Allied Coastal Forces of World War II. Volume 2. Vosper MTBs and US ELCOs PDF
Preview Allied Coastal Forces of World War II. Volume 2. Vosper MTBs and US ELCOs
The Authors John Lambert has written over two hundred articles on small warships and naval weaponry for a variety of magazines, as well as two volumes in Conway’s Anatomy of the Ship series. His skill as a draughtsman was developed during a period of employment in an industrial drawing office, and his meticulously detailed drawings are well known to warship enthusiasts. His detailed technical knowledge of warships was acquired in the course of nine years’ service in the Royal Navy. Al Ross Il is the author of several books, including the Anatomy of the Ship volumes The Destroyer Escort England, The Destroyer The Sullivans, The Destroyer Campbeltown and The Escort Carrier Gambier Bay. His ship drawings have appeared in a number of other books and journals, and since 1980 has been producing a series of plans for modellers of small com- batants of the Second World War and Vietnam eras. He has a PhD in Adult Education and lives in Bangor, Maine, USA. Jacket painting by Peter Hogan £35.00 net UK only »» Allied : Coastal =. - Forces ~ of World War II Volume II: Vosper MTBs and US Elcos _ * John Lambert Conway, Allied Coastal Forces Frontispiece: Felixstowe — March 1943. A feast of Vospers at HMS Beehive. Row 1] — 234 with 1st foredeck 20mm Oerlikon, with 223 and 241 (21st Flotilla); Row 2—- 32, 34, 72, 69 and 70 (4th Flotilla) ; Row 3— Three British Power Boat MGBs, including 74 (8th MGB Flotilla) ; Row 4 — Five 70ft British Power Boat MGBs, including 67 (6th MGB Flotilla). Imperial War Museum © John Lambert and Al Ross, 1993 First published in Great Britain 1993 by Conway Maritime Press, an imprint of Brassey’s (UK) Ltd, 101 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DE British Library Catalaguing-in- Publication Data Lambert, John Allied Coastal Forces of World War II. Vol. 2: Vosper MTBs and US Elcos I. Title II. Ross, Al 623.825 ISBN 0 85177 602 7 All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication contravenes applicable laws. Designed by John Mitchell Typeset by Dorwyn Ltd, Rowlands Castle Printed and bound by the Bath Press, Bath Contents Foreword and acknowledgements Request for Information Abbreviations Vosper Ltd Elco — a short history The vessels Vosper’s private venture (MTB 102) and Bloodhound Vosper M'T'B designs 1938-39 The Vosper 45ft MTB design Vosper designs 1940 MTB 74 MTB 103 Vosper designs 1941 Vosper designs 1942 MTB 510 Vosper designs 1943-45 Vosper construction The Elco 70ft PT The Elco 77ft PT The Elco 80ft PT Licence-built Vospers PT construction Equipment and details PT camouflage The Packard 4M-—2500 marine engine Oo OND 20 21 33 39 46 56 58 60 66 70 80 90 104 117 131 156 170 173 180 Selected weapons systems The twin 0.51in Vickers machine gun, Mark V mounting The 20mm Oerlikon gun in the Royal Navy The twin 20mm Oerlikon Mark V (power- operated) mounting The twin 20mm Oerlikon manual Mark T and Mark IX mountings The 9mm Lanchester machine carbine 18in and 21in torpedo tubes 1939-45 PT torpedo armament The Dewandre turret Additional data The US 20mm mounts The US 37mm gun The US 40mm Mark 3 gun Rocket launchers Development of bridge and wheelhouse during the Second World War Notes on operating Royal Navy Packard engines Free French Vosper MTBs’ ‘The Vosper survivors Restored Elco PT 617 Bibliography 191 194 200 202 206 208 213 216 219 222 224 227 230 242 245 251 253 255 Foreword and acknowledgements A great many people, both in the UK and overseas, have assisted with this second volume of Allied Coastal Forces of World War IT, and without their help this volume would not be as comprehensive as it is. I would particularly thank Leslie G Brown BSc Eng AMIEE Chief Weapons Systems Designer of Vosper "Vhornycroft (UK) Ltd, Woolston, Southampton, who over many years has provided copies of original Vosper drawings. Every one of my requests or queries has been answered by Les and in some cases copies of full size drawings or part sheets have been sent by return. My task has been simply to redraw Vosper wartime efforts. Vosper photo- graphic cover has been provided from my visit of July 1986, when I obtained all the negative numbers from their lists. Without these records taken at the time I would have been lost. The photographs have the added bonus of being working views taken at the period when Britain was at war and the Vosper yard(s) was virtually in the front line with little defence against bombing raids. Much background information has been provided by my con- tacts in the Coastal Forces Veterans’ Association and letters from retired workers from the company. Geoffrey Hudson, the CFVA historian, again has filled in many gaps. The mass of engineering drawings have been provided by the loan of Packard manuals both from Al Ross and Bill Hollick. Mr CS Woolridge provided infor- mation on Vosper’s only ‘long’ boat. Dave Fricker and Philip Simons did the honours with ‘the survivors’. Finally, my thanks to Sheila who read through masses of mater- ial, squared up my spelling, checked through the drawings for obvious errors and put up with my moods over the time I have taken. Most of the drawings are available on large sheets — in some cases several sheets; ships from Traplet Publications Ltd, 'Traplet House, Severn Drive, Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire WR& OSL; weapons from David MacGregor Plans, 99, Lonsdale Road, London SW13 9DA; or from Al Ross or myself. I know that several first-class models have been produced from our previous efforts. The ships and weapons are the meat of this study and we are pleased to be able to record the wartime efforts of draughtsmen and designers. John Lambert Many people provided invaluable assistance in the preparation of the Elco section of this volume, among them: AD Baker III, Tom Peltin, Bob Sattler, Tim Howard, Wayne Traxel, Dave Shadell, Mark Wertheimer, Geoff Hudson, Tom Walkowiak, Dr WAB Douglas and Donald Graves of the Canadian Directorate of His- tory, Capt Robert Kelly, Cdr Albert Ross, Chuck Haberlein, Mike West, Dr Norman Friedman, Erminio Bagnasco, Capt S Sanvold of the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum, Tom DelRossi, “Tubby’ Tong, Bill Last, Dr Jan Spek, Les Brown, and many PT and Coastal Forces veterans who shared their experiences during the Second World War. To these the authors express their sincere gratitude. Special thanks go to Alyce Newberry and the staff of the PT Boat Museum/PT Boats Inc, a veterans’ group dedicated to the preser- vation of the history of the PT boat. To this end, the organisation has preserved two boats, PT 617 (80ft Elco) and PT 796 (78ft Higgins) at Fall River, Massachusetts and maintains a large collec- tion of historical material and memorabilia at its Memphis office. Readers interested in more information on the organisation should contact: P'T Boats Inc, PO Box 38070, Memphis, TN 38183-0070, United States of America, (Telephone (901) 755-8440). Another organisation of interest is the American Patrol Boat Museum, which is restoring patrol and air/sea rescue craft from the Second World War through to Vietnam. Of particular relevance to this volume, the APBM has acquired the ex-PT 695, one of the Annapolis-built Vospers, and is considering acquiring a second Vosper. Further information is available from: APBM, PO Box 641, Rio Vista, CA 94571, United States of America. Al Ross Request for information As part of the research process for these volumes on Coastal Forces craft, Al Ross is developing a comprehensive database (using dBase IEI+) on all of the US-built boats and will eventually expand it to include Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy boats. A sample of the information contained on the current database can be found at the end of this section. While the existing database is quite comprehensive, there are still major gaps, particularly in the following areas: Modifications to armament Camouflage schemes Squadron assignments for boats serving in navies other than the US Navy @ Pennant numbers for boats transferred to the Soviet Navy ® Current status of surviving boats Consequently, he welcomes correspondence with any and _ all readers who can fill in the gaps or who are themselves looking for information on a particular boat or group of boats. Key for PT Database Field Data contained in field PT USN boat number PREFIX Boat number prefix (PT, PTC, etc) BLDR Builder TYPE Type of boat; eg, 77ft Elco SERIES Series of which the individual boat is a member; eg, PT 20-44 HULLNO Builder’s hull number NICK Boat’s nickname, if any; eg, ‘Sad Sack’ (PT 369) LAID Date keel laid LAUNCH COMP INSERVICE HISTORY CAUSE TRANSFER TDATE NEWNO RON FLEET CAMOBUILT CAMOFLEET ARMBUILT ARMMODS RADAR EXIST LENGTH BEAM DRAFT DISP SPEED RADIUS POWER PROPS SHP SMOKE FUEL WATER OIL RADIO NOTES Date launched Date completed Date placed in service with USN Capsule history, including squadron assignments, transfers, and eventual fate Cause of loss Navy to which transferred Date of transfer Boat number other than original Squadron(s) to which assigned Area of operations Camouflage applied at the factory Camouflage applied after entering service Armament as designed Changes to armament in service Type of radar, IFF carried Information on boat if still surviving Length Beam Mean draft Displacement Rated speed in knots Radius of action Power plant Size and number of propellers Rated horsepower MK of smoke canister Fuel capacity Potable water capacity Lube oil capacity MK of radio gear carried Information not addressed by other fields x Abbreviations ASR Air/Sea Rescue BU Broken up BuShips Bureau of Ships CT Controlled target CTL Constructive total loss DY Dockyard FF Free French Fl Flotilla HB Houseboat HO Handed over KM Kreigsmarine PO Paid off RAF Royal Air Force RAN Royal Australian Navy RCN Royal Canadian Navy RIN Royal Indian Navy RN Royal Navy R Neth N Royal Netherlands Navy SC Surface craft TL Total loss TS Training ship USN United States Navy WD War Department (RASC)
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