 for that event.
They didn't have Pt boats when I went in so I went aboard two destroyers uss shields dd 596 and uss Samuel n Moore dd 747
It’s a shame this couldn’t be sharpened a bit. Miss these type shows! Thanks
My dad was the skipper of a PT in the Mediterranean. He saw the Savannah get hit by a radar-controlled bomb and his crew later fought German flak convoys in the Ligurian Sea.
As I understand it, MacArthur's obsession with returning to P.I. extended the war by as much as a year. His ego got in the way of an efficient island hopping campaign as envisioned by Nimitz. There wouldn't've been a return if MacArthur wasn't a personal friend of FDR.
A really outstanding documentary on the PT Navy. As mentioned elsewhere, it's too bad that the real History Channel, along with the A&E network, went kerflooey with the reality craze. I've got all of the Horatio Hornblower movies produced by A&E. What a shame they never finished it.
Macarthur was a jerk. Harry Truman hated him.
MacArthur was not well regarded by the Australians he commanded. Seen as self-serving and willing to unnecessarily expend lives to boost his image.
@@MickKent Yup!
I watched the "Infographics Show" on PT boats and it painted PT boats as the most awesome boats ever. This video tells of the casualties and the brave guys on the boats
If you want the metrosexual hard to the left "opinion" then yes watch if you must
I gave up on infographics after catchinh way tomany mistakes and omissions.
Had I been born 25 years earlier, I would have gladly joined the Navy to serve upon a PT boat. They were the best at what the mission to sink Japanese ships.
PT 109. The most famous!
Great boats, great docu! Thanks for sharing. T.
The German " E " boat in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Baltic vs being outnumbered were TIGERS !
little boats like this are still around...only now they are armed with missiles instead of torpedoes...one reportedly sank an Israelie destroyer...
@@walterlindsey4055 the E-boats greatest success came against an allied amphibious force practicing for the D-Day landings...
Great for mild weather, unfortunately poor in rough seas because of planing type hull. The German S boat was far superior in terms of its sea-worthiness, manueverability and and robustness. Nonetheless the PTs are beautiful boats.
It was such a pity that these beautiful boats were burnt and not offered to the Philippines like the jeeps. They still have the jeeps. The igneous Filipinos would have kept the PTs too.
And why would America hand over these boats after the war? So much know-how went into these boats. From the early 1900s - beginning of WW2-You think the USA will just give these up for free? LOL.
The Phils. can probably use something like these now to patrol the southern islands, but instead they are sitting on their asses waiting for handouts from other countries. Why they cannot take the initiative to further their defenses is beyond me.
The PT boats which were burned had been surveyed and determined to be beyond practical repair. They were simply worn out.
"Take out those fucking PT Boats!" Booth COD WAW Black Cats mission
They'd probably be too expensive to operate.
Thxs ,love stuff like this,,nice video, gb
The original "Captain Stacy" charter head boat. Morehead
City, NC was a PT boat with a fishing bridge built on it.
Make the History Channel Great Again, MHCGA
The " Boston Bastard" ,was PT -82. The man in the Starboard twin fifties is my father Elbert Tall boat destroyed late 1943.
It must be an honor to see his photo from back then.
@@kimberlainodriscoll4781 It was amazing . You should have seen his face. ,Not a computer guy so he never would have seen it, Glad he got to see it before he passed. Thanks, and have a great day.
Pt Boat Skippers usally rate Lt. JGs and the XOs were Ensigns. A Lt. Cmdr , ( fictional ) like Mc Hale for example would have been in Command of the entire MTB RON Squadron. Futhermore , Lt. John Bulkeley , who took General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor to Australia was in Command of MTB RON 3.
MacArthur was America's version of the Brits Montgomery.
Montgomery had less of a god complex.
@@aussie6910 I disagree in my opinion they both thought they were bigger than life
The PT Boat JFK commanded was an 80' Elco PT Boat. The one at his inauguration was a Higgins PT Boat adapted, and numbered to resemble his boat.
Well since JFK's boat was sunk that makes sense
@@u.s.veteranstephan And they took almost all of the PT Boats used in WWII in the Pacific to an Island near the Solomon's or somewhere in the Philippines, and burned them all to the water line and left them there. The US Military does a lot of absolutely stupid stuff from time to time.
OMG yeah he done a real bang-up job there he got a promotion for getting his boat ran over and loses some of his men real bang-up job.
@@jasons44 dont be ignorant
@@silvercastle777 old man Kennedy was a " boot legger "
I've never seen this before.. thank you
5:00 the filmmakers seem to have neglected the fact that the Germans had set the precedent for "small boat triumphs of the first World War" four years earlier during the Siege of Tsingtao, when the torpedo boat S-90 sunk the Japanese cruiser Takachiho, which resulted in the loss of all 271 men on board.
I know men was here on the Philippines,, one person there 2 time.I love to watch movies like this. John E. May and my dad was here to and my step-dad was too. 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖🎖
32:00 I understand that one was sleeping between a torpedo tube and the engine house. He was crushed, and the engineer below couldn't escape drowning.
The engineer was MM (motor machinist) "Pappy" McMahon, who did survive the collision but was badly burned. He's the man Kennedy towed by a life jacket strap clenched in his teeth to the first island after they abandoned what was left of the boat. Gunner Andrew Kirksey and another man named Marney were killed.
The 109 wasn't actually cut in half but was split practically down the middle. The "Amigiri" struck just forward of the forward 50-caliber mount cut diagonally down the boat, which took off the starboard engine, where the engineer sat with the engine controlls.
..This is based on an illustration made by Kennedy sometime after the war.
@@ronaldrobertson2332 I read it in a Penguin paperback that I think was called PT-109.
The Machinist Mate "Pappy" McMahon survived but was seriously burned when he surfaced in a sea of burning gasoline. Kirksey and Marney were the two crewmen killed in the collision.
PT boats also served in the Mediterranean; I have never seen or read a history of those boats.
brave men and women the best of the greatest generation as far as WAR
Hm, yes, there is a movie about the PT Boats of the Philippines. I believe its called "They Where Expendable". Good movie that.
Take no prisoners, out of 1000+ Japanese sailors they probably rescued 5 🤣🤣
Because surrender is considered dishonorable in Japanese culture
Have heard of the Japanese pilots and sailors waiting for the Americans to send rescue boats then detonate a grenade once close enough
Bringing in the Chow .
3:30 I've forgotten but the music reminds me of Battle of Britain or Squadron 633 about the Mosquito.
Thank you. Very good.
I was on PBRs in Viet Nam. PBR 8133 Mk II , boats of glass, balls of brass, HOOYAH!
Greetings: Great presentation. I read the short credits. Was it narrated by Stacey Keach?
They are not a ship, they are a boat. Enter of gravity is below shoreline.
JFK and PT109 still hold the record for being the only PTBoat to be rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the entire Pacific campaign of World War 2.
Dollar Radars and barometric pressure Sea sonar and radar combined.
A heroic funeral pyre...nuts.
They could've disarmed them and sold them off, but noooo.
Great, thanks //Lars
TheY were wrong: The PT Boat did have a true successor, the PTF a Norwegian designed craft of the NASTY class, the USN operated a number of them in S.Vietnam; they were 81 feet and powered by two Napier Deltic diesels making 1600 hp each, armed with a single 40mm Bofors aft and a 20mm Oerlikon forward.... just thot ya otta know.⚓️
and reportedly very fast...
Officers and crew totaling up to 17 on a boat that could barely sleep 10, and I thought the submarine services were the only ones that did the "Hot racking".
The History channel was nicknamed the WWII Channel
My grandfather who recently passed (4/8/20) was on one of these boats. I'm trying to figure out which boat it was. I only know that he was part of the RON 28 squadron. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for your loss John keep your head up. My grandfather was on a PT as well in ww2 and am also interested in finding out some history on it. Unfortunately you have more info than me but maybe we could help each other out?
My uncle served on PT380 RON 28. Send me a email and I can help with the research. autopartsguy88@gmail.com
Your grandfather was a hero
Dad was in DesRon 23, destroyer squad , 43-45 , told me about PT’s he’d seen , P-38 flyover, and the
Enemy ! Look up US Navy ! See what happens ! 🇺🇸 Good Luck ! Stay True !
in watching this, I couldn't help but think that our president should have served in the US armed forces
I THINK IT SHOULD BE A MANDATORY THING FOR ALL POLITICIANS!!!! ...... BEFORE THY CAN EVEN APPLY TO BE A POLITICIAN!
@John Buick YUP AND LATELY ONLY BONEHEADS ARE EH.......LOL@ME
Roger TRUE !!!!! Yet we have a draft dodger in the office today and head of all the military !!! An embarrassment to the world !!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 REMEMBER YOUR HISTORY BOOKS? ....... THE ARMIES WHERE LED ON THE GROUND BY THE RULER'S ....... I say make the ruler's and everyone in government be the first to go into action at the very heads of our troops! That way they may think twice before the at so foolishly!
amend text: THINK TWICE BEFORE THE "ACT" SO FOOLISHLY
Torpedoes in PY Boats and submarines were ineffective early in the war. Either they failed to reach the target -- the alcohol fuel had been drained by sailors as liquor -- or they hit the target but failed to explode. Improved models were developed quickly.
The problem wasn't fixed very quickly the heads of the navy blamed the sailors for missing and forbid anyone to adjust the torpedoes to make them work with the threat of court marshal.. the captain of 1 of the ships got sick of them not going off and fired off a bunch to test them and finally the leaders had to act to fix the dud torpedoes
Nope, you're thinking of the Mark 14 and Mark 15, not used on PT boats.
Had nothing to do with torp juice.
They would explode out of the tube 40% of the time. But yes, they did distill the alcohol sometimes.
That intro makes me hate History Channel so much for how they have destroyed their channel
Big Mac.
You skipped the second wave near suicide attack by 9 destroyers led by the USS Robinson (DD-562. )
Dad was there.
The Fletcher class destroyers were the best killers on the water back then.
PT''s are awesome tho .
It is amazing how or military fought in WW2.They were named the greatest generation in our history.Growing up and the military in my family went hand in hand.But now I am old and I would have reservations to go into the military or ok my children to enter only due to the current political leadership that is in office and how they give more money and concerns to illegal immigrants invading our county than the VETS THAT PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR OUR CITIZENS.
Absorbtion Force. Island hopping.
Awesome
Squadron 3: It is just the commanding general and his family... no pressure.
20:24
The commander in charge of the cruiser force. He was warned about the possibility of IJN destroyers and told about their night fighting prowess. He even had the latest radar installed on one of the cruisers and even still he failed.
you never hear about the PT boats
I want one.
Me to but i could afford the fuel bill
Mark Short true 😂
Change the motors out anyway I have sufficient fuel capacity for each of the motors
Today it's the Sea Shadow.
Doppler Radar/ not dollar.
What about PT 73?
Majority of the PT Boats sunk by natural means, if only they built a PT Boat carrier and surprise the IJN.
PT, purty good..
Plenty Tough.
John f Kennedy's PT boat was cut in half one dark night by a Japanese destroyer that never saw them, he was injured and would suffer from back pain for the rest of his life
ever been out on the ocean on a moonless night?...I mean it doesn't get any blacker than that...ships can loom up on you from nowhere...
"Bad Back Jack"!
Is there a reason why the images are out of focus?
Perhaps because it was filmed 80 years ago, often with wartime equipment in wartime conditions?
Did any PT Boats survive the war ?
Where can I see one in Texas?
In the Phillipines perhaps
There are a few still around. There is one in a museum in Louisiana.
Fredricksburg tx has one , national ww 2 museum in new Orleans has one and there is one at the pt museum in falls river mass.
4 of them rotting away in Rondout NY
@@smacwhinnie Where is this? dmcchief@comcast.net
I wonder if any RON 27 boats were shown.
Don't know for sure. My dad was XO on PT375 in Ron 27, Philippines and Borneo actions.
The torpedoes that these boats used were the same defective ones given to the submarines. With better torpedoes they could have done a lot better than they did. Most exploded prematurely because the magnetic field of the ship was elongated at that latitude and triggered the magnetic pistol too early.
That is wrong. The PT Boats were armed with old WW1 Mark 8 torpedoes, not the same as the subs which used the Mark 14. The Mark 8 torps did have gyro problems but not the exploder detonator issues that plagued the Mk14's. After 1943, the PT Boats were supplied with newer Mk13 aircraft dropped torpedoes, which did not require being launched from a tube. These torps were much more reliable than the older Mk8.
at the war's end many PT Boats were simply burned where they were at when it was over, once saw a film of many being set afire and destroyed
Quinton McChale PT 73
McHales Navy
The greatest generation..