Question about PT boat bases in the Pacific

In "In Harm's Way" John Wayne's estranged son was a briefly a pt boat officer.

The photo section of this website:

http://www.pt-king.gdinc.com/

contains some photos of actual pt bases that you might find helpful.

 

Another movie to look at for Ideas is PT 109. It shows up Base details including the T Jetty. The movie also depicts an Airborne Attack on the PT Base. From what I remember, it is well shot in the Pacific and gives you a rough Idea for details that you might be looking for....Cheers Mark

I don't remember ever seeing this one!  Thought I had seen them all.  Now I gotta go find this one!

I think that this is the movie that is being referred to:

Robert Montgomery was, in actuality, a WWII PT commander and took over directing this movie when John Ford became ill. It is said that he did such a good job of directing, that he got other directing jobs later. The movie won two Oscars.

Wasn't Robert Mitchum in that movie with John Wayne.  I believe Wayne was a Cruiser Division Commander at Guadalcanal and Mitchum's son was a PT Boat Commander in the Gaudalcanal area.  The name of the movie is "In Harm's Way"

oddmanrush, HI ; I think also that you would like to know that the boat in Mc HALES NAVY was a redo of a vosper boat. The boat in question drew 5 1/2' versus 6.2 feet for our ELCOS. The BUSH port was a likely spot well in cover, sometimes not, but, the Idea was to be able to get the boats underway quickly. See if you can get a copy of the movie JOHN WAYNE was in that dealt with P.T.s, the pier in there was as close as you,ll get.Not to far from shore, but in deep enough water to put the pedal to the metal(wood?) as fast as humanly possible. I saw the P.T. In FALL RIVER ,MASSACHUSSETTS and it,s a good source of info. Contact the FALL RIVER P.T.MUSEUM and I am sure they,ll be glad to help. I hope this gives you some help.    tankerbuilder

Well, a PT drew about 6 feet in draft, soooooooooooooo - based on that, you've got know how quickly the shoreline fell away where the boats were based or did the Navy dredged it out more for them?

Garth 

 

Al, thanks for the response! I had actually seen that picture while researching this but I couldn't figure out if that was where the boat had been moored or if that is where it was beached after the attack. If it was moored there, I certainly don't see any dock or any where the crew could disembark.

tucchase, I do remember that TV show but haven't seen it in years and I can't say anything for its accuracy. A simple dock in the shape of a T wouldn't be hard to build. I'm intending on this being a small vignette so I'm not too concerned about its distance from the beach or anything. However, I am intending on placing an in-flight Oscar in the scene with it so any measures taken to disguise the base from aerial spotters may be significant.

I know what I've read states only that the base was attacked by 18 Japanese planes and doesn't get much more specific. So I may be taking a few liberties with placing an Oscar in the scene. Oh well, modeling is for enjoyment so I don't wanna get too hung up on details. Thanks for the pointers guys! I'll keep you posted as I go along.

Jon

Does anyone out there remember the old TV show McHale's Navy?  Any idea how close their base looked to the real thing?  Maybe they had a former PT Boater on staff as consultant.  If I remember right, the dock was a simple "T" with the boat docked alongside the top of the "T" so it could be put in action quickly.  The beach area leading to the dock always seemed a little too open though.  Too far for the crew to run to quickly, and the boat too much in the open for aerial spotters to see.  But it was TV afterall.

Here's a shot of 117 with her bow blown out.  Photo quality is not the best, but it will give you an idea of the surroundings.  This photo is in Bulkley's At Close Quarters, published by the GPO in 1962.

Al Ross