PT 95 at speed, July 1942
Of all the motor torpedo boats manufactured for the United States Navy (not counting those made for other countries under the Lend-Lease program), the lion's share came from the Bayonne-based Electric Boat Company of New Jersey and Louisiana's Higgins Industries of New Orleans. There was however, a third builder--the Huckins Yacht Corporation--whose contributions to the PT service are often overlooked. The firm produced only eighteen PT's for the Navy, none of which ever saw combat; and these boats spent their entire wartime service either training PT officers and men off the United States east coast, or patrolling backwater areas around Panama or the islands of Hawaii. If the 78-foot PT from Higgins is considered (by devotees of the Elco 80-foot MTB) the red-headed stepchild of the American motor torpedo boat program, then the 78-footer produced by Huckins must be the half-forgotten second cousin. 
Established in Jacksonville, Florida in 1928 by an acid-tounged, idiosyncratic, Scotch-drinking Bostonian named Frank Pembroke Huckins (right), the firm that bore his name was well known in the pleasure-craft community as an excellent designer and able builder of yachts for those with the deep pockets to afford one. The Huckins firm came late to the PT boat-building business--not receiving an invitation to the Navy’s original torpedo-boat design contest in 1938. But despite being ignored by the naval powers-that-be, in October 1940 Frank Huckins button-holed Capt. James M. Irish--then chief of design of the Navy's Bureau of Ships--and made his pitch: that his yard would build a fast seagoing PT-boat for the USN, provided two conditions were met: the Navy loan him the engines to power his prospective MTB, and their promise to inspect the boat once construction was complete.
Once the promised powerplants arrived at his boatyard, Huckins and his team quickly went to work on the boat they designated MT-72. The new boat was based on Huckins' patented “Quadraconic” hullform design, with the dimensions measuring out at 72 feet long overall, with a beam of sixteen feet, five inches. Four Packard 4M twelve-cylinder engines, feeding from tanks carrying 3,430 gallons of 100-octane gasoline, would give 4,800 horsepower for a top speed of over 40 knots. Prospective armament was to be two 21-inch torpedoes in tubes, one depth charge rack with seven 300-pound depth charges or one smoke generator, and two .50 caliber machine guns in two turrets. By Huckins' own admission, he spent “91-hour weeks on the drawing board” designing and re-designing the boat; and upon its completion Huckins took MT-72 out to sea off the Florida coast for trials. Huckins later said: “I spent my time crawling around in bilges watching fastenings or framing crack; then dragging what was left of me back to all-night sessions on the drawing board, for design and re-design.”
Above and below: MT-72 at speed. (From "The Rudder" magazine, October 1941)
Once they felt their new boat passed muster, Mr. Huckins and his team delivered it to the Navy on June 30, 1941, who promptly gave it the designation PT 69. That July, the Navy commenced a series of service tests with PT designs from various builders; along with Huckins' PT 69, the other entrants were PT's 20, 30, 31, and 33 from the Elco Boatworks; Higgins Industries presented PT’s 70, PT 6, and MRB-2 (a boat built for the British) for evaluation; while the U.S. Navy was represented by PT 8 from the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The purpose of these tests (nicknamed the “Plywood Derbies”) were to help the Navy determine the optimal characteristics desired in a motor torpedo boat, primarily displacement, dimensions, armament, speed, endurance, and construction.
In the Navy’s eyes, PT 69 performed fairly well; even though the Elco boats were the winners regarding speed (45.3 knots) PT 69 had a top speed of 43.8 knots, a smaller turning circle, and less of a propensity to pound over the waves than the Elcos. But on the debit side, the Huckins PT had a tendency to list toward the outside of a tight turn (other boats heeled toward the inside). Some of the naval officers observing the trials feared this action would cause broaching possibilities in a heavy sea. Another trial was held in August, but shortly after starting her run, PT 69 damaged her bilge stringers and was forced to withdraw.
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MT 72 in Navy hands as PT 69, July 1941. (National Archives)
Despite the failure of the 69 boat to complete the August run, the USN awarded Huckins a contract for eight craft of slightly modified design. The number of engines was reduced from four to three, while the dimensions were altered to a final length of seventy-eight feet and a beam of nineteen feet, allowing the PT to accommodate two (and later, later four) 21-inch torpedoes, two twin .50-caliber machine-gun mounts, a 20mm on the fantail, and eight depth charges. The first finished boats were delivered to the Navy in July 1942.
PT 95, July 1942. (National Archives)
None of these boats ever saw combat. Three boats (PT’s 95, 96, and 97) were placed into service with MTB Squadron Four at the Melville PT training center in July and August 1942, and were used to instruct prospective PT officers and sailors in the finer points of torpedo-boat operation, maintenance, and tactics. The remaining five (PT’s 98-102) were delivered in September and November of 1942 and placed in service with MTB Squadron Fourteen, commissioned in Jacksonville on February 17, 1943. Squadron Fourteen would spend its wartime career guarding the Panama Canal from the spring of 1943 until the unit’s decommissioning in September 1944. The five PT’s were later shipped to Melville, rejoining the other three Huckins boats in Squadron Four.
The Navy later awarded Huckins another contract for ten more boats, delivered between February and September 1943. All were placed in service in MTB Squadron Twenty-Six, commissioned in March 1943. The squadron was slated for permanent assignment to the Hawaiian Sea Frontier, based at Pearl Harbor and Midway Island. And like their sisters in Squadrons Four and Fourteen, these boats would not see action against the enemy.
The photographs on the next page show several PT’s under construction in the spring of 1942 at the Huckins yard in Jacksonville. The Huckins shop never received (like Elco and Higgins) any governmental support in expanding its facilities--which in turn had a serious effect on the company’s output. Each boat produced by the Huckins yard, painstakingly constructed by hand, took approximately one month to build, whereas the Elco and Higgins plants, both geared for mass production, could produce between seven to ten PT's per month. And despite not having the opportunity to distinguish itself in combat, the rugged dependability and sailing comfort of the Huckins PT would prove itself--their crews loved their smooth ride, compared to that of other PT's; while the rigors of constant ready-boat duty and fleet training operations carried out by Squadron Twenty-Six in the waters around Hawaii and Midway amply demonstrated the soundness of the Huckins design.
Sources
Freidman, Norman, U.S. Small Combatants, Including PT Boats, Subchasers, and the Brown-Water Navy: An Illustrated Design History, Naval Institute Press, Washington DC, 1987
Sorgel, Matt, Frank Pembroke Huckins: Jacksonville's PT Boat Genius, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Fla. Feb. 12, 2012.
(www.jacksonville.com)
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