PT Boat - History

History

In the late 1930s, the U.S. Navy requested competitive bids for several different concepts of torpedo boats. This competition led to eight prototype boats built to compete in two different classes. The first class was for 55-foot (17 m) boats, and the second class was for 70-foot (21 m) boats. The resulting PT boat designs were the product of a small cadre of respected naval architects and the Navy.

On 8 June 1939, contracts were let to the Fogal Boat Yard, Inc., later known as the Miami Shipbuilding Co., of Miami, Florida, for PT-1 and -2 "Crash Boats", and to the Fisher Boat Works, Detroit, Michigan, for PT-3 and -4. These four boats were essentially the Crouch design, modified in some details by the Bureau of Ships. At the same time the Philadelphia Navy Yard began construction of two other designs (PT-7 and PT-8), created by designers at the Navy Yard and the Navy Bureau of Ships.

Henry R. Sutphen of Electric Launch Company (Elco) and his designers (Irwin Chase, Bill Fleming, and Glenville Tremaine) visited the United Kingdom to see British motor torpedo boat designs. While visiting the British Power Boat Company, they purchased a 70-foot (21 m) design (PV70) (later renamed PT-9 during the competition), designed by Hubert Scott-Paine.

Other entries in the competition were three boats built by Andrew Jackson Higgins of Higgins Industries in New Orleans. These boats were PT-5 and PT-6 (built using government-required Sparkman and Stephens design, scaled to an overall length of 81 feet (25 m)) and then PT-6 "Prime" which was redesigned by Higgins personally using his own methods. The final competitor for the contract was Huckins Yacht Corporation, which came up with competing 70-foot (21 m) boat class designs.

The results of the competition found that none of the boats, as built, was up to the necessary performance specifications identified by the Navy.