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NavSource Online:
Motor Torpedo Boat Photo Archive

C105336
ex-PT-487



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Item - Queen
80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat:

  • Laid down 29 July 1943 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, NJ
  • Launched 21 October 1943
  • Completed 10 January 1944, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FOUR (PTRon 4) under the command of LCDR Francis D. Tappaan, USNR
  • PTRon 4 was the training squadron, based at the MTB Squadrons Training Center, Melville, RI. It was the largest squadron, having a peak of 28 boats in service at one time. When the training center was decommissioned early in
    1946, PTRon 4 was assigned to the Operational Development Force, and based at Solomons, MD
  • Placed out of service 28 January 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register 25 February 1946
  • "Hogan's Goat" was reclassified as a Small Boat, C105336, 27 August 1946
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 56 t.
  • Length 80'
  • Beam 20' 8"
  • Draft 5'
  • Speed 41 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: One 40mm, four 21" Torpedoes and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Three 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PT-486 84k c. October 1945
    PT-487, PT-486, PT-545 in the Welland Canal Between Lakes Erie and Ontario along with three unidentified PT boats and an Ore Carrier    		 .
    There is no DANFS history available for PT-486
    PT Development

    Elco's contribution was the Elcoplane, a series of six steps fastened to the bottom and sides of a standard Elco boat, PT-487. In trials run on 16 December 1943, in Newark Bay for a Board of Inspection and Survey, the 487 made the amazing speeds of 55.95 knots (nearly 65 land-miles per hour) with light loading, and 53.62 knots at full warload. Even more impressive was the maneuverability at high speed. "Running at top speed," the Board reported, "threw helm hard over and reversed course. Turning both right and left, the boat turned 180 degrees in about 6 seconds, and completed the turn with sternway on, At all times during the turn, the boat banked inboard. The performance in this maneuver was spectacular."

    The Board's report was so enthusiastic that the Bureau of Ships directed the Supervisor of Shipbuilding at Bayonne [NJ] to expediate procurement of Elcoplane kits to send squadrons in the operating areas for conversion of their boats. This project died aborning, however, on receipt of a report from Commander Motor Torpedo Squadron 29, four of whose boats, PT's 560 to 563, ran from New York to Miami with Elcoplanes.

    These boats demonstrated that the Elcoplanes, ideal for high-speed operation, caused an increase of 25 percent in fuel consumption and 75 percent in lubricating oil consumption at cruising speeds. Also, at cruising speeds, the boats tended to root into heavy seas, steering was more difficult, and acceleration dropped off. The planes on the boats' sides warped and the supporting brackets cracked and loosened. The boats became sensitive to added weights and correct trim was an absolute neccessity.

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