PT-617

PT-617 sits at Battleship Cove as a rare survival of a whole category of combat craft. As the only remaining 80-foot Elco-type PT boat, it embodies the standard U.S. Navy motor torpedo boat of the Second World War, the same class as PT-109. The Elco design was a study in lightweight, expendable engineering: double-diagonal mahogany planking over spruce and oak framing, fabric and marine glue between layers, and huge supercharged Packard 4M-2500 gasoline engines forcing the wooden hull to more than 40 knots. In Fall River, the vessel is presented in restored World War II configuration by PT Boats, Inc., which acquired her in 1979 after postwar civilian service as a yacht and workboat. Armament densities on such hulls were extreme—torpedoes, automatic cannon, machine guns, rockets, and depth charges crowded a platform displacing roughly 55 tons fully loaded—illustrating how the Navy tried to turn speed and volume of fire into tactical advantage in confined waters. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989, PT-617 offers a concentrated look at small-boat warfare, material improvisation, and the preservation of fragile, combat-derived wooden structures in a harsh maritime environment.