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PT Boat PT-796 (Higgins)
PT-796 is a Higgins class PT Boat. PT-796's specifications are:
Length: 78 feet
Beam: 20 feet 8 inches
Draught: 4 feet
Crew: Two officers and nine crewmen
Displacement: 35 tons
Max Speed: 41 knots (46mph)
Fuel Capacity: 3,000 gallons of 100 octane avgas
Range: 358 miles at 35 knots, 1050 miles on one engine, 11 knots
Oil Capacity: 30 gallons
Armament:
Four 21 inch Torpedoes
Up to 8 Mark 6 300 pound Depth Charges
Two 20mm Oerlikon AA guns
One 40mm Bofors AA mount aft
Four 50 cal. Browning Machine Guns
Hull Construction: Double planked Mahogany (NOT plywood)
Power Plant: Three 1,200 hp Packard V-12 engines driving 3 propellers with 3 rudders
Launching Date: May, 1945
You can see the Higgins PT Boat PT-796 at the Battleship Cove Naval Museum in Fall River, Massachusetts. PT-796 was the last PT (Patrol Torpedo) in operation by the US Navy, seeing active service until the early 1960s. It is missing some of it's original fittings but the museum staff is working to correct that. One staff member has begun construction of new 50 Cal machine gun tubs. My guide that day was Jack Madden, a PT Boat Veteran who served on board a Higgins during his tour of duty in the Mediterranean during WWII. Jack felt that at some point in it's life it may have been re-planked incorrectly. The hull of PT-796 is double planked mahogany (NOT plywood, although they are often referred to as plywood boats). The two layers of planking normally run diagonally opposite each other with a sheet of glue impregnated canvass in between. From the interior views of this Higgins you can see that the interior planking is done diagonally as is normally done , but the outer planking is not as what we had seen in the books detailing PT Boat construction that both Jack an I have. You can see from the external views that it is planked longitudinally. That conclusion made sense until I received the following note from Jerry Gilmartin, the curator for the USS PT658 museum located in Portland, Oregon. Jerry set us both straight on the mystery of the horizontal outer planking on this Higgins PT-Boat. Jerry writes:
"It is true that on early PT Boats such as the PT309 in Texas , that the outer planking was diagonal, and both layers were mahogany. Then the Higgins Industries boatyard changed their methods during the later war years (1944-1945) and started planking the outer layer with 3/4 inch horizontal layers. This scheme is identical to the method used on PT658. The makeup of the wood is also different, (I think it was because they were running out of mahogany?) but the inner layer is 5/16 inch thick fir (or spruce) laid diagonally and then the layer of glue impregnated canvas, then a 3/4 inch later of mahogany laid horizontally and joined together end to end with screwed "butt blocks" aka "fish plates" on the interior of the boat. These blocks hold the end butt joints together of the horizontal strakes of planking. Holding both interior and exterior layers together besides the glue, are thousands of copper rivets and bronze flathead countersunk and bunged screws. I am not sure why Higgins went to this different method of planking the boats, and I suspect that it occurred around the 400 series of boat hull numbers. The higher numbers were all horizontally planked on the outside and the lower numbered boats were diagonally planked on the outside. Pretty minor fact, but at least now you know. "
Don Shannon of the Battleship Cove Museum adds:
"To the best of my Knowledge the answer from the Portland crew is correct but it was only the very last Higgins boats on the production line that were built with the exterior horizontal planking. Our PT 796 does not indicate that the planking was changed from an inspection of the boat from the inside, the inner planking is believed to be original and has no signs of extensive rework that would have incurred if the entire exterior plank was changed therefore the plank was laid longitudinal in the boat yard. One Interesting fact is that PT 659 that was built for lend lease to the USSR, and later found by the Portland group that restored PT 658, then sent to a Washington restoration group and now to the WWII D Day museum in New Orleans has the vertical planking above the water line typical to most of the WWII PT Boats. "
Jack also told me the story of the simpler torpedo mount you see above. Originally the boats used long heavy tubes on either side of the deck. To launch the torpedo the torpedo needed to be started up and their gyros set, then the tube would be swiveled out on an angle to allow the torpedoes to clear the deck when launched. The torpedo would then be launched out of the tube via a reservoir of compressed air. If this system failed a crewman would strike a percussion charge trigger with a mallet setting off an explosive charge to fire the torpedo. At night that was a big drawback as the flash blowing out the front of the tube illuminated the boats and their positions. Some engineers who had a good understanding of the characteristics of the torpedo's gyro guidance system felt it would track just as accurately if rolled off the side (although others felt doing so would tumble the gyros). A mount was fabricated and launch tests were done and low and behold the torpedo rolled off the cradle into the water and ran true. From there on all new PT Boats were fitted with the more simple launching cradle.
While you are there compare the rudders of the Higgins PT Boat with the rudders of the Elco. Jack pointed out to me that the Higgins rudders are significantly larger, allowing a tighter turning radius over the Elco.
Jack told me a little about the missions his PT Boat squadron performed in the Mediterranean. Like the PTs in the Pacific, they would patrol at night. They would motor in slow near a harbor or shoreline, and if they spotted a promising target, typically a German Lighter, they would launch their torpedoes and power out at full speed before the torpedoes struck. If they were seen the Germans would immediately open up with shore batteries, especially the feared high velocity German 88s, their shells flying right over the deck. The PT Boat crews would not fire back as it would reveal their position to the shore batteries.
In the same building is another PT Boat, the Elco PT-617 which has been restored to a much higher standard. Also at Battleship Cove Naval Museum are the Submarine USS Lionfish, the Soviet Missile Corvette Hiddensee, the Destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy DD-780, and the Battleship USS Massachusetts BB-59. It's a great place to spend a day, and you'll need a full day to really see everything. Be sure to have lunch in the snack bar/grill in the galley of the Battleship. The food is not bad and you'll probably be as hungry as I was at lunch time after a few hours of climbing around warships.
Other Battleship Cove Naval Museum Exhibits |
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