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.

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.

Devil Boats

Devil Boats PDF Author: William B. Breuer
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
The PT boat was a class of motor torpedo boats used by the United States during the Second World War. Armed with a 40mm antiaircraft gun, two 20mm antiaircraft guns and four torpedo tubes, their agility and speed consistently bested even the most outlandish expectations. Against Japan, they figure prominently in some of the best-known feats of heroism of the entire war. In Devil Boats, the reader is right on board, buffeted by the spray of the crashing Pacific minutes after the Pearl Harbor disaster as a PT boat brings down the first enemy plane. And there again as PT boats, their engines muffled, steal along on an unforgiving ocean to sink a warship, blow up a supply barge, carry a sabotage team past enemy lines, or effect another extraordinary rescue of a downed Allied pilot. In instance upon instance, the PT boats and their crews performed deeds demanding incredible courage and skill, pitting their plywood craft against the force of the angry sea, or the might of ships hundreds of times their own size. Among their legendary exploits - General MacArthur being spirited off besieged Corregidor; Philippine president Quezon's "kidnapping" to Australia; and the unforgettable heroism of a wounded John F. Kennedy and his fearless PT-109.

Devil Boats

Devil Boats PDF Author: William Breuer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Torpedo-boats
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description


The Devil Boat

The Devil Boat PDF Author: David Stuart Leslie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description


The Devil's Boat

The Devil's Boat PDF Author: Giuseppe Bufalari
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780394922898
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
From the day that they buy their own boat, a coral diver and his son sense it is cursed by the devil.

Know Your PT Boat

Know Your PT Boat PDF Author: Bureau Of Ships
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781935700173
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
The exploits of the U.S. Navy's 'Patrol Torpedo' or PT Boat crews became famous during WWII. Known by the Japanese as "devil boats," the little PTs landed big blows on the enemy, sinking numerous ships and supply barges. They also laid mines, carried out intelligence operations, and performed search and rescue operations among other tasks. While the most famous boat of the war was PT-109, commanded by future President John F. Kennedy, PT-73 also gained fame as the star of the TV show McHale's Navy starring Ernest Borgnine. Originally created in 1945 by the Bureau of Ships, "Know Your PT Boat" was intended to educate the crews of motor torpedo boats about all aspects of PT operation and maintenance in the field. Filled with advice drawn from the battle-tested crews of the "mosquito fleet," and featuring hilarious (and sometimes impolite) cartoon illustrations, it's sometimes hard to believe this booklet was an official U.S. Navy publication. This softcover reprint features the original book in its entirety.

How to Build Glued-lapstrake Wooden Boats

How to Build Glued-lapstrake Wooden Boats PDF Author: John Brooks
Publisher: WoodenBoat Books
ISBN: 9780937822586
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
As a child, John Brooks loved to build models and sail with his grandfather. When most teenagers were at the prom, John was changing jibs in the Indian Ocean, halfway through a 35,000-mile, two-year cruise. He began building boats in commercial yards at 19, while studying boat design and building his own boats. John worked for many years honing his craftsmanship on fine yachts, small boats, custom furniture, and a harpsichord. He has been a instructor at the WoodenBoat School in Maine since the mid-1990s, teaching glued-lapstrake boatbuilding, fine interior joinery, and carving. Ruth Ann Hill grew up on the coast of Maine. A writer, boatbuilding assistant, naturalist, and graphic artist, Ruth is the author of Discovering Old Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park: An Unconventional Guide and a contributing editor for Maine Boats & Harbors magazine. John and Ruth started their business, Brooks Boats, in 1991. They design and build glued-lapstrake boats in West Brooklin, Maine-and get out to enjoy their handiwork in its proper element whenever they can.

The Sea Hawks

The Sea Hawks PDF Author: LT Comdr LT Commander LT Commander LT Commander Edgar D Hoagland
Publisher: iBooks
ISBN: 9780743458641
Category : Sailors
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Starting as an ensign assigned to an Atlantic-based destroyer, author Edgar Hoagland participated in Operation Torch, the 1942 invasion of North Africa. Thirsting for greater adventure than he found in the blue water navy, Hoagland volunteered for PT boat duty. Following training and familiarization he and his crew were off to the Pacific. Not unexpectedly, here he found more than enough adventure. Following a short stint as the group's engineering officer (duty he detested), our intrepid sailor was given command of a PT boat squadron and went back to sea. He received a Silver Star for his role destroying a Japanese PT boat base and a Bronze Star for leading amphibious landings in Japanese-occupied territory. Book jacket.

Burning Your Boats

Burning Your Boats PDF Author: Angela Carter
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0140255281
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, citicism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents—as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales—are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter's marvelous, magical vision.

Small Boats and Daring Men

Small Boats and Daring Men PDF Author: Benjamin Armstrong
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806163178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Two centuries before the daring exploits of Navy SEALs and Marine Raiders captured the public imagination, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps were already engaged in similarly perilous missions: raiding pirate camps, attacking enemy ships in the dark of night, and striking enemy facilities and resources on shore. Even John Paul Jones, father of the American navy, saw such irregular operations as critical to naval warfare. With Jones’s own experience as a starting point, Benjamin Armstrong sets out to take irregular naval warfare out of the shadow of the blue-water battles that dominate naval history. This book, the first historical study of its kind, makes a compelling case for raiding and irregular naval warfare as key elements in the story of American sea power. Beginning with the Continental Navy, Small Boats and Daring Men traces maritime missions through the wars of the early republic, from the coast of modern-day Libya to the rivers and inlets of the Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, Armstrong examines the era’s conflicts with nonstate enemies and threats to American peacetime interests along Pacific and Caribbean shores. Armstrong brings a uniquely informed perspective to his subject; and his work—with reference to original naval operational reports, sailors’ memoirs and diaries, and officers’ correspondence—is at once an exciting narrative of danger and combat at sea and a thoroughgoing analysis of how these events fit into concepts of American sea power. Offering a critical new look at the naval history of the Early American era, this book also raises fundamental questions for naval strategy in the twenty-first century.