I thought this might be of interest to some of you.
P.S. Here’s the video (with solicitation for your $) created for the launch party next year:
Hello!
Great article! It’s just sad to think how rare those PT boats are now considering how many of them were built back then. Thanks for sharing and have a nice day
Paweł
Nice to see. I think there is another in process up in the Pacific Northwest in either Portland or Seattle. Been a year or so since I heard anything about it though.
Many (most?) of the units in the Pacific were lashed together and set ablaze when the crew left them. Too expensive to sail back to the US, and the US wasn’t going to give them to anyone.
Rolling down a city street really gives one an idea of just how big the things were. You rarely see them beside something other than another ship, usually something MUCH bigger.
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
Yes, but that one in Seattle is not a combat veteran and was originally built for the USSR, but the war ended before her delivery and she then taken into the USN as a waterborne asset. The 305 was/is an actual combat veteran.
Well, in this day and age if it is a real PT Boat, who gives a fat rat’s ass?
I do. Sort of … the 619, 796, 658 and the 728 and the 724 were commissioned close to or after the war’s end and never saw action and were classified (while in USN hands) as waterborne assets. The Higgins at the Nimitz Museum in TX and this 305 in New Orleans are actual war and combat vets and, I feel, myself, more fitting tributes to the men who crewed them.
I understand, however, it is not like there is a wealth of PT boats laying around to be restored. So, I feel that one shouldn’t look down their nose at one that didn’t quite make it into the war and be glad that there is another boat out there for people to see.
Great article! Add to my list of things to do in NOLA.
I like that the movers donated their services too.
There are three in Kingston, NY which COULD be restored. One of which is the lone surviving 77-foot Elco which is a combat veteran too.
In the early 60s we visited Mackinaq Island, taking a ferry from St. Ignace MI. While on the island I saw a tourist boat enter the harbour. It was, strangely enough, a PT Boat. Anyone have any memories of this boat? Don???