Huckins PT Boat (Patrol Torpedo)

History

In the late 1930s the U.S. Navy embarked on an entirely new effort to build a PT force from the ground up. With Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in Russia, and the Japanese navy expanding in the Pacific, war seemed inevitable. The U.S.

Navy is looking for ships much smaller than its typical steel-hulled 4 x 533mm torpedoes that travel at high speeds at sea and carry a standardized array of weapons. The ship's primary role is to use this inherent firepower and speed against ships larger than her and is inherently classified as a "motorized torpedo boat".

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Naval Division attacked Pearl Harbor, officially pushing the United States into war. At the time of the attack, only a few early ELCO PT ships were in service. Of course, development and production were quickly ramped up to meet wartime demands.

The US Navy has evaluated some early PT ship types but ultimately determined that these types did not have the required capabilities, leading to a new series of tests known as the "Plywood Derby" and three major PT covered ships Business - ELCO, Higgins and Huckins. The ELCO was already working under the auspices of the USN, but both Higgins and Huckins developed their designs as private companies using their own company resources (Huckins cost the company $100,000 in 1940s currency). The official Higgins proposal became the 78-foot-long "PT-69" with a quadrilateral hull design and was submitted to the U.S.

Navy for evaluation in July 1941.

The results of these tests turned out to be more promising, and it was the Huckins design that really caught the attention of many. However, USN representatives were so impressed with all the submissions that three procurement contracts were awarded to ELCO, Higgins and Huckins. ELCO eventually produced 326 PT ships, while Higgins was commissioned to produce 199.

Heggins, despite doing well in the trials, was asked to make only 18 of her good boats. In any case, history will show the Huckins ships as excellent designs, and the crew who were lucky enough to be assigned to the squad can only rave about the series.

All Huckins boats were designed, engineered and built by the Huckins Yacht Corporation, and even during the war their Quadraconic hull structures were given (by license) to other PT boat developers. In addition, the robust laminate hulls found on ELCO and Higgins PT boats are also from Huckins. Before the war, Huggins was known for building high-end yacht designs, which gave the company the expertise to build fast ocean-going vessels. The 18 prototypes the company was commissioned to build for the U.S.

Navy during World War II consisted of two full squadrons, and were all 78-foot variants (unlike the ELCO, which had various notable hull lengths). Harkin's squadron became active in 1943.

Dimensionally, all Huckins boats are 78 feet in length, 19.5 feet in beam, and 5 feet in draft. The minimum draft is notable because it enables PT vessels to excel in shallow water operations that larger warships cannot.

As the Japanese began to rely on barges to resupply cut-off troops during the Pacific Islands campaign, U.S. Navy PT ships were sent to counterattack while the main force continued to advance. The Hudgens boat weighs 40 tons and is powered by a set of 3 Packard marine gasoline engines, each producing 1,350 hp.

These engines retain their origins in the U.S. Army's original 1925 "Liberty" bomber engine, although they were later adapted for high-speed craft. The first-generation Packard PT engine became the 3M-2500 and was gradually updated to the 4M-2500 and eventually the 5M-2500 at the end of the war.

Huckin's PT boats have a top speed of 42 knots, and their unique hulls make them high-performance boats - even in rough waters.

The design of the Higgins boat places the cockpit/cabin superstructure amidships (more similar in shape to the ELCO than the Higgins design, which sees a cockpit far ahead). There is a long bow deck with standard life rafts, torpedo tubes mounted in pairs, and two torpedo launchers on the sides of each boat - angled to launch from the hull centerline. Self-defense armament consisted of 4 x .50 caliber Browning air-cooled heavy machine guns mounted on two twin turrets amidships. A surface cannon was mounted at the stern, providing an excellent field of fire.

The depth charge dividers are seen along the rear side of the boat in groups of four. A typical Huckins crew consists of 11 personnel, including two officers.

Unlike her ELCO and Higgins sisters, who have borne the brunt of the deployment of PTs around the world (who serve in the English Channel, Mediterranean and Pacific), Huckins vessel operations are largely focused on defensive patrolling and crew training. Therefore, the combat actions of the Hudgens crew during World War II are not recorded.

PT-95 (the first PT-69 class ship ever built), PT-96 and PT-97 were used to train new PT crews in the nuances of "small boat" operation and firing, steering, navigation and maintenance. These are located in Melville, Rhode Island and are part of RON 4. See the Huckins ships PT-98 to PT-104 actively patrolling the Panama Canal Zone that was vital to German and Japanese looters.

PT-255 through PT-264 are assigned to patrol Hawaiian waters. Both the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy used the Hudgensthe latter received about 10 of them on Lend-Lease in 1942.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing