| Patrol Torpedo Boat of the PT-103 class at speed. These 80-foot (24.4-meter) boats, manufactured by Electric Launch Corporation (ELCO), were the most numerous of the three major designs. This boat has two dual-mounted hydraulically-operated M2 .50-caliber Browning machine guns, plus two more hand-operated Brownings in single mountings forward. An additional 20 mm Oerlikon antiaircraft gun is mounted on the stern. Four launchers for 21-inch (53.3-centimeter) Mark VIII torpedoes were standard. These torpedoes carried a warhead of 466 pounds (211 kilograms) of TNT. Fired by gunpowder and packed with grease to insure smooth ejection, the tubes would ignite the oil, causing a tremendous flash. At night, this would reveal the boat‘s presence to their enemy. American boats would quietly maneuver within 1,000 yards (914 meters) before attacking to ensure a hit, because the American torpedo was so unreliable. The Japanese “Long Lance“ type 93 24-inch (60.1-centimeter) destroyer torpedo was accurate to 40,000 yards and had a much heavier warhead of 1,083 pounds (490 kilograms). Later torpedo boats were issued the Mark XIII torpedo in a roll-off rack that made maintenance and firing simpler. 296 80-foot ELCO boats were in service during the war. Most of the survivors that did not go to Lend-Lease were burned off Samar, Philippines in late 1945. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1322.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.71 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2927 x 2269 |
| Photographer | Unknown |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 01, 1943 |
| Location | Inknown |
| City | |
| State or Province | |
| Country | New Guinea |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2007, ©2024 MFA Productions LLC Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database