Hi, thanks a lot for the interesting photo. I think the photo may be mirrored because the SOE radar mast is on the starboard side whereas these were always on the port side. This particular boat looks more similar to the Jacob's Vospers than to the Annapolis ones in that it seems to have twin Vicker...

Hi welcome aboard . Of course we would love to see your photos !

Regards,

Arjan

Hi Peter, you are quite right, I jumped at the wrong conclusion. MTB 290 never had an Oerlikon so the Breda gun was not an exchange but rather an addition to its fire power. I failed to read this info carefully, it just says "one 20 mm mount" and the name Oerlikon isn't mentioned. http://www.navsour...

Thanks Peter for the interesting info. On the subject of Breda guns, there's one pic in the IWM archive showing MTB 290 (if I read the number correctly) off Brindisi. It also has a Breda gun on its foredeck : http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/514/media-514085/large.jpg?action=e&cat=photographs SP...

Once you know what to look for, these rocket storage boxes are indeed easy to recognise. A rescue launch with 2" rocket flares at Den Helder in 1945 :



Source: Dutch Photo Museum

Arjan

Thanks a lot for your extensive reply.

Kind regards,

Arjan

I wonder how/when these flares were used. I haven't managed to find much on the internet, I assume they were used to illuminate targets but I would appreciate some further info. Apparently the flare rockets were sometimes stored in a rack on the (port?) side(s) of the wheelhouse : http://media.iwm.o...

The "large Flak lighter" mentioned in this wartime activities account turns out to be German Marinefährprahm F 345 : Wartime Activities 30/03/43 Transferred to Royal Navy under lend lease Transported from the United States to the Mediterranean in an LST arriving in Oran, Algeria. Passage through Alg...

I think I found some colour footage of MTB 298 (that is, if I read the number correctly) : http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/ArjanWiskerke/Annapolis/65675060809_000575_3_zpsqv6i3ss7.jpg Source of the still : http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675060809_United-States-Patrol-Torpedo-boat_shell...

Two pics of American PT boats at Leghorn, the first seems to show the jetty the British officers posed on.




Arjan

Thanks Peter, a really nice picture. Here are two Jacob's adverts from a wartime American yachting magazine. I like the strange mix of propaganda, patriotism and blatant commercialism which is so typical of these American ads. Pity the images are not clearer : http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu27...

Thanks a lot for your interesting contribution Peter, I love the painting of MTB 410. Needless to say, I would appreciate any further pics of or info on the Jacobs Vospers from the 28th MTB Flotilla. On the subject of radar equipment, I don't know if you know the IWM interview with Lieutenant G.P.H....

Thanks, on closer inspection the number on the right hand Elco MTB does indeed seem to be 315 and not 313 as I assumed earlier. By the way, some time ago I tried to find out which German "Flak Lighters" were actually sunk during operations MTB 378 was involved in. These two German Marinefährpräme we...

Thanks, the last pic you posted gives the best clues to identify the various vessels. From the right to the left : MTB 420 (78' Higgins), MTB 313 (77' Elco), MTB 400 (Jacobs Vosper with Radar mast on the port side), behind MTB 400 probably MTB 401 (also Jacobs Vosper with Radar mast on the port side...

Thanks Stephen, I have pored over the two pics with the posing Navy officers but I can't make heads or tails of them. The pics are a bewildering mix of Higgins and Vosper MTBs (perhaps even an Elco 77 footer among these and I'm not really familiar with the anatomy of Higgins and Elco MTBs) and many ...