| Grumbling ominously, PT 728 shouldered through 4-foot seas Saturday as if on patrol in the South Pacific more than 60 years ago.
Aboard the restored World War II vessel were 27 passengers, many of them veterans of the war drifting into history — PT 728 is one of the few PT boats still afloat and the only one in military configuration operating as a passenger vessel.
"It's been a long time since I've been on one of these," said George Woleck, 82, of Cape Coral, who served in the Pacific aboard PT 484. "So I decided I wanted to come back."
With Capt. Kelly George at the helm Saturday, PT 728 made a voyage from its home port in Key West to Naples, where it picked up its passengers, and then headed to Rumrunners in Cape Coral.
Patrol Torpedo boats were feared and hated by the enemy in every theater of World War II. The Japanese called them devil boats; Germans called them giant killers.
These vessels of the "Mosquito Fleet" were small, fast, heavily armed boats operating mostly at night, landing spies on enemy shorelines, running reconnaissance missions, laying smoke screens, leading beach invasions and attacking enemy ships many times their size.
PT 728 was built in 1945 and scheduled for delivery under the lend-lease program to the Soviet Union. But the war ended before the boat could be delivered, so the Navy auctioned it off.
After the boat changed hands several times, retired New York attorney Rob Iannucci bought and restored it — Iannucci also owns and is restoring PT 615 and PT 459.
"PT boats had such a single purpose and a great history," he said. "They were the hot rods of the fleet, and the all-volunteer crews were the cowboys."
These days the boat is docked by the Conch Republic Seafood Co. in Key West and can take 49 passengers on history tours.
Today, PT 728 will be the centerpiece of a birthday party for Iannucci's father, Ted Iannucci, a World War II Navy veteran, who will be 91.
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Among those on board Saturday was North Fort Myers resident Bill Cobleigh, president of the PT Boat Association.
Cobleigh wasn't an actual PT boat crew member; he was assigned to a base on the island of Tulagi during the battle for Guadalcanal, but he went on many PT boat patrols.
"I rode with them to get off the base: I didn't know any better when I was young and foolish," Cobleigh said. "I was a ship's cook, so they liked to take me out with them because I could make them a big kettle of stew. I was pretty good with a 50-caliber machine gun, too."
Jan Lapham, 63, of Fort Myers, made the trip to honor her late father, Lloyd Lapham, who served aboard PT 504.
"I want to sit in the gunner's seat where my father sat and have my picture taken," she said. "I want to feel what he felt so long ago. He was so proud of serving his country in the war."
Although PT boats can cruise at 40 knots, PT 728 spent most of Saturday running at less than 10; if it had run faster, spray from the rough seas would have drenched the passengers — PT boats were not designed for comfort and get very wet.
As the boat approached Fort Myers Beach and dropped into the lee of Sanibel, the seas smoothed out and George bumped the boat up to 25 knots, giving a real sense of a PT boat's power.
Throughout the trip, it was very easy to visualize a PT boat in action — running full-throttle at enemy ships, firing machine guns, cannon and small arms and releasing torpedoes, all while under heavy fire.
As PT 728 approached Rumrunners in the orange light of the setting sun, Woleck gazed into the distance.
"This was great," he said. "It brings back a lot of memories, a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones. But it makes me feel good. I've been smiling all day." |
