US Patrol Torpedo Boats: World War II (New Vanguard, 148) Paperback – Illustrated, September 23, 2008

Rottman has produced a good book for those interested in PT boat and WWII history. He has also put together a book that is useful for the modeler and those who want to build small PT boats. The drawings and illustrations are wonderful and it was particularly fun to have them on my Kindle Fire and expand them for a close look. This book was so good I bought a real copy as well as had it on my Kindle.

In this Osprey Vanguard title "US Patrol Torpedo Boats: WWII", Gordon Rottman has given us a fairly good overview of this class of American vessels during WWII.The author gives the reader a well-organized and structured volume beginning with the concept of the small, cheap boat capable of delivering a ship-killing torpedo. From there, the book moves on to the design specifications, the different manufacturers. He spends a lot of time on weapons since the armament of these small boats changed greatly as the war went on and their prey changed from destroyers, cruisers and battleships to barges, coastal craft (in the Pacific), E-Boats and F-Lighters (in the Med and Channel).The author gives a good exposition on the units, bases, crew accomodations and a little of the combat history of these units. It's here that the book fails a little. There's no real battle history. There's no first-person accounts of combat or any kind of description of how these boats really performed in battle. I found the artwork to be a little crude, to be frank. There's nothing about the PTs that fought in the Phillipines and got MacArthur out. Nothing even about JFK and PT-109.After the war, these boats were cast aside and since their wood construction didn't allow them to be mothballed they were simply destroyed. There's very little left of them. I attach a pic of a twin-.50 cal mount and tub from a PT-Boat at the Indiana Military Museum in Vincennes, Indiana.There's still a lot of good here for the history buff. The weapons complement evolution is particularly good. But, I wanted more and it didn't deliver in respect of their effectiveness in combat. Still, four stars.

If you are looking for information about PT Boats this is a great resource. I typically do not read or enjoy the "New Vangard" series of books because they are cursory at best. I used this in combination with another book for information for a project to recreate the famous PT Boats!

I bought this book to provide background information for my PT 109 model and it is a good start to understanding the history surrounding the development and action of the "PT" boat during WW2.

Great reference book for a Navy ship that was deemed expendable and consigned to history. Wish the United States had foresight back in the 1940's and made sure there were more examples of this country saving ship saved for postarity.

I love the series. In fact, I probably own about 20 of them. However, the subject is too broad for such a thin book. It barely covers the basics. It's probably a good book for someone who knows next to nothing about PT-boas, but it's not very enlightening for someone who's studied naval warfare for the better part of 50 years. On the plus side, as with all books of the series, the photos and diagrams are excellent.

Prompt delivery. Book was in good shape. No problems.

I highly recommend this book to any Naval enthusiast .The book covers the development of PT boats used by the US Navy, including the Second World War to current time.