mburnamfink's review against another edition
3.0
Official histories are frequently that. Official, bureaucratic, and basically tedious. Bulkley's account of PT boats, prepared for the US Navy in 1946 and released for a mass publication in 1962 after a PT boat skipper became President of the United States, is a decent example of the type. It's a comprehensive list of campaigns that the PTs were involved in across the world, from the Pacific to the Mediterranean to the Aleutian (and early model boats lacked heaters). Actions get a few paragraphs: boat number, skipper, any crew injured or killed, targets likely destroyed. It gets repetitive fast. A few sections quoting the men involved on their narrative of the action liven up the book, but those are few and far between.
This is a shame, because the PT boats deserve a book as thrilling as their actions. Nothing embodies the words of US Navy legend John Paul Jones, "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harms way" than the PTs. A handful of men, under the command of at most a lieutenant, the PTs bristled with automatic weapons which they used in slashing attacks against enemy barges, lighters, planes, and destroyers, and used stealth and subterfuge to survive against far superior naval and air force. A routine patrol could turn into disaster in seconds in so many ways, from grounding on a coral reef under a shore battery, to friendly fire, to stumbling into an enemy convoy and having to escape under a hastily laid shore barrage. PT boats were based out of temporary facilities, constantly moving up support the frontline, with bases offering a respite from combat along with attempts to keep the high-performance boats and torpedoes running on shoestring logistics. Despite the fact that Bulkley served as a PT commander, this official history is almost free of color or excitement. It feels like government-issued metal desks, not a life at sea.
This is a shame, because the PT boats deserve a book as thrilling as their actions. Nothing embodies the words of US Navy legend John Paul Jones, "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harms way" than the PTs. A handful of men, under the command of at most a lieutenant, the PTs bristled with automatic weapons which they used in slashing attacks against enemy barges, lighters, planes, and destroyers, and used stealth and subterfuge to survive against far superior naval and air force. A routine patrol could turn into disaster in seconds in so many ways, from grounding on a coral reef under a shore battery, to friendly fire, to stumbling into an enemy convoy and having to escape under a hastily laid shore barrage. PT boats were based out of temporary facilities, constantly moving up support the frontline, with bases offering a respite from combat along with attempts to keep the high-performance boats and torpedoes running on shoestring logistics. Despite the fact that Bulkley served as a PT commander, this official history is almost free of color or excitement. It feels like government-issued metal desks, not a life at sea.
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