PC Patrol Craft of World War II
PC Patrol Craft of World War II

Author: William J. Veigele

Publisher: Astral Publishing

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780964586710

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is about the PC Patrol Craft that fought in World War II. Almost 50,000 men served on 361 of them. Even so, PCs received little acclaim. One naval historian called them 'The Forgotten Fleet'. So that the world will not forget them, the author, a former PC sailor wrote this book. He tells the story of PCs in World War I and draws from his and his shipmates' experiences and memories. He uses old photos and drawings and from them describes what life was like for 65 men crowded aboard these small ships. He portrays the fearful times when tossed and torn by raging seas. He recounts the terrifying battles against submarines and kamikazes and when leading landing craft to the invasion beaches.

US Patrol Torpedo Boats
US Patrol Torpedo Boats

Author: Gordon L. Rottman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-12-20

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 1780962088

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK. Motor torpedo boat development began in the early 1900s, and the vessels first saw service during World War I. However, it was not until the late 1930s that the US Navy commenced the development of the Patrol Torpedo or PT boat. The PT boat was designed for attacking larger warships with torpedoes using its 'stealth' ability, high-speed and small size to launch and survive these attacks – although they were employed in a wide variety of other missions, including rescuing General MacArthur and his entourage from the Philippines. 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 World War II.

World War II U.S. Navy Vessels in Private Hands
World War II U.S. Navy Vessels in Private Hands

Author: Greg H. Williams

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1476600406

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

During World War II, the U.S. Navy swiftly expanded to include an array of vessels, from smaller yachts and fishing boats bought early in the war for patrol work to fast, modern commercial ships built to haul troops and supplies. After the Allied victory, this diverse fleet became unnecessary and the Navy sold many of its vessels. This comprehensive catalog documents the Navy ships and boats sold after the war and registered under the American flag for commercial or recreational purposes. Focusing on those vessels with names or clearly identifiable hull numbers and crew accommodations, it chronicles each craft's prewar ownership, wartime history, and postwar fate. The product of painstaking detective work in a wide range of primary sources, this meticulous directory highlights an unexplored but illuminating aspect of U.S. maritime history.

The United States Coast Guard in World War II
The United States Coast Guard in World War II

Author: Thomas P. Ostrom

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2009-08-11

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0786453710

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

At home and overseas, the United States Coast Guard served a variety of vital functions in World War II, providing service that has been too little recognized in histories of the war. Teaming up with other international forces, the Coast Guard provided crewmembers for Navy and Army vessels as well as its own, carried troops, food, and military supplies overseas, and landed Marine and Army units on distant and dangerous shores. This thorough history details those and other important missions, which included combat engagement with submarines and kamikaze planes, and typhoons. On the home front, port security missions involving search and rescue, fire fighting, explosives, espionage and sabotage presented their own unique dangers and challenges.

Poseidon and the Pc
Poseidon and the Pc

Author: Gary W. Neidhardt

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2013-05-17

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1481740431

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Poseidon and the PC documents the adventures of Lt. Paul W. Neidhardt (USNR) through one hundred and fifteen of his letters written to his wife during World War II. Long before PC became equated with a personal computer or politically correct, the two letters were associated with Patrol Craft. These World War II ships had the mission of performing convoy escort duty and antisubmarine warfare. The PCs were meant to relieve the larger, far more valuable ships from the often monotonous duties of sailing at the speed of the slowest ship in a convoy. The 174 foot long PCs were so small that they were considered safe duty as more worthy targets were always available. In high seas PCs floated as light as a cork in a bottle and as rough as riding a bull. A PC could entirely disappear from view in the trough of a large wave. The seasickness that resulted from the pitching and rolling of the PC was truly gut wrenching. If you didnt get sick on a PC, you were seaworthy on any other Navy ship in the fleet. Had the war not ended when it did, Poseidons typhoons might have substantially prolonged the war in the Pacific. A great typhoon sunk, beached or damaged more than two hundred American ships at Okinawa after the war had ended that were to be used for the invasion of Japan. Paul was the executive officer on one of the many PCs destroyed by this great storm, which struck on October 9, 1945. When Poseidon showed his power, Paul knew his PC needed all the help and good fortune there was to be found if they were to survive the fury of what Americans came to call Typhoon Louise.

U.S. Navy Patrol Vessels
U.S. Navy Patrol Vessels

Author: Ken W. Sayers

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2021-08-23

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 1476641412

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

During the past century, U.S. Navy patrol vessels have operated everywhere larger warships have--as well as in places where the big boats could not operate. These bantam warriors have performed in a variety of roles, from antisubmarine warfare to convoy escort and offensive operations against enemy forces afloat and ashore. Patrol vessels battled German units in the Mediterranean, fought insurgents along rivers and canals in China and Vietnam and protected U.S. ships and facilities in the Persian Gulf. Covering more than 1000 of the Navy's small combatants, this comprehensive survey provides all-time rosters, histories, specifications and illustrations of patrol vessels from before World War I to the present. World War II PT boats and submarine chasers and Vietnam War swift boats are covered, along with less well known ships such as Eagle boats, patrol yachts, hydrofoil gunboats and control escorts. A detailed accounting of patrol vessel exports, transfers and shipbuilders is included.

Peter Charlie: The Cruise of the PC 477
Peter Charlie: The Cruise of the PC 477

Author: Art Bell

Publisher:

Published: 2019-12

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 9780910355483

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Aboard a patrol boat in World War II, chasing Japanese subsIn 1942, Art Bell was a twenty-three-year old ensign in the U.S. Navy, assigned to duty aboard the PC 477. The PCs were 173-foot, steel-hulled submarine fighters. Uncle Sam had thousands of seamen on hundreds of PCs convoying and patrolling in WWII. They were introduced in the desperate, early days of World War II, when the waters off America's Atlantic coast were a graveyard of torpedoed ships. They performed essential, hazardous, and sometimes spectacular missions, yet the PCs were scarcely known at all outside the service.Here is the story of the wartime service of one of those ships. From Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal, from Australia to the Solomon Islands, the PC 477 saw action throughout the South Pacific. Collecting numerous first-hand accounts from his shipmates, Art Bell, who eventually took command of the 477, gives us a detailed, compelling and often humorous memoir of life aboard a Navy ship during the war. It is a feast for World War II buffs and an essential reference for historians studying that period. The Navy didn't even dignify PCs with names. But the crew of the PC 477 did. They called her "Peter Charlie."Art Bell (1919 - 1988) was a respected Los Angeles attorney. He played baseball at UCLA with Jackie Robinson, saw action in World War II, and graduated from the USC Law School in 1951. His son, James Scott Bell, aided in the writing and editing of the book.

Splinter Fleet
Splinter Fleet

Author: Theodore R Treadwell

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2013-11-12

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1612513646

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Hastily built at the onset of World War II to stop German U-boats from taking their toll on Allied shipping, the 110-foot wooden subchasers were the smallest commissioned warships in the U.S. Navy, yet they saw as much action as ships ten times their size. In every theater of war these “expendable” workhorses of the fleet escorted countless convoys of slow-moving ships through submarine-infested waters, conducted endless mind-numbing antisubmarine patrols, and were used in hundreds of amphibious operations. Some subchasers worked as gunboats to search for and destroy enemy barges. Others rescued downed airmen and retrieved drowning soldiers under heavy enemy fire. During the German occupation of Norway, three American-built subchasers and their Norwegian crews came to be known as “The Shetlands Bus” for their clandestine work as ferries—the only link between Norway and the free world. This book, written by the commander of one of the subchasers, defines their place in naval history and gives readers a taste of life on board the wooden warships. Ringing with authenticity, it describes the cramped quarters and unforgiving seas as well as the tenacious courage and close bonds formed by the men as they sought out the enemy and confronted nature. Long overshadowed by the larger, faster warships and more glamorous PT boats of World War II, subchasers have been mostly forgotten. This work restores the plucky little ships to their hard-earned status as significant members of the fleet.

Sea Bag of Memories
Sea Bag of Memories

Author: William J. Veigele

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780964586741

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Contains original creations of art, humor, cartoons, and crafts of small ship sailors.