Motor Torpedo Boat PT-658

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-658 is a PT-625-class Higgins 78 ft PT boat, built for the United States Navy during World War II. PT-658 is a prime example of US Navy Motor Torpedo Boat development during World War II. PT-658 was in the last group of four boats delivered from the 36-boat contract NObs-1680, October 1944 for PT-625 to PT-660. Delivered and accepted on July 31, 1945, she was fitted with all of the latest armaments and design modifications as a result of lessons learned from previous contracts and battlefield experience. In this way, PT-658 is a showcase of the final form that Motor Torpedo Boats would take by the end of World War II. PT-658 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 2012. Of three PT boats listed on the National Register, she is the only one maintained in operating condition.

Service history
PT-658 was one of a group of PT boats assigned to MTB Squadron 45 in April 1945, for transfer to the USSR under Lend-Lease. By the time she was completed on July 30, 1945, this transfer had been cancelled. PT-658 was transported to Bremerton on the deck of LST-375 from New Orleans along with PT-657, PT-659, and PT-660, arriving on September 25, 1945. PT-658 was then stationed at Port Hueneme, California, where on August 27, 1946, she was reclassified as a Small Boat and renumbered C105343 to serve as a missile range patrol boat. On December 3, 1948, she was reclassified as Floating Equipment. PT-658 was then transferred to Naval Air Station Point Mugu, reclassified as RCT-13, and used for patrolling the Point Mugu missile test range for stray craft into the missile landing area, and for towing targets. Also during this period, PT-658 served twice a week as a high speed transport, carrying men and supplies to the USAF D.E.W. Radar Station on Santa Rosa Island, off the coast of Los Angeles in the Channel Island Group. PT-658's survival has been attributed to her completion late in the war, and that she was never sent overseas.

On June 30, 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 US Army Logistics Support Vessel General Brehon B. Somervell.

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, the only restored US Navy PT Boat that is operational today.

PT-658's restoration included 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, and two Mark 6 300 lb TNT depth charges. She has three working 1850 hp Packard Model 5M-2500 V12 gasoline engines.

PT-658 is located in Portland, Oregon at the Swan Island Navy Operational Support Center Pier. PT-658 is open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays almost every week when the crew is there for maintenance. She has been moved into the 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, 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.