Hunters In The Shallows / Curtis L. Nelson / PT-boats / AllWarBooks.com

"Hunters in the Shallows" is the first book to examine the development and role of the small torpedo boat in U.S. naval history from Lt. William Cushing’s heroic Civil War attack on the Confederate ram Albemarle in 1864 in a forerunner of the PT to the type’s zenith in World War II. Moreover, it offers the first critical analysis of the PT's operational value. Author Curtis L. Nelson takes readers inside the scandalous 1939 Elco deal, offers new insight into the roles of U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Douglas MacArthur in PT boat development. A shocking reappraisal of MacArthur's dramatic escape from the Pacific island of Corregidor aboard Lt. John Bulkeley's PT-41 in March 1942. He goes on to reassess the tragic sinking of Lt. John F. Kennedy's famed PT-109 off the Solomon Islands in the summer of 1943. It also contains numerous photos and illustrations tracing American small torpedo boat development from the Civil War through World War II. Sure to be controversial, "Hunters in the Shallows" is a must-read for naval professionals, military historians, and PT boat buffs alike.

New Softbound book with 242 pages, 29 B/W photographs, 4 maps and an index.

Just $21.95

A History of the PT Boat

by Curtis L. Nelson

New Softbound edition

242 pages, 29 B/W photos and 4 maps.

New $21.95

BOOK REVIEWS

"Mr. Nelson has produced a well researched and thoughtful, objective look at a topic that has been of great interest to me (Vietnam-era Navy Vet). This book is more of a strategic review of the mission of the PT boat than a retelling of individual events, yet it is still an enjoyable read for the PT buff as well as historian. His analysis of the PT's torpedo attacks in all the theaters of WWII (especially at the Battle of Surigao Strait, P.I.) takes on a subject, untouched in any previous book, with logic and authority. He sheds new light on the oft-told PT-109 story. The author raises the achievement and ability of the PT to assume the non-torpedo role of gunboat (in the South/SWest Pacific) when the Navy had no purpose-designed vessels for "littoral warfare". Lessons from the past have bearing on the future as today's small, flash-point conventional conflicts have proven. "Hunters in the Shadows" is a great add to any PT boat library; it stands up there with "At Close Quarters" and the superb photo-essays of authors Al Ross and Victor Cuhn, to name a few. It is also a tribute to the men who served on and serviced the "wooden wonders." Unknown reader