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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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 Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:33 am Post subject: "Veteran patrol boat to head back to the US" |
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Nice to read this report that PCF 24 is making its way home...
| Quote: | Veteran patrol boat to head back to the US
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
One of two patrol boats donated to Malta when George Borg Olivier was still Prime Minister, is about to head back to the US to become a memorial.
P-24, along with P-23, was donated to the then Malta Land Force by the US government in 1971.
The two small inshore patrol boats became the work horses of the Maritime Squadron and were only retired once four new Austal patrol boats were commissioned last year.
The Swifts were built at the time of the Vietnam war, with the two vessels used in Malta having started their life as training vessels.
Vietnam veterans, members of the American Swift Boat Sailors' Association, visited Malta two years ago and said the Malta Swifts were the last two still in service, out of hundreds that were built.
P-24 is expected to be exhibited at San Diego Maritime Museum in California. It will be shipped on a US Navy vessel.
The AFM will retain P-23 as a memorial to the seven soldiers and policemen killed in a fireworks explosion aboard more than 25 years ago.
Times of Malta |
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mtboone
Founder
Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 470
Location: Kansas City, MO.
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| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:04 pm Post subject: Veteran patrol boat to head back to the US |
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Well, there still is a legal hang up which prevented it from being brought back to the US last week. Members of the SBSA are now going through the paper work to get it straightened out for the next Lift of Convenience on a Navy ship. Hopefully in the next few months it will be on its way home to be refurbished and used for tours by the San Diego Maritime Museum in the harbor in view of where we trained so many years ago. 
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Terry Boone PCF 90
Qui Nhon 68-69 |
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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:16 am Post subject: |
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Let's hope the boats will be restored and maintained.
It's a sad chapter to realize there is only one fully operational WW2 PT Boat in the world and it took many years of restoration to return it to it's Glory days.
http://www.savetheptboatinc.com/
I recently toured the boat and gained a whole new respect for the crews that served on them.
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:50 am Post subject: |
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Two of my mother's brothers served on PT Boats during WW II, one even somewhere in or near the Aleutians for a while. If I recall one of the stories correctly, one of my uncles had 4 boats blown out from under him during one long campaign, and I believe even the boat that rescued the crew from the 4th loss was badly damaged or possibly sunk as well. My uncle received severe back injuries but recovered enough not to have to use a wheelchair.
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