PT-6
Contents
Description
The Higgins 81 ft PT-6 is a reserve rank I American motor torpedo boat with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X" as part of the fleet closed beta test.
The PT-6 is the first vehicle of the American coastal tree. It is a basic torpedo boat that can hold its own against other reserve rank boats but lacks the firepower to engage heavy targets.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Higgins 81 ft PT-6 has no armour beyond its 40 mm hull and 15 mm superstructure. The rear of the boat is most vulnerable as most high penetrating rounds such as the Oerlikon Mk.II 20 mm on the 80 ft Nasty or the 20 mm MG C/30 automatic cannon on the R-boot R-41 will easily penetrate or do significant damage to the torpedo bays located here. The ammunition magazine for the frontal turrets lay directly behind them but are often not worth focusing on to protect.
The crew positioning is fairly centralized towards the middle-front of the boat. The radio station often lays beneath the water and is directly below the main turrets. The main turrets will often be the last compartment of the boat to be damaged due to their smaller hitboxes. The Higgins has 17 crewmembers and can continue to survive with a minimum of five if the crew is aced and the Crew Interchangeability stat is maxed out.
Engine compartments lay towards the middle back of the boat beneath the torpedo tubes. Fuel tanks are placed at the back of the Higgins.
Mobility
The mobility of the Higgins 81 ft PT-6 torpedo boat is very good. When all modifications are purchased it has a top speed of 67 km/h in RB (Realistic Battles) and 93 km/h in AB (Arcade battles). As with most torpedo boats, the best use for this craft is to engage heavier vessels with torpedoes. It is recommended for players to use the mobility of the Higgins 81 ft to line up a good torpedo shot at a larger enemy vessel and then break away to safety. Always try to avoid unnecessary risks due to the very vulnerable wood superstructure and hull of the Higgins 81 ft PT-6 torpedo boat.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 93 | 35 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 67 | 25 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The PT-6 has two single M2 Browning machine guns placed on either side of the bridge. This ever-reliable machine guns can effectively deal with any lightly armoured vessel at its BR, thought it lacks firepower to deal damage against larger sub-chaser that is also present at its BR. The gun has an option to load the infamous APIT belts that is similar in effectiveness with an American late-war belts found on a plane, this belts retain its capabilities of lighting enemy boats on fire and is very good against inbound aircraft.
Additional armament
The PT-6 is loaded with two 533 mm Mk.8-3 C/D torpedoes. They are aimed to fire in the direction of travel. The torpedo must travel a minimum of 50 m in order to arm prior to contact with an enemy vessel. Ironically, despite the PT-6's status as a reserve boat, this torpedo is in fact the second most powerful torpedo the US Navy can offer with 435 kg of TNT equivalent. These torpedoes can sink a destroyer in one hit and can even severely damage enemy cruisers. However, the torpedoes has a poor range of just 3.65 km with a top speed of only 52 km/h, thus limiting the usage of the torpedoes to ambush weapons.
When researched, you can equip 4 Mk.6 depth charges. They are located at the stern of the boat between the torpedo tubes. They are highly situational and quite tricky to use.
Usage in battles
Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good armament for a reserve ship
- Vast amounts of ammo for the machine guns
- Good top speed
- Good manoeuvrability
- Extremely powerful torpedoes for its BR, can easily take on destroyer and cruisers
Cons:
- Lack of armour means it will get shredded by bigger ships with heavier armaments
- As with all PT boats, armour is not very good
- Only two machine guns; makes it hard to engage heavier targets
- Slower than the other common PT boats in its BR, such as the LS and G-5 series.
- Torpedoes are quite slow with short range, resticting it to ambush tactics
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
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- reference to the series of the ship;
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External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the ship;
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| Higgins Industries Ships | |
|---|---|
| Patrol Torpedo Boats (PT) | |
| 81' PT Prototype | PT-6 |
| 78' PT | PT-71 · PT-200 · PT-658 · MTB-422* · MS 444** |
| *PT-92 in UK service | |
| **PT-94 in Italian service | |
| USA boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | PT-3 · PT-6 · PT-20 · PT-71 · PT-103 · PT-109 · PT-174 |
| PT-200 · PT-314 · Thunderbolt (PT-556) · PT-565 · PT-658 · PT-810 · PT-811 · PT-812 | |
| Motor gun boats | Kim Qui · LCS(L)(3) · PT-59 · PTF-7 · USS Candid · USS Asheville · USS Douglas · USS Flagstaff · USS Tucumcari · USS Cyclone |
| Armoured gun boats | LCM(6) Zippo |
