Ultimate Wooden Boat

Pretty remarkable.

Were all PTs wooden?

 

During my service in the Italian Navy I was assigned to one of the 3 remaining Higgins built PT boats.
Also with a wooden hull, re-engined with 3 CRM W-18 engines, each developing 1,500 hp at 2,200 rpm and armed with 2-20 mm Oerlikon guns.
The stern of the boat was modified to look like a launch ramp and was being used to transport and launch the gear of the Incursori (the Italian Navy Seals).
The boat was otherwise similar in size and in layout to the Elco and much roomier and liveable that similar boats of the same vintage built in Italy.

 

I was watching a show on HD Theater - showed a guy named Van Dam, who builds some amazingly beautiful wooden boats. They look classic, but are modernized versions. Quite out of my price range though (I think his cheapest boat was around $250K)!

 

I will try to dig out some pictures and will post them.
Like the Elco, the Higgins were also built with double mahogany planking with canvas in between.
The new engines were quite good, of Isotta Fraschini original design on triple banks (W) of 6 cylinders each and upgraded by CRM with fuel injection and superchargers.
Top speed was in excess of 45 knots.
I believe the Higgins were selected for the special role of transporting and launching the boats and gear of the Incursori, due to the fact they were quite beamy and therefore allowed for some good usable space aft of the engine skylights.
The three remaining boats were strategically located one in La Spezia, where the Incursori have their hadquarters, the second one was based in Ancona, on the middle of the Adriatic Coast and the third one was based in Brindisi on the South of the Adriatic Sea.
In those days the threats were mostly coming from Yugoslavia and Albania and the Italian Navy was always on the alert on the East Coast of Italy.
The other Torpedo Boats of the Italian Navy were instead armed conventionally with
2 X 40 mm bofors and 2 X 450 mm torpedoes.
Alternatively they could shed the aft 40 mm gun and the 2 torpedoes and carry depth charges instead.
The engines were the same 3 X CRM W 18 cylinders.
While the Higgins were planing hulls, the Baglietto were displacing hulls, thus speed was down a bit.

 

Hello again,
I have found some pictures from my old files.
Unfortunately I do not know how to rotate them before uploading them.
However, if you have an Adobe Reader program, you can do it after you open them up.
The picture with a single boat is after the stern was modified.
The pictures with squad of PT boats and that of the boats escorting the Fletcher-Class destroyer are before the boats were modified.
These pictures are all late 60s early 70s vintage.
Regards,
Alfredo
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Great stuff. Thanks.

What was the reason for the canvas between the wooden planking?

 

For decades after the war, several surplus PT boats were used as passenger ferrys from Bay Shore to the Villages on Fire Island, NY. I remember a buddy of mine used to water ski behind 1 or 2 of them. Now replaced, I have no idea what happened to them.

 

in the early 60s in Melbourne their was a PT vosper built boat,the owner wad a large retail business that went broke in the early 60s.
Took the boat up to QLD and used it as a illegal floating casino,in those days the Australian water area limit was less then 40 odd miles,nothing could keep up with her.
When he died in the early 70s the boat was involved in lengthy litagation,sadly in a storm she broke in half and sunk.

 

I am not an expert on wooden hulls, but I believe the canvas had the double function of adding strenght and at the same time preventing moisture from seeping through.

 

Not at all Michael: I only wish I had better pictures.
Alfredo