PT Boats sink Trucks on Highway !

[AustYank]

Not only did the Japanese have to keep an eye out for the mighty PT's on the water,they also had to watch out for them whilst driving

I found this article from the Courier Mail newspaper here in Brisbane dated June 5th 1944. Thought you Mosquito Squadron enthusiasts might like to see,

 

P.T's ADD ENEMY TRUCKS TO SCORE

 

 

From ALAN HULLS, Courier-Mail Correspondent in the South Pacific

June 5^th 1944.

 

PT boats recently destroyed two Japanese trucks on a New Ireland highway. That may sound crazy, but it’s true. In fact, P.T. boats operating from the most advanced South Pacific bases are finding water targets few and far between. They are overcoming that by selecting land targets. That's how they came to add two trucks to their record. A broad highway runs close to the north-east coast of New Ireland and the Japs were using it by night to transport supplies to the island garrisons after its use by day had been denied, them by fighter and bomber planes. P.T. skippers observed traffic moving with lights along the road and decided to take a hand. Selecting a spot where the road ran close to the shore they waited until a truck came along and opened up. They could see the surprised Japs, leaping from the truck, and then saw the vehicle go up in flames. A few nights later the effort was repeated. Since then the Japs. have either stopped this night traffic or is driving under blackout conditions.

 

Blacked Out Coast

In fact, the efforts of P.T. boats have effectively blacked out the entire New Ireland coastline. Known Japanese. camps and supply areas are strafed regularly from the boats, and after seeing the amount of fire these small but intensely powerful craft pour into shore installations one can easily understand why the Japs, have become so blackout conscious. These raids on Japanese. areas often bring fire from shore batteries which is just what the P.T. skippers want. The gun positions are then plotted and the points receive a visit from the air force the next day. 'Section No. — will patrol this part of the coast, and will bombard the Medina area,' was the briefing the skipper of our patrol boat received the other night. A few minutes later the fleet had started on its nightly work, and the craft were speeding at 35 knots on the long run to the target area. It was an impressive sight to see it speeding along, but the sections soon split and went their differing routes.

 

Little Glamour

A lot of glamour has been written around the P.T. boats crews, and certainly many of their exploits' have been fascinatingly effective. But the main impression of their job is that it is one primarily of drudgery enlivened .by brief action. These crews go out every second night. The patrols last anything from 18 hours to 24, during the greater part of which time an unceasing alert has to be maintained. They return to the base, face three hours' job of refuelling, cleaning guns, etc., in preparation for the next day's trip. ‘‘This branch of the service has advantages.' said one squadron leader. 'They feed us well, and we are due for leave after 12 months' operation.' In addition to the two vehicles to its credit, this squadron is also proud of the shooting down of a Japanese. Seaplane which bombed and strafed them. At £A120, 000 the P.T. boat is a costly war weapon. In addition the engines use up hundreds of gallons of high octane spirit on each patrol and the training of crews is a long and expensive item. However, in the Pacific, as a means of blockading Japanese garrisons and in taking toll of shipping they have paid dividends which can hardly be over-estimated.

[RustyCanteen]

Very interesting.

 

I think many people assume the PT's were best known for sinking ships by torpedo attack, but I believe that there were actually only a few dozen confirmed sinkings by that method. The PT's real workout came in the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns interdicting supplies (especially barges in the latter) and sinking them by means of their deck weaponry and actually engaging shore batteries on a few occasions.

 

RC

[5thwingmarty]

Wasn't there a McHale's Navy episode where they blew up a truck on the shore with a torpedo?

[Garandomatic]

My PT-129 uniform came from a man that was onbaord when the 129 and another boat interdicted small Japanese skiffs full of supplies in the Philippines, as that is what the enemy was down to by that point in the war. Love them PTs.