Talk:PT boat
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I'm not sure if this is worth preserving, but when I found it, the page originally contained:
- "Patrol Torpedo" boat - used by the United States Navy in the South Pacific in World War II. About 40 feet long, wood hull, inboard engine, two torpedo tubes on each gunwale pointed forward, two .50-cal machine guns (?), crew of four (?)
- United States President John F. Kennedy was the captain of a PT boat (PT 109) in World War II.
- FIX this needs lots of work.
If there was ever a PT boat that only had a crew of four, I can't find it -- I assume the original author was simply guessing. If I'm wrong, please correct me! --The Epopt
Yeah, I think this can lose it's "Stub" tag now... nice work :) - MMGB
I was the original author - thank you for doing a proper job with this page. RAE
I'm pretty sure torpedo boats existed before WWII, in fact, IIRC, the destroyer class ship was created initially to counter small fast torpedo boats in WWI. Does someone have references? -- ansible
Yes, the destroyer (Originally "Torpedo boat destroyer" in german) was created to deal with the torpedo boats. All this information looks very good, but I think a good deal of it should be moved to Torpedo Boat as that is the ship class. PT boat is simply a name for a serie of american ships. It is like listing information about battleships under Bismarck... For a reference I would recommend "The development of fighting ships", if you can get your hands on it. Otherwise "Destroyers" gives a rather good overview. Also there is a short overview at global security: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/destroyers.htm P.S. 13:47, 26 May 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Coming soon
The article says,
- "What neither the PT Boat crews, nor their comrades in the submarine service knew in this time frame was that their torpedoes were defective. The American torpedoes ran at depths well below their set depth, and both of the firing mechanisms built into the torpedo regularly malfunctioned. The more squarely the torpedo was lined up on the target, the more likely the torpedo was to fail. Either the torpedo would run under the target, the torpedo would explode prematurely, or it would strike the target and break apart without exploding. Interestingly, early German torpedoes had suffered almost identical defects."
While this applied to the Mk14, the antique Mk8, which might have suffered the deep-running problem, was not designed for or fitted with the Mk6 magnetic exploder, & so shouldn't have suffered prematures (which doesn't exclude the possibility sheer age of the arming & firing mechanisms causing them...). As for duds from square-on hits, this was (AFAIK) exclusively a Mk6 problem; the Mk10 didn't suffer from it, & I doubt the Mk8 did, either. The later Mk13 probably suffered from it & other troubles; it was worse than the Mk14. This issue needs more research & correction. Trekphiler 02:56, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
- On reflection, I deleted the above as irrelevant or unsubstantiated. Trekphiler 06:21, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
Categories: B-Class military history articles needing review | B-Class maritime warfare articles | Maritime warfare task force articles | B-Class United States military history articles | United States military history task force articles | B-Class World War II articles | World War II task force articles | B-Class military history articles
