Customer Reviews

American PT Boats in World War II:

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This pictorial history book consists mostly of large, clear pictures of PT boats and the people who served on them. I enjoyed reading about the PT boat tactics, formations and seamanship. Actual diagrams from declassified "PT Boat Tactical Orders and Doctrine" provided an easy understanding of squadron operations. There aren't a whole lot of PT boat books out there - but I consider this book one of the best! It really is worth the price if you're a PT boat enthusiast as I am.

I bought the book for reference in building a model of a late war Elco 80'. I was disappointed in what I got for my $40. It is indeed a picture book. It contains page after page of original construction drawings of dubious worth, and some photos I had not seen before. Looking though the credits I was struck with the thought that it appeared as though the author had just published everything he could get his hands on from the PT Boat Museum. Color profile plates (read original material) of camoflage measures are absent. There is not much here that is not available from other less expensive books, and a little research by the truly interested. The organization of the book left alittle to be desired as well. The chapter titles could used a little more thought. Overal it struck me as a make money quick endeavor by publishing a ton of material available through government sources. Very little original synthesis of the material was done. This volume is more like a scrapbook.

This book is great, primarily because of the pictorial treatment of the subject. As retired Navy, I have read extensively the history of World War II and specifically of the U.S. Navy role in winning the war. The exploits of the PT boats in the Pacific theater were of special interest. The detailed pictures of the interior and exteriors of the PT boat in the book are particularly good. I found the book to be very helpful in seeing pictorially what fighting the war in PT boats was like. The many original drawings of the profile and deck plans alone are worth a purchase.

I've bought several of these books for my uncles who served in the Navy during WWII. They loved it! They told me this was one of the best books on PT Boats out there. I liked it because I don't know a lot about these boats and I found it informative and my uncles know a lot about these boats and found it informative too. One of my uncles especially liked the cut out designs - because he has been making models of several boats and he used this book to help him make a PT.

A decent photo survey, primarily black and white images. Minimal text, mostly captions for photos. Very little meat here in terms of detailed information on the subject beyond the photos and diagrams. Reprinted construction plans and drawings (from microfilms according to the author) are really too small to be very useful, although generally interesting. Really a scrapbook of photos and drawings rather than a history of American PT Boats. A decent work, but I was looking for more actual information about design, construction, and combat use of the boats.

Chun's book is THE photographical reference available today. If you want printed information on PT boats you buy two books: this for photographs, diagrams and all things visual and Bulkeley's AT CLOSE QUARTERS for extremely detailed accounts of PT actions. Good job Chun!