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PT-34
  
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PT 34 was one of the 77 foot ELCO boats in the first motor torpedo squadron ("RON") 3, (PTs 31 - 35, 41) stationed in the Phillipines under the command of Lt. John Bulkeley at the time of Pearl Harbor, and the onset of the Japanese assault on the Phillipines. RON 3 boats were the US Navy presence in the Phillipines after the withdrawal of larger vessels and made a valiant stand against superior forces. They evacuated high-ranking American staff from Corregidor to Mindanao, a 560 mile trip, on March 11, 1942, from where a B-17 took MacArthur to Australia on March 17. MacArthur traveled on the 41; Admiral Rockwell on the 34.

All the boats of the first RON 3 were lost by August 1942. Some, like the 34 were lost to enemy aircraft; most were scuttled or burned to prevent capture upon the surrender of the Phillipines.

  
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Dynamite Cruiser Vesuvius  
PT-34 page  
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PT-109 page  
 
 

 

The 77 foot ELCO boats were 77 feet long with a beam of 19' 11" a draft of 4' 6" a weight of 46 tons. They were powered by three Packard (Allison) 1200 horsepower V12 engines and carried a crew of 10.

  
           
  This model was scratch build from plans by Al Ross, Jr at a scale of 1:32 as a radio control model. Al Ross, Jr's father, Al Ross, was a gunner aboard the PT-34 and was wounded in the air attack which sank her. He finished the war a POW.  
           
           
 
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
         
  Construction details for this model:  
 
Setting up the bulkheads in plywood. Bulkheads cut directly from lines on plan. this model was very lightly constructed, because of the weight of motor and battery.    
  Keel, stringers and deck in place, the hull is then double planked with balsa, the direction of the layers perpendicular to the other.  
         
 
Cabin and deck fittings fabricated from balsa.