South West Pacific Motor Torpedo Boats: Follow My Time in the PT Service During World War 2

South West Pacific Motor Torpedo Boats: Follow My Time in the PT Service During World War 2 PDF Author: James Beck
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781091920408
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
I volunteered for the PT Service but I had no idea that it would lead to me working later for Admiral "Bull" Halsey and General MacArthur through out the South Pacific. I would start out as a lowly Ensign on a PT Boat and end up years later as an Admiral in charge of all of the PT Boats in the Philippines area.We go from running around chasing the enemy ships and eating C-rats and peanut butter sandwiches to having my own command ship and eating "Baked Alaskan" with the Admiral. Follow us as we push the Japs back to Japan.

South West Pacific Motor Torpedo Boats: Follow My Time in the PT Service During World War 2

South West Pacific Motor Torpedo Boats: Follow My Time in the PT Service During World War 2 PDF Author: James Beck
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781091920408
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
I volunteered for the PT Service but I had no idea that it would lead to me working later for Admiral "Bull" Halsey and General MacArthur through out the South Pacific. I would start out as a lowly Ensign on a PT Boat and end up years later as an Admiral in charge of all of the PT Boats in the Philippines area.We go from running around chasing the enemy ships and eating C-rats and peanut butter sandwiches to having my own command ship and eating "Baked Alaskan" with the Admiral. Follow us as we push the Japs back to Japan.

PT Boat Odyssey

PT Boat Odyssey PDF Author: Robert P. Gelzheiser
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476662649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
“Nicely illustrated with black-and-white historical photos…extraordinary…impressively informative…. Expertly organized and presented…recommended”—Midwest Book Review During the Pacific War between the United States and Imperial Japanese navies, the author's father, Francis Gelzheiser, deployed with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 16A, from New Orleans to Panama to Seattle and to Attu Island in the Aleutians. After their return voyage, the PT boats journeyed to New Guinea, then battled Japanese kamikazes for the Philippine Island of Mindoro. Like many World War II veterans, Gelzheiser only shared his recollections of combat later in life. The author chronicles his father's experience, details the roles PT boats played in the war and examines why, despite America's overwhelming wartime manufacturing capacity, the Japanese believed they could still win the war.

At Close Quarters

At Close Quarters PDF Author: Robert Johns Bulkley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 614

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Book Description


At Close Quarters; PT Boats In The United States Navy [Illustrated Edition]

At Close Quarters; PT Boats In The United States Navy [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Captain Robert J. Bulkley Jr.
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786252066
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
Includes over 110 illustrations charting the history of the US Navy PT Boats. “The destiny of our country has been inextricably interwoven with the sea. This was never more true than in the giant World War II that involved all seas and most of mankind. To fight the sea war we needed many types of ships, large and small, from aircraft carriers and battleships to PT boats. “Small though they were, the PT boats played a key role. Like most naval ships, they could carry out numerous tasks with dispatch and versatility. In narrow waters or in-fighting close to land they could deliver a powerful punch with torpedo or gun. On occasion they could lay mines or drop depth charges. They could speed through reefs and shark infested waters to rescue downed pilots or secretly close the shore to make contacts with coast watchers and guerrilla forces. PT boats were an embodiment of John Paul Jones’ words: “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harm’s way.” “Naval strength must function from shore to shore and on inland waters where the mobility and flexibility provided by ships can be employed to support land operations. PT boats filled an important need in World War II in shallow waters, complementing the achievements of greater ships in greater seas. This need for small, fast, versatile, strongly armed vessels does not wane. In fact it may increase in these troubled times when operations requiring just these capabilities are the most likely of those which may confront us. “The thorough and competent account herein of over-all PT boat operations in World War II, compiled by Captain Robert Bulkley, a distinguished PT boat commander, should therefore prove of wide interest. The widest use of the sea, integrated fully into our national strength, is as important to America in the age of nuclear power and space travel as in those stirring days of the birth of the Republic.”–President John F Kennedy.

Under a Blood Red Sun

Under a Blood Red Sun PDF Author: John J. Domagalski
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612004091
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 523

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Book Description
The author of Into the Dark Water “balances scholarly research with accessible storytelling” to tell the heroic WWII account of Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 (Midwest Book Review). During the opening days of World War II in the Pacific, a small group of American sailors in the Philippines were propelled into the forefront of the fighting against the navy and air power of Imperial Japan. They were manned with six small, wooden PT-boats and led by a courageous, larger-than-life character in Lt. John D. Bulkeley. As America’s defense of the Philippines crumbled under the weight of a massive Japanese assault, the courageous activities of Bulkeley’s Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 made headlines across the United States—often as the only good news coming from the bleak Pacific front. The unit achieved everlasting fame by evacuating Gen. Douglas MacArthur from the front. Then, the squadron continued to fight on until all six of its torpedo boats were lost under fire. The fate of the doomed American defenders was sealed when the Japanese won the battle for the islands in the spring of 1942. The exploits of the unit were immortalized in the blockbuster 1945 movie They Were Expendable, starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery, but since then, the saga of Bulkeley and his men has slipped into history. Under a Blood Red Sun revives the story of the Philippine PT-boats through the intertwined accounts of Bulkeley and his subordinate officers and men. It is a story of the courage and sacrifice of men thousands of miles from their homeland, representing American gallantry and fighting prowess, giving the Japanese a taste of what was to come their way.

The Devil Boats

The Devil Boats PDF Author: C.J. Skamarakas
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0811772098
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
PT boats loom large in the popular imagination of World War II. In March 1942, a PT boat evacuated Gen. Douglas MacArthur, his family, and top staff from the Philippines, which inspired the war movie They Were Expendable, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. John F. Kennedy became a war hero while commanding PT-109, which collided with a Japanese destroyer and was sunk in August 1943. But the story of PT boats has never been told in the depth and detail that their exemplary service deserves. Naval historian C. J. Skamarakas uses one Pacific PT boat squadron to tell the story of PT boats in action in World War II. Eighty feet long, PT boats were designed to launch torpedoes against enemy ships five and ten times their own size. But defects in the torpedoes and the boats’ speed and maneuverability ultimately shifted the boats’ mission to patrolling and breaking up Japanese shipping and reinforcements. In the waters of the Southwest Pacific as part of MacArthur’s offensives in New Guinea and the Philippines, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 25 completed these missions and also executed other operations for which they weren’t specifically trained, including inserting commandos behind enemy lines, air-sea rescue, raids on enemy positions, reconnaissance of potential sites for amphibious landings, coordination of air strikes in support of ground forces, meetings with guerrilla leaders, recovery of prisoners of war, diversionary activities, and psychological operations. Today we would call many of their missions “special ops.” The Japanese called PT boats “mosquitoes” and “devil boats.” The Devil Boats recounts the unique contributions of one motor torpedo boat squadron and through it tells the story of PT boats in the Pacific War. With drama and excitement, as well as careful attention to detail, the book fills a void in the history of the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Fast Boats and Fast Times

Fast Boats and Fast Times PDF Author: David M. Levy
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 143890018X
Category : Torpedo-boats
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
In the gruesome battle for Guadalcanal, David Levy was skipper of PT 59, one of several Patrol/Torpedo boats that were among the first U.S. Navy vessels to engage Japanese warships at the beginning of World War II. Dave's wartime experiences in the South Pacific marked one of the most transformative periods in his life. In the Navy he quickly learned to assume a "deal-maker" persona that helped him get along with fellow PT boat skippers, many of whom, like future president John F. Kennedy, came from privileged East Coast families. He got to be known in the Navy by the nickname "Hogan," famous as "the guy to go to," who could get things done, organize parties well-stocked with liquor and women, obtain supplies when none seemed available, and, in those early, desperate days of the battle for Guadalcanal, also perform in the top ranks of competent PT boat skippers. The PT boats were small, maneuverable, and fast, and they were given the seemingly impossible mission of regularly engaging and sinking the much larger and more numerous destroyers, cruisers, and battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Dave's PT 59 was in the thick of all the action. These brave PT boat skippers, many of whom were graduates of Ivy League colleges or the U.S. Naval Academy, were a hard-partying group, and their "fast times" during World War II epitomized the intensity with which life was lived by those who, like Dave, were fully engaged in the deadly struggles of the Pacific War. Dave's wartime experiences shaped the rest of his life, a long journey that has included a successful law career, annual ski trips to his vacation home in Aspen since the early 1950s, and fishing all over the world.

A PT Skipper in the South Pacific

A PT Skipper in the South Pacific PDF Author: Kenneth W. Prescott
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781468125818
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series Second Edition 2011 From training at Melville, Rhode Island, to the South Pacific where as XO and CO of PT 61 and CO of PT 48 he served at Tulagi-Florida Island, Guadalcanal, and the Russells, as well as on different assignments in Torokina, Bougainville, and Emirau, New Ireland, back to Melville and on to the USS Jamestown (AGP-3) as XO, home based in the Philippines, and finally to his post-war career in the Navy. Included are his bird collecting and taxidermy efforts during and after the war, as well as an encounter with future president John F. Kennedy. Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Pearl Harbor and Joining the Navy Chapter 2: Motor Torpedo Boat Training, Melville, Rhode Island Chapter 3: To the South Pacific Chapter 4: The Old-Timers: Heroes of the PT Saga Chapter 5: Calvertville Chapter 6: XO of PT 61 Chapter 7: Patrolling and Boxing Chapter 8: The Russells, Rats, and Poker Chapter 9: Taxidermy-South Pacific Style Chapter 10: CO of PT 61 Chapter 11: Kennedy, Crocs, and Gunboats Chapter 12: CO of PT 48 Chapter 13: Torokina and Malaria Chapter 14: Bougainville and Bird Collecting Chapter 15: Emirau and Back to the U.S. Chapter 16: Melville Again Chapter 17: Back to the Pacific; Chapter 18: XO of the Jamestown Chapter 19: Japan Surrenders and Jamestown Returns Home Chapter 20: Recuperating in Hollywood Chapter 21: My Post-War Studies Chapter 22: Naval Reserve and Civilian Life Chapter 23: Epilogue 100 photos/illustrations

Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil

Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil PDF Author: Worrall Reed Carter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Logistics, Naval
Languages : en
Pages : 514

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Book Description


Congressional Record

Congressional Record PDF Author: United States. Congress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1332

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Book Description
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)