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ť Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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ť Topic: SCR 517A radar
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While the board was in transition, Will asked a question on the Small Combatants forum about which boats actually carried the SCR 517A radar. Seeing the board's image of what is usually identified as PT149 mounting this radar, it seemed a natural to share the answer here. Some time back, Tracy White had kindly provided me with the salient pages of the October 1943 Ship Radar Allowances and Installations. According to that document, the unit had been mounted on the following boats as of that date:

127, 128, 131, 132, 135, 136, 142, 143, 145, 149, 151, 152,155, 159, 163, 164, 168, 172, 175-178.

Al Ross

Posted By: alross2 | Posted on: Mar 17, 2013 - 9:02am
Total Posts: 994 | Joined: Oct 30, 2006 - 8:19pm

Nice Al, I'm sure that information will be very useful especially to modelers. Tracy's research is outstanding.

Posted By: Jeff D | Posted on: Mar 17, 2013 - 9:29am
Total Posts: 2206 | Joined: Dec 21, 2006 - 1:30am

So...

Three of the four "Division" leaders...PT 171 (Division "A"), PT 107 (Division "C"), and PT 174 (Division "R") that had "primitive radar sets" during the August 1-2 1943 action in Blackett Straight...had radars other than the SCR-517A?

Only Lt. Brantingham's PT 159, the leader of Division "B," would've had an SCR-517A, according to this list.

Wonder what kind of radars the other Division leaders had that night?

Posted By: Drew Cook | Posted on: Mar 24, 2013 - 4:07pm
Total Posts: 1306 | Joined: Oct 19, 2006 - 10:44am

Here is picture of three Ron Nine boats with early radar installed while still in NYC. Picture Date = December 1942 (Left to Right: PT-151 PT-152 PT-155.)
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Screenshot2013-03-24at75021PM.png[/image]

natsmith

Posted By: Nathaniel Smith | Posted on: Mar 24, 2013 - 5:00pm
Total Posts: 213 | Joined: Jun 25, 2024 - 3:07pm

So...

Three of the four Division leaders...PT 171 (Division A), PT 107 (Division C), and PT 174 (Division R) that had primitive radar sets during the August 1-2 1943 action in Blackett Straight...had radars other than the SCR-517A?

Only Lt. Brantingham's PT 159, the leader of Division B, would've had an SCR-517A, according to this list.

Wonder what kind of radars the other Division leaders had that night?

According to the list, 171 was slated for, but had not yet received, SO. 170 (I'm guessing 107 was a typo) and 174 had SO fitted by the date of the list's publication.

Al Ross

Posted By: alross2 | Posted on: Mar 24, 2013 - 5:35pm
Total Posts: 994 | Joined: Oct 30, 2006 - 8:19pm

Dr. Ross, apparently the typo was the inclusion of "PT 170" in the original after-action report...

According to the official after-action report, "At Close Quarters," and "PT 109 - John F. Kennedy in World War II," during the Blackett Straight/Ferguson Passage action of August 1-2 1943, Division "C" was led by Lt. George Cookman in PT 107 ("Lieutenant Cookman, whose PT 107 had the only radar in his section, had radar contact with two ships"), and consisted of PTs 104, 106, and 108.

PT 170 is nowhere to be found in the lineup of the boats in the four divisions that night in the official after-action report, "At Close Quarters," or "PT 109 - John F. Kennedy in World War II," but is later mentioned, only once, in both the official after-action report and "At Close Quarters," as being paired with PT 172 of Division "A" ("PTs 170 and 172, straddled by gunfire from two destroyers, ran south through Ferguson Passage, where they were ineffectually attacked by four floatplanes, and eventually returned to their patrol station").

It seems that either the the author of the official after-action report (Whizzer White) or whomever typed it up may have mistakenly inserted "PT 170," instead of "PT 163," which was actually the boat paired with the 172. Apparently, the PT 170 mistake carried over to "At Close Quarters."

So my original question stands -- I wonder what kinds of radars three of the four division leaders (PTs 107, 171, and 174) had that night, if they didn't have SCR-517As.

The SCR-517A list has PTs 163 and 172 as having had them, but neither boat was listed as any one of the four division leaders -- with radar -- in the Blackett Straight/Ferguson Passage action of 8/1-2/43.

Posted By: Drew Cook | Posted on: Mar 26, 2013 - 5:28pm
Total Posts: 1306 | Joined: Oct 19, 2006 - 10:44am

Drew,

Thanks for the iinfo. I checked 107 on the list and it had SO installed by the list date. Beyond that, I have no idea.

Al

Posted By: alross2 | Posted on: Mar 26, 2013 - 6:47pm
Total Posts: 994 | Joined: Oct 30, 2006 - 8:19pm

Al; PT 167 should be on that list also. I have a photo of her off Bayonne, with SCR-517A, Dec 1942-Jan 1943 prior to shipment to Panama. I will post it again when I get back from FTX. Take Care, Ted

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Mar 27, 2013 - 12:29pm
Total Posts: 3094 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Al;
Here is the photo of PT 167 RON 10 Dec 1942-Jan 1943 off Bayonne, NJ.This proves she should be on that list.
[image]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/ptboats/Ted%20Walther/PT-167.jpg[/image]
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Mar 29, 2013 - 4:57pm
Total Posts: 3094 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

Just a note for everyone. I found the document Al referenced in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard Radar files (in the WWII filing system radar was bunched in with the code for radio - S67. These were mainly loose documents pertaining to radar from a shipyard point of view). It looked like it was perhaps one of a regular series, but that was the only one present in the box. If anyone is interested in diving further, I'd suggest perhaps either the BuShips S67 files at NARA II (record group 19), or perhaps one of the CNO accessions (Record Group 38) as a place to start.

Tracy White
Researcher@Large

Posted By: Tracy White | Posted on: Mar 31, 2013 - 8:10am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered