It's amazing, what we can do, when we work together with focus. Check out those lovely Packard V-12s and the conclusion of part III, where brand new PTs fly under the Bayonne bridge and into Long Island Sound for trials. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN47z3n52-c&NR=1]PT Boats - Giant Killers part 3 of 3 - YouTube[/ame]
"They Were Expendable" "PT109" "McHales Navy" well.... ya gotta love Ensign Parker... Amazing what you can sink with a big plywood boat with 3 big engines and 4 Mark 8 torpedoes! Not to mention those brave SOB's that manned the boat! +1 Hats off!
If I ever win the lottery—not likely, since I don't play—I'll restore an 80' ELCO PT and run it up and down the San Francisco Bay. When a boat is being assembled the narrator mentions the laminated wood turrets for the .50s on either side of the chart house. Something along the lines of, "deflecting wind and spray...but bullets are another matter entirely..." No armor plating there, none at all.
