Patrol torpedo boat PT-658

PT-658 was one of a group of PT boats assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 45 in April 1945, for transfer to the USSR under Lend-Lease. By the time she was completed on 30 July 1945, this transfer had been cancelled. PT-658 was transported to Bremerton, Washington on the deck of LST-375 from New Orleans along with PT-657, PT-659, and PT-660, arriving on 25 September 1945. PT-658 was then stationed at Port Hueneme, California, where on 27 August 1946, she was reclassified as a Small Boat, renumbered C105343, and served as a missile range patrol boat. On 3 December 1948, she was reclassified as Floating Equipment. On 30 June 1958, PT-658 was sold to a private individual in the Oakland and Alameda, California area and renamed Porpoise. The private owner changed very little of her structure during the time he owned her. In 1993, she was donated by the late owner's estate to the veterans of Save the PT Boat, Inc. of Portland, Oregon. PT-658 was transported from Alameda to Portland in May 1994 by the 144th Transportation Unit of the Washington National Guard on the deck of the U.S. Army Logistics Support Vessel . ==Restoration==

A dedicated group of PT boat veterans formed the organization Save the PT Boat, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The group restored PT-658 to her original 1945 configuration between 1995 and 2005. PT-658 is now fully functional and afloat, one of only two restored U.S. Navy PT boats that are operational today. (The second, PT-305, was the beneficiary of some leftover parts collected by the PT-658 restoration team.) PT-658s restoration includes (non-functional replicas of) a full armament of four Mark 13 torpedoes, two twin .50 caliber Browning M2 machine guns, a 40 mm Bofors cannon, two 20 mm Oerlikon cannon, two eight-cell Mark 50 Spin Stabilized 5-inch rocket launchers, two Mark 6 TNT depth charges, and a 60 m M2 mortar. She has three working Packard 5M-2500 V12 gasoline engines. PT-658 Heritage Museum is located in Portland, Oregon, at the Swan Island Industrial Park. She is moored to Pier 307 of Vigor Industrial Shipyard as of October 2013. Visitor access is provided via the marked Gate 18 at 5555 N. Lagoon Avenue. The PT-658 Heritage Museum is open to the public every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, 9am to 4pm for visitors. She has been moved into a new boathouse and the group continues to raise money for ongoing projects such as deck replacement, charthouse repair, and bottom replacement. Money is also being raised for final boathouse improvements and to build a PT-658 Heritage and Education Center. In May 2010, replacement of the deck was completed in time for various summer festivals and shows. Funding raised for additional restoration work included a $14,000 grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust, awarded in July 2010. When originally launched in 1945, PT-658 wore a camouflage paint scheme (specifically, Camouflage Measure 31, Design 20L), and this was restored in early 2011. In July 2011, two Mark 50 eight-cell rocket launcher mounts were added to the port and starboard bow. In May 2012, an original SOA radar mast (obtained on loan from PT Boats Inc. of Germantown, Tennessee) was installed along with an appropriately sized radar dome, signal generator and waveguide. Simultaneously, the 40mm Bofors cannon mount was improved with the addition of an ammunition clip holder/loader handrail to the rear of the mount, along with adjustable seats and authentic aerial spider type gunsights. Further equipment additions added by the crew in 2014 include authentic IFF dipole antennae on the chart house and radar mast, and a US M2 60mm mortar on the starboard side of the bow. ==See also==