- Yes
- No
Motor Torpedo Boat Q-111 ‘Luzon’ / No. 114
Captured Flagship Of The Forgotten Boats of the Philippine Commonwealth and of the Offshore Patrol “Mosquito Fleet”
Q-111 Luzon on trials
NOTE: While the proposal will try to focus on the Q-111 Luzon, bits and pieces of the rest of the Q-boats (notably Q-112 Abra, and Q-113 Luzon) will pop up but since theyre 55ft design theyre going to be a bit different from the 65ft design of the Q-111 but they are functionally the same boats. Also while I am aware that CMB and MTBs are different things, this have been used interchangeably when referring to the Thornycroft designs in different sources - CMB is just WW1 Coastal Motor Boat & MTB is interwar Motor Torpedo Boat. Also keep in mind that Im not sure as to why but the designation for the Q-boats can sometimes be referred to as Q-1, Q-2, Q-3 and so forth in other sources.
NOTE: Thornycroft experimented with a lot of various specifications but similar sizes would be more or less the same just lengthened or shortened thus the dizzying and confusing array of designs unless some major design revision is made. Blueprints are made available in the proposal to showcase the difference and similarities of various specifications.
US Army Service and the Off Shore Patrol
Q-111 in the Philippines in Bataan
Spoiler
In 1935, the Commonwealth Government passed the National Defense Act - this however did not provide any provisions to create an Independent Commonwealth Navy but instead to rely the defense of the Philippines to the US Asiatic Fleet. Determined to develop an indigenous naval defense, the government authorized the creation of its own naval patrol unit consisting of a squadron of three wooden-hull, fast patrol torpedo boats with the goal to reach 36 boats by 1946. To avoid overlap with the Asiatic Fleet, the unit was to be part of a new seagoing arm of the Philippine Army under the United States Army Forces in the Far East.
Q-111 Luzon was based on Thornycroft’s 65 ft Coastal Motor Boat Design (which is unique from what I can gather as all other ones used the 55 foot design). Laid down on April 15, 1938, she became the flagship of what would eventually become the OSP with some 6 boats of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three.
Q-111 (Hull No. 2418) is unique as it was an attempt by the Philippine Commonwealth to build a local shipbuilding industry for these CMBs seeing as how they were so successful in repelling Japanese attacks in Shanghai and Hong Kong (which was the reason why they were referred to as Q boats, meaning ‘Quezon’ boats - then president of the Commonwealth). The 65 ft design was to be used as the basis for the indigenously built CMBs while the 55 ft CMBs are to be interim solutions.
By 1941, the Philippine Commonwealth was finally given 10 sets of engines, drawings and technical expertise for the 70 ft design, and license to produce as compensation for the other ordered boats not being sent to the Philippines either being sent to Finland for the Winter War, or were seized by the Royal Navy when WW2 broke out - which had a yard ready for building these boats somewhere in Cavite, but war came before any boat was constructed.
Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Bataan
Photograph of Q-111 while docked, location unknown
Spoiler
After news of the Pearl Harbor attack reached the Philippines, Q-111 and the OSP were sent to the waters around Bataan, tasked with protecting the peninsula from Japanese infiltration as well as delivering supplies and cargo to the beleaguered troops within Corregidor. On January 17, 1938 - the squadron was attacked by 9 Japanese Dive Bombers, severely damaging three with no losses. For this 2 officers of Q-111 were awarded with the Distinguished Conduct Star and Silver Star. On April 8, 1938, the squadron met its end when Manila and Bataan fell left the squadron without a safe port - thus began their daring dash to reach Allied lines in Australia. The journey wasnt easy with engine breakdown and attacks from the 1st Kokutai bombing the boats, then on April 9, 1942 they faced against 2 Japanese Shiratsuyu-class Destroyers, IJN Samidare and IJN Murusame where the squadron bravely fought against but unfortunately none of the torpedoes hit. This scattered the squadron apart where the crews scuttled their own ships somewhere in Cavites and Batangas. Only Q-115 was able to successfully break out of the bay but was unfortunately captured by the Japanese off Cabra Island, Mindoro.
Awardees of Q-111:
- Captain Alberto Navarrete - Distinguished Conduct Star
- Lieutenant Heracleo Alano - Silver Star
Notable People of the OSP Group:
- Lt. John D. Bulkely - FOIC of the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three where the OSP is attached to and is the one who escorted McArthur out of the Philippines
- Capt. Enrique L. “Henry” Jurado - FOIC of the OSP before Pearl Harbor
- First Lieutenant Jose V. Andrada - Future first FOIC of the Philippine Navy and headed the formation of the OSP
Imperial Japanese Navy Torpedo Boat No. 114 (circa 1943) as photographed by the Office of Naval Intelligence
IJN Service
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Before the onset of war, Japan has placed an order for 2 hulls of the Thornycroft 55ft CMB which were all delivered by December 1922. Siam has also ordered a total of about 5 hulls of the same design and got a license to produce the hulls surviving the war and serving in the Thai Navy until 1950s.
On April 12, 1943, Q-111 was refloated by the Japanese and named as Patrol Boat No. 114. Not much is known on its service under the IJN but it was reported to be sunk by US Naval Aircraft somewhere in 1944 or 1945 during the Battle of the Philippines.
Specifications
Thornycroft 65ft CMB which became the MTB 344 prototype
The boat is often said to be essentially a slightly enlarged version of the Thornycroft 55 ft CMB but with the torpedoes placed on the deck which in game I think looks closest to the British MTB Vosper but with one less deck torpedo pair. The other boats of the OSP namely Q-112 and Q-113 had a different arrangement for their torpedoes (as they were of the Thornycroft 55ft design), while Q-115 and Q-116 were launches (essentially small boats from bigger ships) that got fitted with a bunch of torpedoes and weaponry on them.
Anyhow personally, I see it much closer to the Thornycroft 70ft minelaying CMB as you will see after.
This will focus solely on the Q-111 Luzon (Hull No. 2418).
Spoiler
Length 19.8 m (65 ft 0 in) o/a Beam 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) Draught 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) Installed power 1800 bhp Propulsion 3 Thornycroft petrol engines, 3 shafts Speed 41.19 knots Complement 6 Armament 2 x .50 caliber machine guns (Originally had mountings for a third gun but all of the guns were .303 Lewis Guns), 2 x 18 in torpedo tubes, 2 x Mark 14 torpedoes, 4 depth charges
Most sources state that the Q-111 was based on the 55ft CMB but I think this is much closer to its actual size and overall shape
General Arrangement of a Thornycroft 70ft CMB
A 55-ft. Thornycroft coastal motor-boat undergoing trials in the Thames estuary
A 55-ft. Thornycroft coastal motor-boat drawing
Thornycroft 55ft CMB Drawing Specifications
How will it function in-game?
Spoiler
It can work as a foldered or premium sidegrade with its twin torpedo armament and 3 .50 cals (which I dont really know exactly where they are placed but some photos show these .50 cals). Will work pretty much the same as every low rank torpedo boat.
Which Nation should it be placed?
Spoiler
It stands to reason that this at first glance should be part of the American Tech Tree, however I dont really think that the American Tech Tree stands to benefit from this as they simply have better PT Boats. Also as Thailand moves ever closer to becoming the sub-tree of choice for Japan, this is a great sidegrade/slight upgrade to the CMB 1 that is part of the proposed subtree since they both came from Thornycroft (of which Japan also ordered 2 examples for evaluation testing, so Japan still had the 55 ft CMB design independent of whether or not Thailand becomes a subtree). It could even be foldered in with the CMB 1. Japan raised a bunch of Allied shipwrecks and recommissioned them into the IJN, and this boat along with the other ships should serve as a historical testament to this activity.
More Photos:
Spoiler
Q-113 in the foreground, Q-112 behind
Q-boats of the Off-Shore patrol are seen here out of the water at the OSP’s berthing facility at Engineer Island in Manila’s Port Area in this November, 1941 view (LIFE, Carl Mydans)
MTB 213-217, a Royal Navy 55ft CMB that was seized from the Philippine orders on builder’s trials (October 1939) (Note the flag used is the Thornycroft house flag & not the White Naval ensign)
The Royal Norwegian Navy received the seized Philippines’ orders of Thornycroft’s 55ft CMB that used 18in torpedoes as shown here
Chinese 55ft CMB scuttled after failed attempt at attacking IJN Izumo in Shanghai, China
Design Drawings of MBT 327 slated to be a replacement over the seized boats by the Royal Navy preciously but was then seized by 1941
Sources:
Spoiler
- Branfill-Cook, Roger (15 August 2014). Torpedo: The Complete History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon. Naval Institute Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN [9781591141938]
- British Coastal Forces: Two World Wars and After - Norman Friedman - Google Books
- Allied Coastal Forces of World War II. Volume 2. Vosper MTBs and US ELCOs. John Lambert, Al Ross
- ONI 208-J Supplements 2 and 3, Far-Eastern Small Craft and Standard Classes of Japanese Merchant Ships : United States. Department of the Navy. Office of Naval Intelligence : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Unidentified Ships - ID Required - World Naval Ships Forums Archive (Page 46)
- British naval weapons of World War Two : the John Lambert collection. Volume III, Coastal forces weapons. Seaforth Publishing, 2020. Norman Friedman.
- Branfill-Cook, R. (2014). Torpedo: The Complete History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon. United States: Naval Institute Press.
- Patrol torpedo boat Q-111 Luzon - Wikipedia
- The Saga of Q-111 Luzon – The Second Philippine Motor Torpedo Boat that served Three Navies – The Maritime Review
- They Were Expendable Too: The Torpedo Boats of the Off-Shore Patrol – The Bataan Campaign
- Warsailors.com :: Ship Forum :: Re: Philippine Motor Torpedo Boats of WW2
- Offshore Patrol - Wikipedia
- http://www.orosa.org/WARTIME%20PATROL1941-3.pdf
- The Philippine Navy History
- Coastal motor boat - Wikipedia
- Coastal Motor-Boats - Shipping Wonders of the World
