17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice for Model Builders...., September 23, 2008
This review is from: US Patrol Torpedo Boats: World War II (New Vanguard) (Paperback)
Thanks in part to the real-image of Jack Kennedy on PT-109 and part to the TV-image of Quinton McHale on PT-73, the role of U.S. Navy PT Boats in the Second World War has assumed a larger place in collective memory than their actual contributions might suggest. Nevertheless, there have been relatively few books on this subject. Osprey's New Vanguard No. 148, US Patrol Torpedo Boats by Gordon L Rottman, provides a handy summary of these warships used in the Second World War, although its primary utility will be for model-builders. The author does succeed in inserting some tables with useful data, but the description on wartime operations in sparse.
The initial section describes the design and development of U.S. PT boats in the pre-war period, although the first prototypes were not ready until 1940. The U.S. Navy opted to build two main types of PT Boats: the 78-foot Elco and the 80-foot Higgins. A B/W overhead plate on page 10 shows the main differences between the two classes. There is also a very nice cutaway color plate of an Elco-Boat as well as five other color plates depicting various camouflage schemes used during the war - certainly useful for model builders. The author then describes the armament, propulsion and communications of the PT Boat classes. Initially, the U.S. Navy saw PT Boats as a cost-expedient means to threaten enemy capital ships with torpedo attack in shallow waters but in fact, PT Boats rarely went up against enemy warships larger than a destroyer. Instead, their main targets ended up being enemy barges and other coastal traffic.
There are several nice tables in this volume. One of the best lists a complete inventory of all US-built PT Boats, noting how many of each type were built each year and who received them (USN, Soviets or Britain). Another table lists PT Boat losses (of 69 lost in World War II, only 24 were lost to enemy action) and another lists all MTB Squadrons (listing areas of operations and dates of service). However, there is no data presented on cumulative PT Boat losses inflicted on the enemy, which would have helped to clarify their actual contributions.
On page 28, slightly more than halfway through the volume, the author shifts to describing the PT Boat in Action. A big chunk of this section focuses on the PT Boat crews, followed by another chunk on forward bases and support units. A color plate depicting two Elco boats attacking a Japanese barge convoy in the Solomons is a bit crude. A short summary of combat operations is covered in just six pages, listing a few actions each from the South Pacific, English Channel and Mediterranean (don't expect much mention of PT-109, btw). Finally, the author mentions the handful of PT Boats still in existence today, including those at the PT Boat Museum in Fall River, MA (my hometown). Overall, not a bad volume but it has the feel of a Wikipedia article (incl. one photo used from the Wikipedia article on PT Boats) and the value-added content is a bit thin. As someone who has actually been to the PT Boat Museum, I think that there are a lot of photos and other material that could have been included, perhaps at the expense of cutting back a bit on the description of the boat's equipment.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rife with errors, May 12, 2009
This review is from: US Patrol Torpedo Boats: World War II (New Vanguard) (Paperback)
This is the most error-ridden book on PT boats I've ever seen. Aside from being little more than a rehash of previously-published material, it is rife with substantive errors that anyone even vaguely familiar with the boats should not have made. In the body of the text, the author uses naval terms incorrectly, misidentifies weapons, makes incorrect statements about construction and camouflage, and even gets the previously-published (correct) material wrong. The photo captions are a morass of misidentifications - ELCOs as Higgins, Higgins as ELCOs (they look nothing alike), a patrol boat built by Higgins for the Royal Netherlands Navy as a 70' ELCO PTC (they look nothing alike, either) , SO radar (a small dome about 28" in diameter on a bipod) as SC (an approximately 8' x 8' antenna that resembles a bedspring), 40mm guns as 37mm guns (not even remotely alike), etc.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Starting Point, November 15, 2008
This review is from: US Patrol Torpedo Boats: World War II (New Vanguard) (Paperback)
This work is a good starting point for those who wish to learn about and to a limited extent understand the operational use of US PT Boats in WWII.
The book takes the technological route here and delves in to the process of design, weapons, crewing and tactics associated with these small craft. As is the case with most of these books on naval matters it does not deal with the operational history of these craft to any great extent. That would require a much larger work than this one.
What this book does accomplish is, like the series of book and infantry tactics by the same publisher gives the reader a 'how and with what' look at PT Boats and will allow a greater understanding of the mechanics involved in their operational use.
Simply put it casts a clear view of how the history was accomplished. This book is a worthwhile addition to any reader's library for this reason alone.
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