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US Patrol Torpedo Boats: World War II (New Vanguard)

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Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
List Price: $17.95
Our Price: $10.80
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Motor torpedo boat development began in the early 1900s and the vessels were first put into active service during World War I. However, it was not until the late 1930s that the US Navy commenced the development of their Patrol Torpedo or PT boat program. The PT boat, or the "mosquito boat" as they were sometimes known, was originally envisioned for attacking larger warships with torpedoes using its "stealth" ability, high-speed, and small size to launch and survive these attacks. However, they were actually employed more frequently in a wide variety of other missions, many which were unforeseen by developers and planners, including rescuing General MacArthur and his entourage from the Philippines.

Often taking on larger and better armed enemies these craft became famous for punching above their weight and were firmly thrust into the limelight by John F. Kennedy who while serving as a lieutenant on a PT-109 in the Pacific Theater heroically saved his fellow crew members winning him the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. This book examines the design and development of these unique craft, very few of which survive today and goes on to examine their role and combat deployment in both World Wars.


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 359
EAN: 9781846032271
ISBN: 184603227X
Label: Osprey Publishing
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 48
Publication Date: 2008-09-23
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Release Date: 2008-09-23
Studio: Osprey Publishing


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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: US Patrol Torpedo Boats
Comment: Shipping was good, book in new condition. I am very pleased with this purchase. Would recommend it to others with navel war interest.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully-Informative, Poorly Edited
Comment: I have read every book on PT boats that I've been able to find, including those long out-of-print, those privately published and the big-name books (Chun's is the best-of-breed, but there are other good ones).

This book - based on content - ranks right up there, a solid example of the Osprey format. However, the editing was remarkably poor - it really stood out, and while it didn't impact the information I received, it did diminish my enjoyment a bit. However, as an historian (and frequent historical expert on the History Channel - D-Day Tech, Submarine Disasters, WW-I Tech, etc.), I buy and read these for the information, and from that basis, the book was well worth my investment, and well worth the time I spent in reading it.

However, it seems as if the editing at Osprey has been automated (or turned over to well-trained chimpanzees) because this was the first, but not the only recent Osprey book that has been poorly edited.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Rife with errors
Comment: This is the most error-ridden book on PT boats I've ever seen. Aside from being little more than a rehash of previously-published material, it is rife with substantive errors that anyone even vaguely familiar with the boats should not have made. In the body of the text, the author uses naval terms incorrectly, misidentifies weapons, makes incorrect statements about construction and camouflage, and even gets the previously-published (correct) material wrong. The photo captions are a morass of misidentifications - ELCOs as Higgins, Higgins as ELCOs (they look nothing alike), a patrol boat built by Higgins for the Royal Netherlands Navy as a 70' ELCO PTC (they look nothing alike, either) , SO radar (a small dome about 28" in diameter on a bipod) as SC (an approximately 8' x 8' antenna that resembles a bedspring), 40mm guns as 37mm guns (not even remotely alike), etc.



Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Reference
Comment: Having a long interest in US PT Boats, mainly due to watching movies like: "They Were Expendable" and "PT-109", plus the classic TV series "McHale's Navy", I obtained this book to conduct some research on them, especially for my hobby of model kit building. I found the book very useful, however due to its size, the book is not comprehensive.

However for me, it did the job. You can look inside this book on Amazon and make the call to buy it. You be the judge.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A Good Starting Point
Comment: This work is a good starting point for those who wish to learn about and to a limited extent understand the operational use of US PT Boats in WWII.

The book takes the technological route here and delves in to the process of design, weapons, crewing and tactics associated with these small craft. As is the case with most of these books on naval matters it does not deal with the operational history of these craft to any great extent. That would require a much larger work than this one.

What this book does accomplish is, like the series of book and infantry tactics by the same publisher gives the reader a 'how and with what' look at PT Boats and will allow a greater understanding of the mechanics involved in their operational use.

Simply put it casts a clear view of how the history was accomplished. This book is a worthwhile addition to any reader's library for this reason alone.

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