Friday, March 02, 2007

The PT Boat That Was Half Submarine!


The exploits of the courageous officers and men of the Navy's PT Boat Squadrons will endure as one of the most inspiring chapters in all American naval history.

For example, a PT Boat skipper, home on furlough, told of this amazing incident when
he visited the Packard plant recently . . .

"With a man-sized hole smashed in our hull, we took on a lot of water in no time at all.
"But those Packard engines, submerged until only the spark plugs and carburetors were above water, pulled us more than a mile to shore.

"Afterward,” he grinned, "the officer in charge of the engines said that if we'd gone much farther that way, he'd have had to duck his head under water to shift gears!

"The hard-hitting PT boats, powered by the engines you build, have been and will continue to be one of the most valuable weapons of this war," the lieutenant added.

Stories like this . . . told by PT men who continually "bet their lives" on the performance of these precision-built Packard marine engines . . . make us proud of being able to justify their faith so completely and so consistently.
This Ad appeared in The Saturday Evening Post 4 Aug 1945
Artist is Ben Stahl. Read more about Ben Stahl HERE.