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Featured Work: PT-109 Model


Unknown artist(s), Official U.S. Navy model, ELCO Design 103 / 80' Patrol Torpedo (PT) Boat, lacking field-mounted 37mm cannon. Est. 1942-45

PT-109 belonged to the PT 103 class, hundreds of which were completed between 1942 and 1945 by Elco. PT-109's keel was laid 4 March 1942 as the seventh Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) of the 80-foot-long (24 m)-class built by Elco and was launched on 20 June. She was delivered to the Navy on 10 July 1942, and fitted out in the New York Naval Shipyard at Brooklyn.

The Elco boats were the largest PT boats operated by the United States Navy. At 80 feet (24 m) and 40 tons, they had strong wooden hulls of 2-inch (5 cm) mahogany planking. Powered by three 12-cylinder 1,500hp (1100 kW) Packard gasoline engines (one per propeller shaft), their designed top speed was 41 knots (76 km/h). For space and weight-distribution reasons, the center engine was mounted with the output end facing forward, with power transmitted to the propeller shaft through a V-drive gearbox. Because the center propeller was deeper, it left less of a wake, and was preferred by skippers for low-wake loitering. The engines were fitted with mufflers in the stern to direct the exhaust under water, which had to be bypassed for high speed. These were used not only to mask their own noise from the enemy but to be able to hear enemy aircraft, which were rarely detected overhead before dropping their bombs.

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