![]() They produced, on average, one PT boat every 60 hours. At the height of its PT boat production, Elco employed more than 3,000 men and women working three shifts a day six days a week. Over the next two years, PT-9 and subsequent Elco-improved PTs won a series of comparison “plywood derbies” In 1939 Elco doubled the size of its plant and tripled its capacity in order to build PTs. Dubbed PT-9, America’s first PT boat was subjected to numerous sea trials, alone and against other PTs in prototype stages. Higgins built 199 or 205 PTs, depending on which figures are used.Įlco answered the call to design a PT boat by purchasing a new Scott-Paine motor torpedo boat from England and having it shipped to Electric Boat’s Groton plant. By the end of World War II, 399 Elco PTs had been built. ![]() Two basic and distinctly different types of PT Boats were built for combat with the predominant PT, the 80-foot long "Elco" boat, and the slightly smaller 78-foot long "Higgins” boat. Navy standardized the design and construction of the PT boat. Eventually Elco (Elco Motor Yachts) with a factory located in Bayonne, New Jersey and Higgins Industries in New Orleans, Louisiana were the dominant two builders with Elco producing the largest number. entry into the war, there were roughly a dozen separate manufacturers of PT boats from the United States, Canada and Great Britain supplying the US Navy. Prizes were awarded for the winning PT boat designs. In 1938 the US Navy sponsored a design competition to small boat builders with a challenge to create a highly mobile attack boat. From Design Competition to Home Front Production
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