SOLD WW2 PT Boat Officer Gold Badge Elco . W285

United States Navy PT Boat Badge for Officer’s. Pin back gilt badge. Unofficial badge. Marked Elco on back and also marked Design copyrighted ELCO Naval Division. Size approximately 2 1/2 inches across. 1940s (ww2) era. Worn condition.

Additional Notes: A PT boat is a motor torpedo boat. The “PT” in a PT boat is an abbreviation for patrol torpedo. It was used in the Second World War by the U.S Navy. The PT boat badges, though unofficial, were prized by their owners and would make a hard-to-find addition to any collection of PT boat memorabilia.

During the war, Navy PT boats went against the enemy’s barges, tankers, sampans, and warships. There were also some that became gunboats, combating the enemy’s small craft, like armored barges. They were used in the Pacific (Southern, Western, and Northern regions), the English Channel, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. The Japanese called PT boats the “devil boats” and “mosquito fleets.”

During WW2, Elco formed the Elco Naval Division in Bayonne, NJ, where nearly 400 Elco PT boats were produced for the United States Navy.

See Additional Information for shipping dimensions.