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Melville Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center

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Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center
Part of US Navy
Melville, Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay.[1]
MTB Training Center Melvill (MTBSTC) in 1943
Coordinates41°35′26″N 71°16′59″W / 41.590639°N 71.282972°W / 41.590639; -71.282972
TypeMilitary training base
Site information
Owner United States
Controlled by United States Navy
Site history
Built1942
Built byUS Navy
In use1942-1945
FateClosed November 1945
Demolished1947
EventsPT Boat Training for World War II [2]
Melville Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center in 1942

Melville Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center (MTBSTC) was a PT boat Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center found on February 17, 1942, by the United States Navy for World War II. The MTB Training Center Melvill was at Melville, Rhode Island on Narragansett Bay.[3] MTB Training Center Melvill nickname was Spect Tech after its first commander, Lieutenant commander William C. Specht.[4][5]

History

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MTB Training Center Melvill training started in March 1942 with 51 officers and 177 enlisted men. This first Training was with ten PT boats of MTB Squadron Four using Elco Naval Division built 77-footers boat: PT-59 to PT-68. The men lived and worked in quonset huts. MTB Training Center Melvill had buildings for 34 classrooms, PT maintenance, and 197 huts for living quarters. At is peak it had 90 officers and 860 sailors in a three-month training time spans. By March 1945 the MTB Training Center Melvill trained 1,797 officers and 11,668 enlisted men, with 28 PT boats. The 28 PT boats included: Elco 80-foot boats, Higgins 78-foot boat, Huckins 78-foot boats, and 70-foot Higgins Hellcat boats.[2] A the MTB Training Center Melvill men practiced PT Boat formation and maneuvers; PT repairs and live fire gunnery. The Japanese called PT boat Devil Boats, the Navy called them the Mosquito Fleet, after their logo. At the MTB Training Center Melvill, was the Motor Torpedo Boat Repair Training Unit (MTBRTU). Motor Torpedo Boat Repair Training Unit was staffed by 30 officers and 950 enlisted men. Motor Torpedo Boat Repair Training Unit trained men on repair of the three 1,500-horsepower Packard 4M-2500 engines built by Packard. MTB Training Center Melvill also had a Naval Fuel Depot with high-octane fuel for the boats. Also by the Training Base was a Naval Net Layer Depot. Near by on Goat Island was the Newport Torpedo Station, which supplied the PT-Boats and submarines. The Navy, by this end of the war had 44 PT boat squadrons, generally comprising 12 boats. All told, the Navy commissioned over 650 PT boats by the end of the war. Gunnery training at the Anti-Aircraft Center took place a Price's Neck on Newport's Ocean Drive. After the war most PT boats were scrapped due to the lack of need and the vast fuel use of the three engines, thus the base was closed under the command of Naval Station Newport in November 1945. The site was Lovell Hospital during the Civil War and in the 1890s it was the Bradford Coaling Station.[5] The Torpedo Station closed in 1951.[6][7][8] Today part of the base is the Melville Marina and Safe Harbor New England Boatworks and fuel depot.[9]

Notable events

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  • In 1943, a PT boat launched a torpedo that went off course and sank a freighter anchored off the Quonset Point Naval Air Station.[6]
  • PT-200 hit an submerged object and sank, while patrolling Rhode Island coastal waters.[6]
  • In 1942, PT-59 launched a torpedo in error, it traveled seven miles and hit the cargo ship USS Capella at Jamestown, Rhode Island she was repaired and returned to service. Capella was beached to stop her from sinking.
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  • Mk 13 torpedo launch from PT boat in 1943
    Mk 13 torpedo launch from PT boat in 1943
  • Map of MTBSTC, US Navy June 30, 1945
    Map of MTBSTC, US Navy June 30, 1945
  • PT-140 underway off Melville in 1943
    PT-140 underway off Melville in 1943
  • PT Boat Seal
    PT Boat Seal
  • PT-32
    PT-32
  • Mosquitoes, dashing through the seas at express train speed
    Mosquitoes, dashing through the seas at express train speed
  • Packard Marine Engine M4 2500 at Battleship Cove in Falls River, Massachusetts
    Packard Marine Engine M4 2500 at Battleship Cove in Falls River, Massachusetts

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to PT boats.

References

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  1. ^ "Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center installation map, 1945 Jun 30 | U.S. Naval War College Archives". usnwcarchives.org.
  2. ^ a b "PT Boats of World War II". pt-king.gdinc.com.
  3. ^ "Melville Rhode Island 1943 stock video footage and royalty free HD video clips and photos.(page 1)". www.criticalpast.com.
  4. ^ "Knights of the Sea | quahog.org". quahog.org.
  5. ^ a b "Portsmouth Places: Melville and PT Boats". February 14, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Landrigan, Leslie (April 21, 2019). "Rhode Island's Little Annapolis: The PT Boat Training Center at Melville". New England Historical Society.
  7. ^ MTBSTC: Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center, March 1, 2011 by Charles B Jones
  8. ^ "PT Boats". navy.mil US Navy.
  9. ^ "Safe Harbor New England Boatworks". Safe Harbor Marinas.
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