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engineer -> RE: PT Boats (4/21/2014 8:35:03 PM)
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TOCAFF is right but there are some additional wrinkles:
- Only US bases can be used to buy the PT's
- Typically, island bases need at least 20k supply. Continental bases seem to have a routine that looks for 20k supply in the total transport net so you might get PT's at a sub-20k individual base.
- PT's come in with torpedoes, a full ammo load and about 70% fuel so one of the first things is to top off their tanks.
- Repair yards will upgrade the PT's if they are eligible.
- Torpedoes will be reloaded with a level 9 port or an AGP (PT tender) in port.
PT Operations:
Defensive: I usually have them stand fast and then when the Japanese come in to bombard or land, then the PT's generally engage. If you layer them with conventional SAG, then you get a defense in depth that may break up an IJN bombardment mission. Typically, however, you lose PT's and maybe damage a destroyer with a lucky torpedo hit. Once, however, I saw a PT squadron sink the bloody Mutsu and that made up for all the one-sided defeats.
Offensive: You have the PT's sprint at full speed to the target hex within one turn's range so they arrive at night. PT's can be effective if they get into a Japanese barge convoy or a lightly escorted transport mission.
PT's don't win a war. They can attrit Japanese offensive missions and may damage some ships so daylight finds them limping within land based air range and severely reduced top speed. WitP is still about combined arms: air, sea, and land.
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