Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
t those PT boats were plywood...am I wrong? (again?) :-)

Nope - they were built of plywood. I know they found the wreck a few
years ago, but I've got to believe it's not all that intact after
sixty plus years in the South Pacific waters.

I found this interested web site on PT Boats

Motor Torpedo Boat development had its beginning in the early 1900's
culminating with actual combat use in the first world war. It was the
British, French and Italian navies who led the way in development and
deployment of this specialized craft. However it wasn't until the late
1930's that the U.S. Navy seriously took on the challenge to create
their own Patrol Torpedo Boat program.


The United States originally developed three designs, two from
distinguished naval architects and one from the navy. Eight boats (PT's
1 through 8) were built from these designs. Unfortunately, by the time
most of these boats were built and readied for testing, their design and
performance was found to be inadequate.


In the mean time the Electric Boat Company (ELCO) purchased a British 70
foot boat, designed by Hubert Scott-Paine. This boat was subsequently
shipped to the United States and numbered PT 9 by the Navy. During
preliminary testing the Navy was impressed enough to award ELCO a
contract to build 10 PT boats (PT 10 through 19) based on the PT 9
design. The contract specified some minor to moderate changes however,
which included changes to upper deck structures and replacing the
engines with the newly designed 1200 h.p. Packard Marine engines.

Upon completion of these boats, Navy test trials revealed that these new
boats were too lightly constructed to withstand the rigors of open seas.
It was also realized that the boat's designed length was not sufficient
to utilize the longer U.S. torpedo versus the shorter British torpedo.
Not withstanding the short comings of these initial 70 foot boats, the
Navy was convinced that they had a real need for this type of small
attack craft. It was recommended that the overall length be increased to
accommodate the standard U.S. torpedo and the hull structure be
re-engineered to strengthen it for heavier seas.

ELCO was again awarded a contract to build 24 new boats (PT 20 through
44) with the recommended modifications which increased the length to 77
feet. Unbeknownst to anyone at that time, some of these new PT boats
would actually become the first U.S. PT boats to see action in World War
II (Pearl Harbor & the Philippines).

During the time ELCO was building the new boats, two other companies
involved in boat building were developing PT boats at there own expense,
to compete with ELCO. These two companies were Higgins Industries and
Huckins Yacht Works. Higgins was working on a 76 foot design (PT 70) and
Huckins was developing a 72 foot boat (PT 69). Eventually all three
companies would build PT boats for the war effort. However, just prior
to the start of the war, the Navy Department held competition trials
known as the "Plywood Derby". This was a shakedown to see which company
would be contracted to build the Navy PT boats. At the completion of the
trials the Navy was impressed with all three designs, with the ELCO 77
footer coming out on top, followed by the Higgins 76 footer and Huckins
72 foot boat. Although ELCO came in first, the Navy saw the merits of
the other two boats and decided to offer all three companies contracts.
ELCO received the lion share (385 boats by the end of the war), Higgins
was second (199 boats by the end of the war) and Huckins with the
smallest contract (18 boats by the end of the war).

With contracts awarded, the U.S. Navy's PT Boat program was in full
swing. However Higgins increased its boat length to 78 feet and Huckins
added six feet to its boat length also resulting in a 78 footer. ELCO
would build another 24 boats at 77 feet, and by Navy request, designed a
larger boat of 80 feet in length with a larger capacity to carry more
armament. Thus the ELCO 80 foot PT boat was born and destined to become
the most numerous in service.

Throughout the Second World War the PT boats would see many
transformations enabling the original designs to be modified to fit the
mission they would be called upon to perform. It appears most of the
ELCO designed boats served in the Pacific theater, with a small number
used in the English Channel and Mediterranean Sea. Approximately half of
the Higgins designed boats served in the Mediterranean Sea and English
Channel with the other half serving in the Pacific and Aleutians.
Huckins designed boats were assigned to the training squadron, in
Melville Rhode Island, the Panama Canal zone and Hawaii

http://www.ptboats.org/index.html