The Elco S-class PTB gunboat displaced about 41 tons and retained a nominal 41-knot speed, but its purpose was expressed through guns rather than torpedoes. John F. Kennedy's second command provides the example of a conversion carrying a dense battery of .50-caliber machine guns, 40 mm cannon, and lighter weapons. Unlike the larger Fairmile D developed to fight Schnellboots in the Channel, this arrangement answered the kinds of Japanese craft encountered in the Pacific. Different opponents and operating areas produced sharply different gunboat solutions from broadly similar fast-boat foundations.
Notable Point · 32:51-34:08
Elco S-class gunboats traded torpedoes for concentrated automatic fire
John F. Kennedy's later Elco command shows a Pacific gunboat layout built around machine guns and 40 mm cannon rather than torpedoes.