PT boat, E boat or MTB boat?
PT boat, E boat or MTB boat?
Author
Discussion

Ayahuasca

Original Poster:

27,580 posts

308 months

Monday 5th April 2010
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Which one and why?

Der schnellboot looks quite menacing..


aeropilot

40,519 posts

256 months

Monday 5th April 2010
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PT/MTB for me......an uncle of mine was in the RN MTB fleet in the Med during the war, and just the sound from those 3 x V12 Packard 4M-2500's cloud9

Simpo Two

92,658 posts

294 months

Monday 5th April 2010
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E-Boats seemed to do much more damage than our MTBs/MGBs. Ours seemed to be used mostly for dropping off and collecting Commandos, whilst the E-Boats went raiding the Channel to sink whatever they could find.

aeropilot

40,519 posts

256 months

Monday 5th April 2010
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
E-Boats seemed to do much more damage than our MTBs/MGBs. Ours seemed to be used mostly for dropping off and collecting Commandos, whilst the E-Boats went raiding the Channel to sink whatever they could find.
I suggest you read Dog Boats at War by L.C. Reynolds and you'll see how inaccurate that view is.
In fact anti E-Boat operations was one of the MTB's prime roles especially during D-Day when they operated a hugely successful fleet protection operation, and they proved particularily effective in attacking the heavily defended enemy shipping convoys along the Dutch coast.
The Mediterranean fleet sunk a lot of shipping and and also supported all the major Allied landings in the Med, and performed an invaluable task in support of Tito's partisans.

Simpo Two

92,658 posts

294 months

Monday 5th April 2010
quotequote all
No need to be patronising. I did use the qualifying phrase 'seemed to'. In fact there was a book announced by Amazon today on this specific subject, pre-orders only.

Ayahuasca

Original Poster:

27,580 posts

308 months

Monday 5th April 2010
quotequote all


PT boat.

aeropilot

40,519 posts

256 months

Tuesday 6th April 2010
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Simpo Two said:
No need to be patronising. I did use the qualifying phrase 'seemed to'.
I wasn't intending to being patronising....merely pointing out that their contribution was more than it 'seemed'.
One of my late uncle's spent the whole war almost as an MTB Oerlikon gunner in the Med....and he saw a lot of action, but like many veterans from 'forgotten' units, was always seemingly having to justify their contribution to the war effort compared to the well publised actions. He's no longer around to do that, so I guess without thinking, I'm continuing that 'quick to defend' principle.

XJSJohn

16,151 posts

248 months

Monday 12th April 2010
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The boys running about in the MTB's had damn big balls ... wooden hull and big fueltanks full of PETROL whilst someone is shooting at you (with tracer bullets in the mix as well for that extra oomph!!

Meanwile the E-Boats were full of Diesel, less of a bang ....

Huntsman

9,302 posts

279 months

Monday 12th April 2010
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I wonder what is happening with S130, with Tom Wheatcroft passed away will the funding continue?

aeropilot

40,519 posts

256 months

Monday 12th April 2010
quotequote all
XJSJohn said:
The boys running about in the MTB's had damn big balls ... wooden hull and big fueltanks full of PETROL whilst someone is shooting at you (with tracer bullets in the mix as well for that extra oomph!!

Meanwile the E-Boats were full of Diesel, less of a bang ....
Yup....5,000 gals of aviation fuel....which could be emptied by the 3 x Packard V12's in a single days ops eek

Quaint

658 posts

223 months

Monday 12th April 2010
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Dog Boats at War is a cracking read - highly recommended. Mrs. Quaint's grandpa won a DSC as an MTB captain and had some cracking stories to tell. His obituary can be found HERE, for anyone who's interested.

So - yes, given the choice it'd be MTB for me. smile

BigS

873 posts

202 months

Monday 12th April 2010
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And of course post-war there was the Tjeld or Nasty class depending on whether it was a Norwegian or American one, powered by Napier Deltics smile

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

227 months

Monday 12th April 2010
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Swift boat for me. Too young to remember WWII wink. Try the book My Father My son. Harrowing story written by a Swift boat captain and his father who sanctioned the use of Agent Orange along the river banks to help save US lives. The son later died of cancer attributed to exposure to agent orange.

Huntsman

9,302 posts

279 months

Monday 12th April 2010
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Fishtigua

9,786 posts

224 months

Tuesday 13th April 2010
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Ayahuasca said:


PT boat.
Silly question time.

What is the dome on this craft used for?

BigS

873 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th April 2010
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Fishtigua said:
Silly question time.

What is the dome on this craft used for?
From Wikipedia:
"Although not technically a weapon, U.S. Navy PTs also were fitted with was Raytheon SO radar, which had about a 17 nm range. Having radar gave Navy PTs a distinct advantage in intercepting enemy supply barges and ships at night."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT_boat

andy97

4,784 posts

251 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
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Huntsman said:
I wonder what is happening with S130, with Tom Wheatcroft passed away will the funding continue?
This rticle is from last year, before TW passed away, so there is no real answer but note that this is Kevin Wheatcroft's project & not Toms.

http://www.motorboatsmonthly.co.uk/news/402836/ger...

Whilst Tom was the car racing fanatic, Kevin has apparently always had a greater enthusiasm for WW2 stuff. Maybe the project is safe?

Ritchie335is

2,119 posts

231 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
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Huntsman said:
2 x Ford Sabre 130s Pah! rolleyes

Pothole

34,367 posts

311 months

Sunday 18th April 2010
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my Dad was in MTBs for a while, I think a little post-war, I'll have to check...according to some of his yarns it would appear they spent a lot of time crossing to Ireland to barter for fresh meat!

pacman1

7,324 posts

222 months

Wednesday 14th December 2011
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Came across this thread by accident, but found this the other day, so thought I'd post it up.

Colour footage, amazing the way they were built, interesting I thought anyway. nerd

PT Boats - Giant Killers