Arms of the army

Media

Part of Philippine Armed Forces Journal

Title: Arms of the army
Language: English
Source: Philippine Armed Forces Journal Volume IX (No. 6) October 1956
Year: 1956
Rights
Fulltext: By Captain Ambrosio P. Peila, FA THE FIELD AHTI LLEUY const1·ued today was the invention •~'> and use of gunpowder. Just when • HE history of the deYelop- and where this was first used c<~n ment of this arm is most not Ue detennined. But it is defifascinating. In a striC'tlr nite that the powder itself is of Chisense artillery is_ syno.ny- nese origin and was used by them mous to big guns and their proJec- for almost one thousand 1'ears betiles. But this was not so at th_e fore Christ. It was sureiy in 311. o_utset whe~ th1s branch ~f the ~~- cient Cathay where man must ha1•· htary serVLc~ was a~soc1ated w1th found out that a 1 )rojectile could Uc 1· any cont!"apt10n. . which could he discharged from a metal tube b\" used to hurl mJSSJ]es to ~ relati\·e- the explosion of a charge of po11:. 1. · ly g:reat di!'tance. Thus Ill the an- der In fact at the time when Eucient. military establishments of the rope was only being 3tanled by Persians, the Gn!~ks, and the Ro- :\la rco Polo's (1254-1324) account of mar~s, there were m general use the this •;miraculous" black powder balhsta, catapult. onager, trebuchet, which the Chinese used •·in their and the cro_ssbow, capable of hurl- wars, many other Orientals were in~ to a distance of at least one well acquainted with the firearm m1h:" ~arge c~an~s ~f rocks, l'oiumes and cannon. The ear·Jy Filipinos, of hquJd fn·e, blg ~ogs, and ar· particularly the llloros, were no exrows. In. these early !mple_ments of ception for as early as the 13th ~~:!" a";~il[;~;.. the crude beg1nnmg of ~~nt~::;il;:re; ~:edcepo::~l:~ed "~a~~ta~:~?. ~·;J The gt·eatcst step toward the dev- a smooth-Uored, muzzle-loading canelopment of the artillerr as it is non cast of bronze. , .. I :\Jeanwhile, early in the 14th cen- of bronze, copper, and i1·on came intury, the Saracens in1·aderl Christian to the picture, but the changes were Europe. bringing alon~ with them slow in coming. Although the gunpowdet·, and two yea1·s aftet· "carts and gonnes" or field arti\1~ :llarco Polo's death. the :\loors used ry originated during the Hus.'lile it extensively in theit· military ope- Wars (1419-1436), it took mot·c than rations in Spain. Still later, in 1331, a centut·y before an artillery of guns were used for the first time sizable proportion could be organby a group of Europeans - the ized for military operations. E1·en Germans - in their siege of Ci•·i- at thut, the artillet)' was not organdale. Feudal Europe learned that iz('d into a septu-ate- and distinct gunpowder stoppe(l effectively the arm, for· it wa~ employed in battl(' armored warrior and the latter lo('- m('rely as an auxiliary weapon to eame receptive to its use. By the either the infantry or the ca,·ahy. dose of the 1-lth centur·r firearms The world had to wait for a miand cannons w('re well known in Eu- litary genius in the person of King Since then tho: old western Gusta\"us Adolphus of Sweden world has wrested the leadershrp fr·om (1594-1632) to organize and emr1lvr the East in the manufacture and an artillery of some \'alue. Gustade\·elopment of all sorts of powder- \'US, who "founded r('a] firtd arlilig:nited weapons. ler~·" designated as a separate ann, l':al"l~- in the 15th C('lltur~· the old employed his army with the com;~rtillet·r mi~silt> engines. surh as bined action of two widely known the onager and ballista, wer·e dis- arms at the time - the infantry curded. Cannons which were cast anr\ caYa]ry ~ and the field artilPIIILIPPINF.S AIO I ED FORCES J Ol:RN.U • .,. ~ artillery men could not be lriPd h\· the Provo~t )Jarshal; they mar he accompanied to war br thei1· respective wh·es and families, and beforehand ther were assigned sperial portions of the expected booty of the city besieged. On top of these the artillerr men did not ha\'e to wait in a ''cho" line" for the~· were seJ·\·cd ahead of the other sddier:<. But F'1·ederick imposed a special penalty on the luckless gunner who missed his target- he was either flogged or hanged. On the other hand Austria, then Prussia's greatest t'i\'al at the time Frederick ascended to power, de\·eloped the ~u·tillery extensi\'ely, forming them into separate taclkal umts. The Austl'ian artillerr wu '{ commanded hr a general offirer. Prince Liechtt'nstem, which contraH· cd greatly with Frederick's Chief Artil!et·y Officer who only hdd tho lery. the standards of tht' t1me, rank of lieutenant colonel. Aus· as an artillery drillmaster Gusta\·us tria's ar·tiHerr was much superior had no peer; he had trained his can- to the Prussian's, and at one time noners to fire twice as fast as his during the Battle or Torgau (1760), musketeers whil'h seemed an incre- it almost inflicted a crushing deft'at Jible feat. on Frederick's army. Though the Swedes took the lead Into this scene came the least in organizing the first real field known of Europe's great soldiers anillery, they were not to dominate who is considered today as the "fain its development. After Gustavus, ther of modern field artillery." He Frederick the Gn•at (l712-li86J of was a Frenchman named G-ribeauval, Prussia became the outstunding mi- who, aftet· serving and learning all litarr figure uf Eu1·ope. He did that could be taught him by Prince much to impro\'e the general set-up Liechtenstein, wt'nl back to hi~ of the Prussian military establish- country to head the field artillery ment His contribution in the deve- of the French Army. Gnbeau\ a\ :::d;:;~~~~t ~~~wf:~~~-, ae ~:!~~~gsheelll~~ ~~! ;~~~ch togu\~~~~~\-~h~h~a;~~~~re~~ , t, ill remembered ~st for the many ployment of the field :ntill<'e ~-. special pre\'ileges he gave his artil- which was further improved b~- th,· lery men. For instance, Fe·ederick's "Little Corporal." Xattolton Bona. , parte, one of the world's greatest inside the barrel of the gun. At soldiers and artillery men of all about this time smokeless gun· time. It was Napoleon who organ- powder was also invented. ized the field artillery into batte- The breech-loading, rifled gun and ries and regiments generally along smokeless gunpowder, were perfectthe same line as they are known to- ed in due time, thereby becoming the day. signal achievement in the developFor centuries the artillery men ment and progress of the artillery, were regarded as technicians rather for the gun could now be loaded than soldiers. It was the common fast and fired at a comparath·ely practice for civilians to be awarded greater velocity and range, with the contracts to furnish the army with use of elongated projectiles. And guns, gunners, supplies, and trans· yet it was not until the Russo-Japaportation. When Napoleon came to nese War (1904-1905) that the field power he found in the French Army artillery became prominently imthis kind of civilian contractors who portant in the military world. Up owned the horses and hauled the ar- to that time it was thought that adtillery's guns and caissons. He abo- vancing armies could be stopped by lished this system and made the a series of fixed, concrete fortificafield artillery an integral part of tions. It therefore startled the mithe army with regular enlisted men litary leaders the world over when who were trained just as those of the Japanese heavy guns dealt the the infantry and cavalry. The oth- supposedly impregnable fortress in er European powers were to profit Port Arthur the crushing blows that from Napoleon's act. would ultimately prove disastrous to Up to Napoleon's time, the stan- the whole Russian Army. dard artillery piece was the Later in 1914, the Germans dupli"smooth-bored, muzzle-loader" that cated this feat when they crushed used a round projectile. This re- into the fortresses guarding the quired the rumming of the projectile German-Belgian border. From and its powder charge separately in- thereon the iield artillery was to to tlte "bore for each shot. Gunnery play a decisive role in the victory or was therefore a tedious job so that defeat of any army. in spite of the dexterity of the gun- Speaking now of the modern field ners it was extremely difficult to artillery, including its "brother" the fire rapidly. coast artillery, the arm has ever At the beginning of the American since been associated with big guns. Civil War (1861-1865) the first Its principal mission, as in the past, breech-loading gun was introduced, is to utilize its firepowder to beat but the construction of the breech down the enemy and allow the ~ mechanism was defective so that friendly infantry to close in and many disastrous back-fires resulted. complete the former's destruction. This was shortly followed by a more In retrograde movements the field drastic change in the form of rif- artillery is called upon to set up a lings, which is a series of grooves curtain of fire between the enem~· PlfiLIPPIS"ES AR)IED FORCES J OCI!S"AL .-\ typical gun or firing battery giment can very wei! give close fire of the United States .-\rmy before support to the thn•;> mfantrr l"t!A"i· the last war, which has been adopt· ed by our Armed Forces, iH com- During the war, howe\·er. it wal' posed of the "Firing Batter~·" of found that tactical control of tlw four gun sections (one gun per Hec· battalions by the l"egimental comtion); a "Battery Comm ander's Dt>- mander was not quite con\"enient at tail" composed of the "Battery times, especial!y when the~e battu· Headquarters," "Instrument Sec- lions were ;;upporting infantry regition," and "Signal Section." The ments that were widt>l~· disposed. To batte1·y headquarters takes care of meet this problem the field urtH!ery the paper work, suppl~· and messing regiment was altogethe1· abandoned in the battery; the personnel of the in lieu of three independent batta· instrument section operates the lions of light field artillery and on(· complicated firing instruments for medium _field utiller~· (for general obser\·ation and fo1· gathering the support) us organi<" units of the di· datu required to fire the guns ac- \"h!On. The administratin contl'o! "' curately; while the signal ~eC'tion of these four battalion~ dE'\"O]\'e~ in , maintain~ and operates the bath:l"y's a diYi:don artil!E"ry headquarter.!< un- ") system of eommun.ication, mC'luding der a bJ·igadier ~enen1l. The \attl'f telephones, switchboards, and porta- alsu sen·es a~ the artillery arh·i~er hie l'adios. A "i.\!otor ;\Jaintenanee to th<' rli\·ision C'Ommandel'. The ],;Jt· (){'TOBER 195, talion has become today the highc:<t Fo1 a long timP before the war, tactical organization of the field field artillery han been val'iously artillery in the United States Ar- classified on the bases of tl) size and my, which our armed forces has characters of the artillery pieces and adopted. (2) means of transpol'ting them Genera!ly, today, there are two Under the first category there have types of field artillery pieces, cropped up such terms as: light ar. e: which are called howitzers or guns. tiller)"; medium artillery; and heavy The two have the same rugged con- artillery. ClassifieU under the secstruction, equipped with breech me- ond category, field artillery wns chanism and with riflings in their known then as: horse-artillery 01 \.Jures. Their main difference is the horse-drawn artillery; pack artillery; fact that guns have relatively long- portee artillery; motorized artillery on banels and are capable of fil'ing and tractor-drawn artillery. Many of high-~peed shells that have flat tra- the concepts that used t0 be assojector)' i.e., the path taken by dated to with these terms have been the projectile from the muzzle of the 1·endered obsolete by the last wa1·. gun to the point of impact or the This is so because of very many point where the projectile finally changes taking place m both the delands is not so high from the sur- sign of artillery pieces and their pecuface of the earth. The howitzers, liar employment. To illustrate •his which have shorter barrels, fire point, before the war a 105-mm shells of a much lower velocity, with howitzer was a medium artillery h1gh trajectory. A~ such, howitzers piece, but under the present standar1l ~ are capable of lobbing their shells, this is now classified as light artilwith less charge, high into the air lery. to fall into trenches or at targets Likewise, because experience has behind hills or sheltered i)bstacles. shown that war shall be conducted PHII.IPPlNES ARMED fORCf:S JOURNAL largely on mechanized scale, the signal equipment, and precision inslatest tendency for the field artil- truments were also acquired from lery is to adopt itself to this mecha- the United States Army on loan baniution. There has now come into sis. With this group of officers the picture the self-propelled artil- and equipment beeoming available lery which has made possible for the the Philippine Army's field artillery' gun to be fired while actually in arm was born. ~otion. The pr_inciple i~volved here Camp Dau, which was later on re- ~ 1 IS the construction of f~xed mou~ts named Camp Del Pilar, was built on sturdy armored veh_Jcles "_'hlch within the Fort Stotsenburg Reserwould support the artiller~ piece. vation. In January 1937, the camp T_ hen too, there has come mto the was inaugurated under the command ~~c;u::~c~:l at::::lt :: t::t~~~~ n;: ~~d ~ri~ad~r G~neral h (then Colo~el) ~igned purposely for the airborne c~n~urre.ntl;g~nm:m~e: of~~: G:n:~ :!:::~r~e~h:a~:~o~ed force, and the ral Staff of the Philippine Army. How . well our yar~ed ~orces can ~:~~e~do s~::es a ~;i~~~;~e A~~de~~~ ~eep with these rapid stride~ taken Class of 1917, with a regular com~~ the developmen_t of the field ar- mission in the Field Artillery (PS), tillery would a!atn largely depe~d United States Army, but at the time ~;P:~:tiv~out~;:[ sourreS::~:e;·. F;!c;: ~~~~~s o;hi~fecii:! d~~~it;;th ~~~~: sho_ul_d at least keep pace wtth the sion. pp Y tramtng program and development of the field artillery of the more From the outse~ it was Segundo's progressive armies the world over. ~i:~dco;~ei~~r~o :~'11tsan:ig~:;;t:t!~~ The PA'• Field Artillery dards. Therefore he exerted his utLate in 1936, several Filipino of- most energies to make 'Dau the prefi<:ers were detailed in Fort Stotsen- mier artillery training camp in the burg, Pampanga, a United States Philippines and toward this end he Army Post, to train in field succeeded. General Segundo has artillery. This small group later on been regarded as the "Father of Fibecame the nucleus of the officer lipino Field Artillery." •. personnel of the Philippine Army's Assisting Colonel Segundo in the field artillery. At about the same tremendous task of building this time negotiation was started for the field artillery arm for the Philipuse of a part of the Fort Stotsen- pine Army, particularly in the miliburg Military Reservation as a Phil- tary instt·uction of the 20.year.old ippine Army Training Center Filipino youth who were slated to (PATC) for artillery. Several field take up field artillery training, a1·tillery materiel - the 2.95 inch starting in January 1937, was a mountain guns, 75-mm British guns group of American officers and and 165-mm French guns (GPF's), Philippine Scout enlisted headed by :\[ajor John )feDowall, The Philippine Arm~· altogether C'SA, of the 24th Field Artiller}·, mobilized ten field artillery !·egiPhilippine Scout. :\IcDowall was the ments, one to each reserve dh·ision, fint Amel'ican Senior Instructor for for service with the United States the Field Artillery in Camp Dau. Army Forces in the Ft~r Ea~t At the start of the training pro- (USAFFE). The organization of gram these American officers and these regiments, however, did not Philippine Stout enlisted men of the come up to the standard of the · • instructional staff were apportioned United States Army at the time. at a ratio of one officer and ten .largely due to the shortage of equipenlisted men per battery. Eventual- ment. A special Table of Organizaly, however, as trained men were tion for the PA's field a1·tillery re· enlisted for service in the field ar- giment was adopted shortly afte1 tillerv and as more Filipino officers the fonnation of the USAFFE. This were. trained and commissioned in regiment consisted of a regimental this arm, the number of American Hq & Hq Battery and a regimental and PS instrudors were reduced. Service Battery, and three batShortly befo1·e the war, there wa~ talions, each of which consistonlr one American officer instructor ed of a Hq & Ilq Battery, a Ser· "1 per battalion and one Philippine vice Batte1·y and two firing batteScout enlisted man to a battery of ries. One battalion was equipped field artillery. with 75-mm guns; the second batThe training program for the talion was equipped with 2.:15 bruns; field a!·tillery in Camp Dau was so and the third battalion w1th a-Jnch planned that e\·err training session mortars. On the whole, the regithere were sufficient numbers of ment lacked firepower for the adetrainee graduates, a\·eraging at quate support of the three infantry 1.200 per training session, who could regiments of the Division. make up the complement of the As of 8 December 1941, howewr, headquarters. sen·ice and firing bat- only four Philippine Army field ar-"T ::.~~:~i::d t~~ r~::~;~: .. di~·~si~~: be~~~ ~.~~~Yfullrec~i:;~~en~e~~ g~~~~n~~~~ pre-wa1· military districts. This pro- deviation from the approved Table gram was gi,·en enough impetus so of Organization, since there were no that at the time of the emergency mortars available from the Ordin 19-H, there were enough men who nanee Section of the USAFFE. could be called to the ser,·ice for These were the following: a field artiller~· regiment in each mi- 21st Field Artillery RegimE>nt, litax·~· rlistrict. The main set back 21st Dh·ision; of the Philippine Army, howe,·er, 41st Field Artillerr Regiment, was the dire lack of equipment 41st Di\'ision; ~ which was likt"wist' an experience of 'ilst Field Artillery Regiment, the Cnitt"U States Arm~·. under 7Ist Di\'ision; and whoSE> commAncl these Fihpino field 9lst Field Artillery Regiment, artillery units were to sen·e. 9lst Dh·i~ion. PIIILIPPINES ARi\IED FORCES JOCRNAL • These regiments were organized with 155s (GPFs) (two guns to a their 1st and 2nd battalions battery); and the equipped with eight British 75s (4 88th FA Regiment armed with to a battery), and their 3rd batta- American 75s. lion equipped with 2.95 mountain It is likewise a distinct honor of guns. the Filipino artillery men to have The 11th, 31st, and 51st FA regi- manned the first 50 self-propelled ~:~ts,di:~~~~::~g r!~pelc~~~~l:.1s\.hai:~ ~~:~~e?'siai~ec:s ~:;s:fa;i~~::d r!~c~:~ ~ were also in Luzon had enough guns the Philippines late in November only for two or three batteries al- 1941 and at the outbreak of war though they had the needed person- were formed into twelve letter-designe!. Later on in Bataan, these gun- nated firing batteries each with four less field artillery units, were to do guns, except Batteries "L" and "M" the unfamiliar job of the infantry. which were alloted five guns each In the Visayas, as of 8 December The outfit was originally designated 1941, there were the 61st and 8lst as 11th Provisional Brigade. Later FA regiments of the 61st and 8lst on in Bataan it was redesignated divisions, respectively, but the big- into 1st and 2nd Provisional Battagest guns these regiments had were lions, Field Artillel"y (self-propelled a few .50 caliber machine guns. The mounts). The lessons acquired in 101st FA, whose officers and keY- the employment of these self-promen were still in Luzon at the out- pel\ed artillery units were later on break of war, was mobilized in Min- capitalized by the United States danao on 15 December 1941, as an Army in constituting the "Tank infantry unit. The field artillery Destroyer Force," a distinct branch officers and keymen for the l01st of the U.S. Army during the war Division became the nucleus of the years. famed 301st FA Regiment of six- In spite of all their hanrlicaps, teen 155-mm (GPFs), which was and lacking air protection at that, activated in Luzon shortly after the these Filipino field artillery regi· outbreak of war. ments became the mainstay of the In passing, it is noteworthy that ~~~F~~m~ua~~:. th;r:.:ili::;~e 0~:~ ~~:t 0~~~;e!ie;~ ~~:ill~:~ens:e~~me~!~ these field artillery regi~ents beat taan, although regular elements of down the ene~y :n ;~sA;Fa~yr at~~kee~:;li~~i~:edS~oyutFi\~1~~\rti~;:~~ ~:~i~~ :~e c~~ttlet :f Bataan. w\~~~ men. These were the following: ~~~e t~~t~st~:~s, th!at:e~:at:ot~a;;: 23rd FA Regiment armed with nese onslaughts. Faithful to tradi- · 2.95s (only one battalion); tion, these Filipino artillerr men -f)l 24th FA Regiment armed with proved the field artillery to be the British 75s; "Rex Belli" or "King of Batlle." 86th FA Regiment armed with The 15th of No\"ember 1945, the date when Headquarters Philippine ly the first states to maintain naval Army activated the 2nd Infantry contingents of their military forces. Division out of the famed Volck- This was only natural since a naval mann's guerrilla unit - the United force was necessary to protect the States Army Forces in the Philip- sea lanes from marauders and sea pines, North Luzon (USAFIP, NL) pirates. In the old western world, - marked the rebirth of our field Carthage and Rome had been for a , -._ artillery arm. The 2nd Infantry Di- long period, the dominating powers. vision had its full complement of In succession these city states had field artillery, namely: the 21st, controlled the Mediterranean Sea. 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Field Artillery The point under consideration is battalions. These became the nu- the fact that the growth of the nac!eus of our present field artillery val establishments of these two organization. great sea powers followed closely The 22nd and 23rd have already the general pattern of the growth been inactivated, but the other two of their military establishment, and are still intact, although under dif- that the former establishments were ferent nomenclature. These batta- not separate and distinct from the lions are .now charged with the big latter, in contradiction to the army ' ~ task of building a new corps of field and navy as these organizations are artillery reservists under Head. generally understood today. As a quarters, Philippine Army Training matter of fact, ~he military expediCenter. tionary forces of Julius Cesar and Hannibal who were the foremost The Off-Shore Patrol military personalities of Rome and The military history of the world Carthage, respectively, included nacannot be fully appreciated without val contingents directly commanded recalling to mind the doughty sea- by them. And even as late as the faring men who had sailed the se- 19th century Napoleon exercised diven seas in quest of adventure and rect control over the military and new lands to conquer. Since earliest naval forces of France. Consequentrecorded time, ships have been nso· ly, military history records of the ciated with a great number of rna- naval Battle of Trafalgar as having jor military operations, utilized eith- been fought between Napoleon and er as carrier for troops across the Sir Horatio Nelson of the British seas or as a striking force. As a Navy. matter of fact, in some remote past, The rise and fall of nations whose there was no distinct demarcation economic existence depended largely between the military and naval for- on the control of the oceans can be ces of the nation, and, as a general attributed to the strength of their rule, the naval commander was sub- naval forces. After the fall of ordinated to the military com- Rome no naval power came into the mander. world scene until late in the 15th The great maritime powers of the century when Portugal, followed by ancient civilized world were certain- Spain, became the major naval po288mm ATOMIC CANNON The U. S. Anny'.s newest and biggcsl: :ntillery pieCe was rcccndy unveiled at the Aberdun Proving Ground. It is the 280mm, now popularly calltd the "atOmic cannon." The 280mm is capable of fir· ing atomic projectiles as well as conven· tiona! shells. The gun weighs about five tons. The range varier with the type of shell used but it is claimed that it can hurl ll~inch projectilu to a maximum unge of 2f miles with pin-point accuracy. The 280mm battuy will coruist of two of thc-'le guns plus eight J -ton uucks. wer. For a little over one century en hulls, but with highly-powered Spain dominated the seas, culminat- engines, run to approximately fifty ing in the decisive defeat of her vast thousand pesos. If the initial outArmada by the English Fleet, in lay in building a navy sour.ds finan1588. England had since then be- dally fantastic in relation with the c"me the "mi11tress of the .~eas" assets of the Philippine Government, \mtl! in the last World War when the more so when the annual cost , "- the United States in earnest and out of maintenance is taken into acof necessity, built the mightiest na- count. val forre the world has ever seen. Because of its geographical situaNormal!y, as a matter of national tion it was imperative for the PhilJiolicy, the striking and defensive ippines to have a navy. This was force of a country in the sea r"poses readily perceived in the middle 30's in a navy. This is especially true when our national leaders began the of an island state whose only ap· tremendous task of establishing the proaches in the event of invasion is armed forces for the Philippines. the sea. Today, as in the past, most And yet much as the need was major powers whose territories bor- great, since the navy was desirader the sea, have concentrated their ble, the Philippine Government was ' .., efforts in developing strong navies. not in a position to shoulder the In fact, during the period between heavy expenditure involved. In the two World Wars, there had been fact, the limited finances of the a keen race towards the creation of government made the prospect of esthe more powerful navy among the tablishing an adequate defense force great naval powers, namely: Great for the country rather gloomy. HowBritain, the United States, Japan, ever, into the picture there peep France, and Italy. Germany joined in one bright a~pect: the Philippines this race rather surreptitiously be- could capitalize on the rich expecause of the limitations imposed on rience of the major powers relative her by the Peace Treaty of Versail· to the maintenance and employment ... 1 les which ended World War I. Ne- of the various military units and vertheless, the showing of the Ger- naval crafts. man Navy during the last war was At the time when the whole patan unmistakable proof that Germany tern of the armed forces was taking was to be reckoned with as a naval a definite shape, rnomentuous expe· power. riments, which would soon affed The navy is indeed a very costly na\'al tactics and strategy, were arm so that the establishments of taking place in the Mediterranean. navies have been limited to states The Italians countered with threat with considerable material resourets. from the English, who had wanted ~}" ~e0vnes::r h:nd~:~adn~~~~:n wh!~~osco:~ ~:a~iur:~ g~;e r:unc~~;g ~~~:ini:~ build, and an aircraft carrier which small wooden boats which became cost as much. And even the cost dubbed as the "mosquito fleet." of the small PT-boats built of wood- <Continued on page 56)