PT boats and Destroyers of WWII?

[Lucky13]

Were these the best PT Boats and Destroyer class of WWII?

USN PT boats....

USS Kidd DD-661 a Fletcher class destroyer.

Which WWII navy had the best designed etc. PT boats and destroyers? RN? USN? Kriegsmarine? IJN?....

 

[lesofprimus]

Hmmm, tough call, as designs differed from country to country, depending on the mission dedicated to them... PT Boats were kind of a one-of-a-kind ship...

 

[ccheese]

I think the Japanese destroyers were better armed and were faster. Their
RADAR and anti-sub defenses were sub-par. Their crews were very high
on morale, too. I think their torpedo boats only had one way tickets.

As for the RN, the Corvette was a tough ship... with a tough job.

Charles

 

[SoD Stitch]

I'm gonna go for the German S-boot (Schnellboot); the S-100 was probably the best all-around boat (as opposed to ship) in the Atlantic during WWII. Heavily armed, very fast, and big enough to carry a useful load.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I think I will have to agree with SoD Stitch here.

S-Boot were about twice as large as the British and American boats and were more suitable for open water.

They were about 115ft long, had a speed of aprox 44 knots and a range of about 700 nautical miles.

They were also very well armed with a typical armament of 2x21in Torpedo Tubes, 20mm Cannon and a 40mm cannon.There were also Flak boats with AA guns on them.

 

[stug3]

USS PT-105 running at high speed, during exercises off the U.S. East Coast with other units of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Five, 12 July 1942.

PT boat patrolling off New Guinea, 1943

 

[davebender]

PT-105 makes an impressive newsreel. However those relatively ugly German S Boot were superior combat vessels.

 

[vinnye]

Fairmile D motor torpedo boat was a decent all rounder.

 

[Milosh]

The 80' Elcos were a progressive development from the 70' Elcos which were inspired by the Paine-Scott boats.

 

[stug3]

A Royal Navy MTB brings men of 'C' Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, into Portsmouth harbour on the morning after the Bruneval raid, 28 February 1942. The CO of the assault force, Major J D Frost (Arnhem, Market- Garden), is on the bridge, second from left.

 

[Wavelength]

I have to agree about the S-Boats being the best of WWII, but the S-Boats are about 120 tons vs about 45 tons for a PT.

It's pretty hard to argue against the Fletchers.

 

[davebender]

WWI experience gave Germany a big edge in knowing what would work.

Flanders Flotilla Torpedo Boats.
Torpedoboats
Torpedoboot 1914 class. 148 max tons. 25 boats.
.....Didn't work too well. Slow speed made them easy prey for destroyers.

Torpedoboot 1915 class. 250 max tons. 30 boats.
.....A big improvement. Only 1 boat lost in combat.

Torpedoboot 1916 class. 390 max tons. About 25 completed before war ended.
.....Considered excellent boats. Several lost from hitting mines. None lost to naval combat.

Given the success of 390 ton TB1916 I'm surprised 1930s Germany didn't build similiar size torpedo boats for coast defense during WWII era.

 

[syscom3]

The shallow draft of the USN PT boats gave them an edge in the poorly charted waters and confined coastal waters of the PTO.

 

[vinnye]

Just found this link to some film of S boats. Even though the link says Fairmile D !
Fairmile D Motor Torpedo Boat

 

[Erich]

if you guys would join the Atlantik Pirat forums you would find probably the best of the information on the planet covering the Schnellbooten, units, personell and the Boots plus bases, etc. we are a pretty tight bunch over there and known experience is pretty intensive and high. Truly there was nothing close to these Boots in speed and agility and yes overall size was such with larger engines and arms/crew.

 

[Ascent]

I'm a big fan of the Dogboats. A late war Fairmile D as well as having two torpedoes would also have two OQF 6pdr's, a twin 20mm, two twin .50's, two twin .303's and a couple of depth charges in the combined MGB/MTB fit.

And quite frankly some of the BPB MTB's are just stunning looking.

A good book about British Coastal forces operations is MGB 658, although a gun boat rather then a torpedo boat it gives a good feel for life aboard one of these amazing vessels.

 

[stug3]

A surrendered E-boat doing 30 knots with two other E-Boats (not visible) alongside an accompanying MGB heading to HMS HORNET, the light coastal forces base at Gosport, to be taken over by the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy's greyhounds – destroyers at sea in line ahead, with a fine bow wave. Photograph taken from on board the destroyer FAULKNOR.

The British destroyer HMS NUBIAN returning to Malta after patrolling the coast of Tunis. She had been participating in operations by light naval forces based at Malta to patrol the Sicilian Narrows off the coast of Tunis and cut off the German Afrika Korps's escape route from North Africa.

'Venus' the bulldog mascot of the destroyer HMS VANSITTART.

Munitions workers Marion Griffiths and Betty Evans stand with a Royal Navy gun crew on the pom-pom deck of a destroyer, somewhere in Britain. Marion and Betty were taken on a surprise tour of the destroyer after discovering that the shells which they helped to make were, according to the original caption, "actually used on this destroyer to beat off Nazi dive bombers".

 

[stug3]

Steam Gun Boat, MGB S309, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Peter Scott underway in the channel. S.309 was also known as 'Grey Goose'

 

[Glider]

I have to go with the majority with the Fletcher as the best all round destroyer and the S Boat as the best FPB. The Fairmile D and Steam Gunboats the the BB's of light forces carrying a very heavy armament but were a lot slower.
The vital area where the S Boats lacked was in radar. Few had it and it wasn't nearly as advanced as those in the RN and USN navy boats

 

[nuuumannn]

That picture of the S Boat that Adler posted is one of a sequence that was taken of a group of S 38 Class boats after surrendering to the British in 1945. Of this group, S 130 was used by the RN for trials and was in service until 1981. It is the only German S boat to survive intact and is preserved in Cornwall.

Here is a picture of a Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML) built to British Admiralty design by Madden and Lewis at Sausalito, San Fransisco in late 1942 and shipped to New Zealand as part of Lend Lease. Q1184 is built of Oregon pine and arrived in New Zealand aboard the Liberty Ship Frank Joseph Irwin in January 1943. It was one of a total of sixteen built for New Zealand use in WW2 and was the last in use by the RNZN, being laid up in 1985. It is now privately owned.