Uncle Sam's Expendable Navy

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The Elco 77-footer saw more action against enemy

warships than any other type. Yet it remains virtually unknown and unheralded compared to later PT designs

The story of American PT-boats fighting the Japanese in the Pacific during World War Two, is a well-known chapter in naval history. The notoriety the boats achieved during, and then long after WWII can be traced to a number of sources. The dashing courage of the men who, while skipping from wave to wave at 70 knots, had the audacity to challenge the Imperial Japanese Fleet (and claim results) most certainly caught the public's eye thanks to the efforts of romantic writers who could find little else to be enthusiastic …