In 1997, a group of men gathered at
a small wood shop on Foucher Street, just yards from the Mississippi River in
New Orleans. They had decided that the city of New Orleans had gone long enough
without fully recognizing the achievements of Andrew Jackson Higgins during the
Second World War. They wanted to build a
reminder of what Higgins had created and how he contributed to the war effort
and the city of New Orleans. This group
eventually built a Higgins LCVP from the ground up, and completely restored a
Higgins LCP(L) to its war-time condition. The Higgins Boat Society, the
forerunner to the PT-305 restoration crew, prided itself on completely
restoring the landing craft to their original conditions, using the same
materials and techniques as often as possible. The Higgins boat society was
just getting warmed up when it decided to restore a Higgins PT boat.
The Patrol Torpedo boat served in
the US Navy during the Second World War. The concept behind this weapon is a
light and fast craft, capable of delivering a knockout blow with a torpedo to
any size capital ship. Their initial role as a torpedo delivery platform remained
throughout the war; however, the boats began to encounter ships that were not
suitable torpedo targets. PT Squadrons adapted to this role by increasing their
armament, becoming fast gunboats. Pound for pound, PT boats became some of most
heavily armed ships during World War II. Their impact was felt from the
sudden jerk of a torpedo explosion to the violence of a high-speed gun run.
Working in close conjunction with
the National World War II Museum the former Higgins Boat Society became the
PT-305 restoration volunteers when the World War II Museum acquired Higgins
built PT-305 in 2007. This is a complex and impressive restoration that could
not take place without the combined efforts of the National World War II Museum
and the remarkable talent and dedication of the PT-305 restoration volunteers.
This webpage will be used to tell the story of
the restoration through the eyes of two of the volunteers on the project. We will look back at the project, and through
the next few posts catch up to the present.
We hope to receive your questions and comments as we share the story of
restoring PT-305. 
This is the crew in about 2010. Photo Copyright of Ron Moranto.
Post by Josh and Kali
No comments:
Post a Comment