PT Boats
In 1939 agreement was reached with the American Electric Launch Company (Elco) to purchase a British Power Boat 70-footer (later named PT9), as a template for American production under licence. PT9 was taken by the SS President Roosevelt to Elco’s works at New London, Connecticut. On 3 October Scott-Paine met President Roosevelt and senior Elco representatives at the White House to authorize the creation of a new naval arm, the PT Boat Squadrons. Production started at a new Elco factory at Bayonne, New Jersey in January 1940.
The Canadian Power Boat Company was set up by Scott-Paine in 1940. This produced 39 boats, mainly MTBs.
After the passing of Lend-Lease in 1941 comparative trials, nicknamed the Plywood Derbys, were held between rival American boatbuilders, Elco winning both. Elco went on to produce 754 70-, 77-, and 80-foot (24 m) PT Boats, including Jack Kennedy’s PT109, & the boat that rescued General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor.
Read more about this topic: Hubert Scott-Paine
Famous quotes containing the word boats:
“You men have proved that PT boats have some value in this war. Washington wants you back in the States to build them up. Those are my orders.”
—Frank W. Wead (1895?–1947)