Allied Coastal Forces of World War II. Volume 2. Vosper MTBs and US ELCOs

260 Pages·2016·105.13 MB·English

by  Lambert J.

The Authors

John Lambert has written over two
hundred articles on small warships and
naval weaponry for a variety of
magazines, as well as two volumes in
Conway’s Anatomy of the Ship series.
His skill as a draughtsman was
developed during a period of
employment in an industrial drawing
office, and his meticulously detailed
drawings are well known to warship
enthusiasts. His detailed technical
knowledge of warships was acquired in
the course of nine years’ service in the
Royal Navy.

Al Ross Il is the author of several
books, including the Anatomy of the
Ship volumes The Destroyer Escort
England, The Destroyer The Sullivans,
The Destroyer Campbeltown and

The Escort Carrier Gambier Bay. His ship
drawings have appeared in a number of
other books and journals, and since
1980 has been producing a series

of plans for modellers of small com-
batants of the Second World War and
Vietnam eras. He has a PhD in Adult
Education and lives in Bangor, Maine,
USA.

Jacket painting by Peter Hogan

£35.00 net
UK only

»» Allied
: Coastal
=. - Forces

~ of World War II

Volume II:
Vosper MTBs and US Elcos

_ * John Lambert

Conway,
Allied Coastal Forces
Frontispiece: Felixstowe — March 1943. A
feast of Vospers at HMS Beehive.

Row 1] — 234 with 1st foredeck 20mm Oerlikon,
with 223 and 241 (21st Flotilla); Row 2—- 32,
34, 72, 69 and 70 (4th Flotilla) ; Row 3—
Three British Power Boat MGBs, including 74
(8th MGB Flotilla) ; Row 4 — Five 70ft
British Power Boat MGBs, including 67 (6th
MGB Flotilla).

Imperial War Museum

© John Lambert and Al Ross, 1993

First published in Great Britain 1993 by

Conway Maritime Press, an imprint of Brassey’s (UK) Ltd,
101 Fleet Street,

London EC4Y 1DE

British Library Catalaguing-in- Publication Data
Lambert, John

Allied Coastal Forces of World War II.

Vol. 2: Vosper MTBs and US Elcos

I. Title II. Ross, Al

623.825

ISBN 0 85177 602 7

All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication
contravenes applicable laws.

Designed by John Mitchell
Typeset by Dorwyn Ltd, Rowlands Castle
Printed and bound by the Bath Press, Bath
Contents

Foreword and acknowledgements
Request for Information
Abbreviations

Vosper Ltd

Elco — a short history

The vessels

Vosper’s private venture (MTB 102) and
Bloodhound

Vosper M'T'B designs 1938-39

The Vosper 45ft MTB design

Vosper designs 1940

MTB 74

MTB 103

Vosper designs 1941

Vosper designs 1942

MTB 510

Vosper designs 1943-45

Vosper construction

The Elco 70ft PT

The Elco 77ft PT

The Elco 80ft PT

Licence-built Vospers

PT construction

Equipment and details

PT camouflage
The Packard 4M-—2500 marine engine

Oo OND

20

21

33
39
46
56
58
60
66
70
80
90
104
117
131
156
170

173
180

Selected weapons systems

The twin 0.51in Vickers machine gun, Mark V
mounting

The 20mm Oerlikon gun in the Royal Navy

The twin 20mm Oerlikon Mark V (power-
operated) mounting

The twin 20mm Oerlikon manual Mark T and
Mark IX mountings

The 9mm Lanchester machine carbine

18in and 21in torpedo tubes 1939-45

PT torpedo armament

The Dewandre turret

Additional data

The US 20mm mounts
The US 37mm gun

The US 40mm Mark 3 gun
Rocket launchers

Development of bridge and wheelhouse during the

Second World War

Notes on operating Royal Navy Packard engines

Free French Vosper MTBs’
‘The Vosper survivors
Restored Elco PT 617

Bibliography

191

194
200

202

206
208
213
216

219
222
224
227
230

242
245
251
253

255
Foreword and acknowledgements

A great many people, both in the UK and overseas, have assisted
with this second volume of Allied Coastal Forces of World War IT,
and without their help this volume would not be as comprehensive
as it is.

I would particularly thank Leslie G Brown BSc Eng AMIEE
Chief Weapons Systems Designer of Vosper "Vhornycroft (UK)
Ltd, Woolston, Southampton, who over many years has provided
copies of original Vosper drawings. Every one of my requests or
queries has been answered by Les and in some cases copies of full
size drawings or part sheets have been sent by return. My task has
been simply to redraw Vosper wartime efforts. Vosper photo-
graphic cover has been provided from my visit of July 1986, when I
obtained all the negative numbers from their lists. Without these
records taken at the time I would have been lost. The photographs
have the added bonus of being working views taken at the period
when Britain was at war and the Vosper yard(s) was virtually in the
front line with little defence against bombing raids.

Much background information has been provided by my con-
tacts in the Coastal Forces Veterans’ Association and letters from
retired workers from the company. Geoffrey Hudson, the CFVA
historian, again has filled in many gaps. The mass of engineering
drawings have been provided by the loan of Packard manuals both
from Al Ross and Bill Hollick. Mr CS Woolridge provided infor-
mation on Vosper’s only ‘long’ boat. Dave Fricker and Philip
Simons did the honours with ‘the survivors’.

Finally, my thanks to Sheila who read through masses of mater-
ial, squared up my spelling, checked through the drawings for
obvious errors and put up with my moods over the time I have
taken.

Most of the drawings are available on large sheets — in some cases
several sheets; ships from Traplet Publications Ltd, 'Traplet
House, Severn Drive, Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire WR&
OSL; weapons from David MacGregor Plans, 99, Lonsdale Road,
London SW13 9DA; or from Al Ross or myself. I know that several
first-class models have been produced from our previous efforts.

The ships and weapons are the meat of this study and we are
pleased to be able to record the wartime efforts of draughtsmen and
designers.

John Lambert

Many people provided invaluable assistance in the preparation of
the Elco section of this volume, among them: AD Baker III, Tom
Peltin, Bob Sattler, Tim Howard, Wayne Traxel, Dave Shadell,
Mark Wertheimer, Geoff Hudson, Tom Walkowiak, Dr WAB
Douglas and Donald Graves of the Canadian Directorate of His-
tory, Capt Robert Kelly, Cdr Albert Ross, Chuck Haberlein, Mike
West, Dr Norman Friedman, Erminio Bagnasco, Capt S Sanvold
of the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum, Tom DelRossi, “Tubby’
Tong, Bill Last, Dr Jan Spek, Les Brown, and many PT and
Coastal Forces veterans who shared their experiences during the
Second World War. To these the authors express their sincere
gratitude.

Special thanks go to Alyce Newberry and the staff of the PT Boat
Museum/PT Boats Inc, a veterans’ group dedicated to the preser-
vation of the history of the PT boat. To this end, the organisation
has preserved two boats, PT 617 (80ft Elco) and PT 796 (78ft
Higgins) at Fall River, Massachusetts and maintains a large collec-
tion of historical material and memorabilia at its Memphis office.
Readers interested in more information on the organisation should
contact: P'T Boats Inc, PO Box 38070, Memphis, TN 38183-0070,
United States of America, (Telephone [phone]).

Another organisation of interest is the American Patrol Boat
Museum, which is restoring patrol and air/sea rescue craft from the
Second World War through to Vietnam. Of particular relevance to
this volume, the APBM has acquired the ex-PT 695, one of the
Annapolis-built Vospers, and is considering acquiring a second
Vosper. Further information is available from: APBM, PO Box
641, Rio Vista, CA 94571, United States of America.

Al Ross
Request for information

As part of the research process for these volumes on Coastal Forces
craft, Al Ross is developing a comprehensive database (using dBase
IEI+) on all of the US-built boats and will eventually expand it to
include Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy boats. A sample of
the information contained on the current database can be found at
the end of this section.

While the existing database is quite comprehensive, there are still
major gaps, particularly in the following areas:

Modifications to armament

Camouflage schemes

Squadron assignments for boats serving in navies other than the
US Navy

@ Pennant numbers for boats transferred to the Soviet Navy

® Current status of surviving boats

Consequently, he welcomes correspondence with any and _ all
readers who can fill in the gaps or who are themselves looking for
information on a particular boat or group of boats.

Key for PT Database

Field Data contained in field

PT USN boat number

PREFIX Boat number prefix (PT, PTC, etc)
BLDR Builder

TYPE Type of boat; eg, 77ft Elco

SERIES Series of which the individual boat is a member;
eg, PT 20-44

HULLNO Builder’s hull number

NICK Boat’s nickname, if any; eg, ‘Sad Sack’ (PT 369)

LAID Date keel laid

LAUNCH
COMP
INSERVICE
HISTORY

CAUSE
TRANSFER
TDATE
NEWNO
RON
FLEET
CAMOBUILT
CAMOFLEET
ARMBUILT
ARMMODS
RADAR
EXIST
LENGTH
BEAM
DRAFT
DISP
SPEED
RADIUS
POWER
PROPS

SHP
SMOKE
FUEL
WATER
OIL

RADIO
NOTES

Date launched

Date completed

Date placed in service with USN
Capsule history, including squadron
assignments, transfers, and eventual fate
Cause of loss

Navy to which transferred

Date of transfer

Boat number other than original
Squadron(s) to which assigned

Area of operations

Camouflage applied at the factory
Camouflage applied after entering service
Armament as designed

Changes to armament in service
Type of radar, IFF carried
Information on boat if still surviving
Length

Beam

Mean draft

Displacement

Rated speed in knots

Radius of action

Power plant

Size and number of propellers

Rated horsepower

MK of smoke canister

Fuel capacity

Potable water capacity

Lube oil capacity

MK of radio gear carried
Information not addressed by other fields

x
Abbreviations

ASR Air/Sea Rescue

BU Broken up

BuShips Bureau of Ships

CT Controlled target

CTL Constructive total loss
DY Dockyard

FF Free French

Fl Flotilla

HB Houseboat

HO Handed over

KM Kreigsmarine

PO Paid off

RAF Royal Air Force

RAN Royal Australian Navy
RCN Royal Canadian Navy
RIN Royal Indian Navy
RN Royal Navy

R Neth N Royal Netherlands Navy
SC Surface craft

TL Total loss

TS Training ship

USN United States Navy
WD War Department (RASC)