A restored PT-305 patrol-torpedo boat – nicknamed the USS Sudden Jerk – serves as the centerpiece of the National World War II Museum’s renovated John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion.
The pavilion has reopened to the public and features restored World War II macro-artifacts and scientific advancements from the war era.
Museum visitors can observe the fully restored vessel from the Lester and Beverly Wainer PT-305 Viewing Terrace and learn of her wartime crew and tours of duty. The Pavilion also houses the STEM Innovation Gallery, an educational space that gives visitors the opportunity to engage in tactile learning and exploration.
“With PT-305 officially on display in Kushner Restoration Pavilion, where she was restored to her former glory, the Museum offers visitors the unique opportunity to interact with a WWII artifact of this scale and significance,” said Cory Graff, Curator and Restoration Manager for the National World War II Museum. “We are excited that new generations can now get up close with PT-305 and connect with the experience of the servicemembers who fought aboard her.”
An article on the National World War II Museum website explains how the PT-305 was named the USS Sudden Jerk.
“Patrol-torpedo boats were only given a numerical hull designation, unlike their larger counterparts. Crews were allowed to give their boats a nickname, and often got creative. … PT-305 was given two confirmed nicknames during the war, the first coming from a crew mishap, as told by Baker First Class Benedit Bronder, with the first crew in 1943. The one we had was Sudden Jerk,” he said.
“And the way they got that (was) they were backing in to park it and they sped up a little bit too much and when it come back, it hit where it was tied up. And they said, ‘That was a sudden jerk!’ And then they said, ‘That’s a good name!’ It didn’t ruin anything on the boat, but that’s where it got the name Sudden Jerk.”
The PT-305 was built in New Orleans by Higgins Industries. It was a critical asset for the U.S. Navy, serving in Mediterranean waters from 1944 to the end of the war. After years of civilian use, PT-305 was obtained by the Museum in 2007. Volunteers restored her over the next 10 years, dedicating more than 120,000 hours of labor. In March 2017, PT-305 offered rides and tours on Lake Pontchartrain, where she was tested by Higgins Industries. In 2022, PT-305 returned to the Museum to make her more accessible to wider audiences on campus.
The Museum announced that guided tours of PT-305’s interior will be offered in the future. The Pavilion will also include a dedicated facility for the restoration and preservation of the Museum’s collection of WWII macro-artifacts, which includes aircraft, boats, tanks, and vehicles. Some of the anticipated first projects will be the Museum’s M3A1 Stewart tank, 1943 Ford-American LaFrance fire truck, and Clark aircraft tug.
The restoration work will be performed by Museum staff and volunteers, in full view of the public — with an observation space providing a peek into the maintenance of WWII-era vehicles and other artifacts.
The STEM Innovation Gallery features hands-on experiments and authentic WWII-era macro-artifacts, including a Dodge WC-9 Ambulance and LVT-4 (Landing Vehicle Tracked), to show how science, technology, engineering, and math contributed to, and advanced the Allied effort.
A native New Orleanian, John E. Kushner was a founding board member and an ardent enthusiast of WWII history with a particular affinity for collecting and restoring artifacts.
