Italeri 1/35th scale Elco 80 foot PT boat (596)
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History
You might say that the birth of the American PT boat, in the late 1930s,
was a difficult one. Officially designated a Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB),
much of the US Navy’s pre-war top brass had, at best, an ambivalent
attitude toward developing this class of small combatants. It was only
at the very strong backing of President Franklin Roosevelt, and Chief
of Naval Operations Admiral Frank Leahy that the Navy Board was convinced
to implement a program to develop and deploy these small “expendable”
boats. Surprisingly, CNO Leahy’s support was in great part due to
the influence of his good friend and former Army Chief of Staff General
Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur, who was at the time commander of all United
States forces in the Philippines, realized early on that the Japanese
military expansion in the Pacific poses a very real threat. He also knew
that the Navy’s ability to provide sea protection, in the form of
capital ships, was limited. Being a bit of a visionary he saw the potential
of a large force of PT boats, consisting of 80 to 100 units, to make up
for the lack of other naval protection. Unfortunately, at the time of
the outbreak of the  Second
World War only six PT boats of squadron (Ron) 3 had been assigned to the
Philippines. Yet, despite their small number, and the fact that they knew
they were fighting a losing battle, they were extremely effective during
those first few critical months of the war. As such, they more than proved
the value of the PT boat as a combat class. Ironically when President
Roosevelt ordered MacArthur’s withdrawal, MacArthur and his immediate
staff made the initial and most dangerous part of the trip, on the four
remaining Squadron 3 boats. As a footnote, the story of MacArthur’s
departure from the Philippines along with the other exploits of these
boats is depicted in the book “They Were Expendable”. Likewise
the 1946 Hollywood film version, (of the same title and staring Robert
Montgomery and John Wayne), gives a flavor of the story, but typical of
that era is a bit more romanticized and propagandized. Interestingly,
the six squadron 3 boats were in actuality 77 footers, which was an earlier
Elco design, but at the time the movie was made only the Elco 80 footer
and the lesser know 78 ft Huckins (not to be confused with the 78 ft Higgins)
were available for use by Hollywood. But, be that as it may, this black
and white film contains a lot of great footage of early production Elco
80 footers.
The first attempts to develop an American Patrol Torpedo Boat began
in the fall of 1938. At that time the Navy had initiated a design competition
and subsequently selected a 54 ft and a 70 ft design for further development.
These two winning designs along with a third, that was a Navy variation
of the 70 ft boat, were then distributed to three individual boat builders
for construction. These builders including the Miami Ship building Company,
the Fisher Boat Works of Detroit, and  the
Higgins Company of New Orleans would then build two copies of the design
assigned to them. These boats, not surprisingly, were given the designation
of PT 1 thru PT 6. Two addition boats, PT 7 and PT 8, were both designed
and built by the Navy itself. Disappointingly, none of these first eight
boats exhibited satisfactory performance. Fortunately the US Navy’s
previous lack of interest in the MTB had not been shared by a number of
the major European powers. The British especially had continued torpedo
boat development after the end of the First World War. Not surprisingly
their designs were years ahead of the efforts currently underway in the
US. As such the Navy Board thought it might be prudent to “check”
their designs against that of the British. However because of both political
and conflict of interest concerns, the acquisition of a British PT Boat,
directly by the US Navy, was discouraged. Without going into detail about
behind the scenes activities regarding military contractors and the US
Government I will just note that at this point the Elco Naval Division
of the Electric Boat Company of Bayonne New Jersey was approached and
strongly urged to enter the PT boat competition.
Why Elco you might ask. The Electric Boat Company is without a doubt
best know for building much of the US Navy’s submarine fleet, both
past and present. But what is lesser known about the company, which was
established in 1892, is their equally rich and even longer history in
building small boats and patrol craft. Not only were they responsible
for many innovative designs but they also revolutionized the concept of
mass production in the boat building industry. During WWI they were able
to deliver an order for five hundred 80 ft patrol boats to the British
in less than 500 days.  Needless
to say Elco’s patrol boat building experience coupled equally with
their good relationship with both the US Navy and the British Admiralty
made them the natural choice to “quietly” acquire a British
built PT boat. So, in early 1939 again at the urging of both the Navy
Department and White House two top Elco executives traveled to England,
at their own no less, to select and purchase a British built boat. At
the time there were three major boat building companies being considered
including Vosper, Thornycroft, and the British Power Boat Company. The
Elco executives selected and purchased a 70 ft boat that was built by
British Power Boat and designed by Hurbert Scott-Paine. In another bit
of irony the boat, (now designated PT 9), was then shipped back to the
United States on the freighter SS Roosevelt.
The Scott-Paine design seemed to be what the Navy was looking for and
as a side benefit it provided Elco with a good starting point. Initially
ten additional PT 9 copies (PT 10 – 19) were ordered by the Navy
for evaluation purposes. As a result of these evaluations it was determined
that not only did the design need to be lengthened seven feet, but it
also needed some major structural modifications. A total of forty Nine
of these new 77 ft boats (PT 20 – PT 69) were then ordered. Although
almost a completely a new boat the 77 footers retained much of the same
exterior appearance of the original 70 ft design. At the time of the Attack
on Pearl Harbor twenty nine had been completed and were in service. As
noted above six of these were deployed to the Philippines, with another
twelve being stationed at Pearl Harbor. As a side note it has been claimed,
but not confirmed, that it was one of the Pearl Harbor boats that was
responsible for shooting down the very first Japanese aircraft on that
fateful December 7th morning.
 Although
the Navy was satisfied with the British design based Elco 77 footer they
felt that there was still room for improvement. With this in mind they
conducted another PT boat competition in July of 1941. This competition,
nicknamed the “Plywood Derby”, involved a number of second
generation PT boat prototypes including an all new 80 ft design by Elco.
In the end three were selected for production. These included the PT 71
class, a 78 ft boat built by Higgins, the PT 95 class which was also 78
ft and built by the Jacksonville Florida based Huckins Company, and of
course the PT 103 class which is the Elco 80 footer and the subject of
the review. It should be noted here that early on in production the Navy
decided to standardize with just two designs, the 80 ft Elco and the 78
ft Higgins. Subsequently the Huckins contracted was terminated after the
delivery of eighteen boats.
The first Elco 80 footer, PT 103, went into the water in May of 1942.
Of the three designs selected the Elcos were the largest. Not only were
they longer, but they were also slightly wider and much heavier. Despite
displacing 38 tons, which significantly out weighted either of the other
two classes, their speed of a little over 40 knots, (about 45 mph) was
the same. The Elcos were also a stable riding boat, or as it is said they
had good sea keeping ability. This quality not only made them an excellent
gunboat platform, which as the war progressed became an increasingly important
factor, but also for a dryer and more comfortable crew. A total of 356
Elco 80 footers were built in a period of almost exactly 3 years to the
day. During that time the only real changes to the basic structure of
the boats were some increases in the height of the deck cabins and the
size of the engine ventilation intakes. However, changes in armament during
this same time period is another story.  Initially
the boats were configured with anti-shipping in mind. They came armed
with two twin 50 caliber machine gun turrets, that were stagger mounted,
port and starboard off the deck cabins, a single 20mm cannon mounted on
the aft deck and four 21 inch torpedo launching tubes (two per side) that
were capable of firing the Navy’s Mark VIII torpedo. But as the
war changed, especially in the campaign to take the Pacific island, the
mission also changed. In the beginning many of the upgrades in firepower
were made in the field by the individual boat crews. I should note here
that requests for PT boat duty was very sought after, and that the supply
of candidates far exceeded available openings. So not surprisingly those
selected to serve on a PT boat were among the best of the best as far
as being both aggressive and resourceful. As such it was not at all unusual,
especially early in the war, for PT boat crews to go out and scavenge
anything they could strap to the deck to increase both their hitting power
and range. Particular favorites were the 37mm nose cannon from discarded
USAAF Bell P-39s Airacobras. Smaller Army field artillery pieces such
as anti-tank weapons and mortars were also used regularly. Even larger
weapons such as the Army’s mobile 40mm antiaircraft battery were
adapted. Eventually, many of these field mods, as well as other updates
such as newer radars, the replacement of the heavy torpedo tube launchers
with the much lighter roll off racks and special built (swing out) multiple
rocket launching systems were incorporated directly at the factory. Without
a doubt, when it came to increased firepower, late war boats, such as
PT 596, represents the ultimate Elco 80 footer configuration.
Now, I think it can be safely said that the Elco 80 footer became synonymous
with the term PT boat. Neither of the other two classes came close to
the Elco production numbers, especially the Huckins. Although close to
200 Higgins 78 footers were built, they were, with the exception of a
squadron that went to the Aleutians, almost exclusively deployed to the
Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters of operations. Conversely the majority
of the Elco 80 footers went to the Pacific, which not only was predominately
an American war but also both a naval and island fighting war for which
the PT boat was ideally suited.
 In
conclusion the Patrol Torpedo boats tour of duty in WWII lasted just a
little over three years. Actually, when looking back at the total history
of US Navy PT boat types, for all practical purposes advancing technology
had rendered them obsolete after only six years, (1939 to 1945). Since
then the US Navy has not seriously developed or fielded a comparable type
with the possible, and remote, exception of the Vietnam War era PBRs and
Swift River patrol boats. However, I don’t think the mystic of the
American PT boat will ever be forgotten. Probably the American Revolutionary
War ship captain John Paul Jones said it best “Give me a fast ship,
a good crew, and I intend to go harms way”, and that is exactly
what WWII PT boats did.
The Kit
As I initially looked at the kit several things struck me immediately.
First, aside from being such a nice large scale that didn’t have
many tiny parts, with the possible exception of some of the photo-etch,
it also look to a fairly easy kit to construct. Secondly the majority
if not all of the kit looks like it can be built as a group of easier
to handle and paint subassemblies and then attached during final assembly
with little if any filling or touch-up needed. After all that’s
how the real boats were built. By the way, attention all you R/C types,
the main deck is screwed on not glued on.
As for the kit itself, it is mixed media consisting of five large spru
trees along with the main deck and hull that are all cast in medium gray
styrene. Also included are a sheet of pre punched clear acetate for the
windows and deck lights, a large sheet of photo-etch containing a number
of details parts for various subassemblies, two (optional) turned aluminum
gun barrels for use with the 40mm and 37mm deck guns, some plastic mesh
screening to be use on the engine room ventilation intake, and various
size wire to be used as safety lines, anchor cable, etc. As for printed
items the kit includes two booklets. The first is a very easy to follow
33 page assembly instruction guide that is exceeding well illustrated.
The second is a 47 page combination history document, walkaround and color
profiles. The Walkaround section is especially interesting in that it
shows one of the few remaining Elco 80 footers that has been rescued and
beautifully restored and is now on display at the PT Boat Museum in Battleship
Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts.
 Overall
both the accuracy and quality of all of the castings is excellent, with
no sink or ejector pin marks. Like wise overall attention to detail is
equally excellent right down to the 50 cal machine guns and ammunition
belts, the correct thickness of the various railings, and any number of
the other weapons or details such as the radar antenna assembly, just
to mention a few.
Markings
Needless to say PT boats did not have a lot of markings. However the
kit does include the boats numbers, several detail decals including the
engine instruments dials, and an American flag. All are of good quality.
Conclusion
From a first look standpoint this kit appears to be an excellent model.
Its larger scale (1/35th) certainly lends to a very high level of detail,
which Italeri has taken much care to include. But, on the other hand,
this doesn’t seem to be an overly complicated model to construct.
Don’t get me wrong; if done right this will not be a fast build,
just not a complicated one.
My thanks to Italeri for the sample review copy. |
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