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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

HM MTB-267
ex-PT-18


PT-18 served the Navies of the United States and Great Britian
70' Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 31 May 1940 as PT-18 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 9 December 1940
  • Completed 17 December 1940
  • Placed in service 30 December 1940 and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO (MTBRon 2) under the command of Lt. Comdr. Earl S. Caldwell, USN
  • MTBRon 2 tested the first 70' Elco boats in Florida and Caribbean waters in the winter of 1940/41
  • Transferred to the Royal Navy 11 March 1941
  • Commissioned HM MTB-267, 24 February 1942 and assigned to the 10th MTB Flotilla
  • Damaged in heavy weather on passage from Benghazi, Lybia to Malta. Sunk by British forces 2 April 1943.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 40 t.
  • Length 70'
  • Beam 19' 11"
  • Draft 4' 6"
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 15
  • Armament: Two twin .50 cal. Browning M2 machine guns in Dewandre turrets and four 18" torpedoes
    MTB-267 added two .303 cal. twin Mk1 Lewis machine guns, one 20mm mount and two depth charges in addition to replacing the 18" torpedoes with two 21" torpedoes)
  • Propulsion: Three 3,600shp Packard V12 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-18 103k Recruiting Poster featuring Motor Torpedo Boat (PT) commander Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley:
    This 1942 poster's text reads, "Ouch! The Japs don't like mosquitoes--especially the PT variety, with men like Lieutenant Bulkeley at the wheel and a picked crew shooting "stingers" into the sides of their warships and merchantmen. If you like to be where the attack starts -- there's a place for you right in the U.S. Navy. Go to your nearest Navy Recruiting Station today!" The poster includes photographs of Lt. Bulkeley and a PT Boat. The latter, shown flying a Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO flag at its masthead, is probably PT-18 (an ELCO 70-foot type), photographed in 1941.
    Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 86429     		Naval History and Heritage Command
    PT-18 953k Side and deck plan
    Drawing from "Allied Coastal Forces of World War II: Vol. 2" by John Lambert and Al Ross     		Robert Hurst
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-18
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Motor Torpedo Boat (PT) Photo Index
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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