I was glad to read that you didn't just blindly follow the directions when it came to the life rings. What many don't understand is that the boats relied on stealth more than anything else to get within range to fire their torpedoes and then get away. Having bright orange life rings would give you away and probably make your life very short, not that your odds were very good to begin with. In Europe, the main enemy was the German E-boat. The E-boat was more heavily armed, metal hulled and just as fast as the PT, making them a dangerous target. To make matters worse, the E-boat was diesel powered. It was very difficult to get one to burn when hit while the wood hull and avgas use by the PTs were readily flammable and could actually explode with a lucky shot to the fuel tanks