The 30 foot surf rescue boat is a lifeboat that the United States Coast Guard has used in recent years. The 30' long boat is designated the surf rescue boat (SRB) and was introduced in 1983. [1]
The 30 foot surf rescue boat is a lifeboat that the United States Coast Guard has used in recent years. The 30' long boat is designated the surf rescue boat (SRB) and was introduced in 1983. [1]
The 30' SRB was self-righting and self baling and designed with marked differences from the typical lifeboats used by the Coast Guard up until the early 1980s. The 30' SRB is not considered to be a Motor Lifeboat (MLB), but was generally used in a similar capacity. Designed to perform search and rescue in adverse weather and surf the first 30' SRB was built by the Willard Boat Company in Fountain Valley, California. Much of the 30 footer's design centered on speed. The sides of the hull are made of 5/8" Airex foam cored fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP), and the bottom of the hull is constructed of solid FRP molded in one piece. The boat is 30' 4" in length with a 9' 4" beam, and weighs a total of 11,500 lb (5,200 kg) when fully loaded with gear and engine. The 30 footer has a single Detroit Diesel 6V92TI engine, configured by Johnson Towers rated at 375 horsepower (280 kW). The throttles are manually controlled, and the boat has a single screw and rudder.
The 30' SRB's were rated for a top speed of 31 knots (57 km/h) although most of the hulls fell prey to minor water intrusion into the FRP, which slowed most of the boats to around 28 knots (52 km/h) at max RPM. The 30 footer has a range of 130 nmi (240 km), and most standard operating procedures dictate that the boat not go more than 20 nautical miles (37 km) offshore without a waiver granted from higher level commands. The fuel capacity is 78 gallons at 100%, and the vessel is generally operated with a crew of two, a surfman and an engineer. The crew both stand on the coxswain flat, protected by the superstructure on the bow and stern. The boat's appearance has caused many to comment that it looks like a "Nike Tennis Shoe".
The intent for the boat is that it be used for quick response. It is able to get on scene quickly, get into a surf zone and extract any persons in the water, or to stabilize a situation until the slower and larger motor lifeboat can get on scene. Since 1997 and the introduction of the faster 47' MLB and the phasing out of the 44' MLBs the need for a quick response vessel diminished making the 30 footers obsolete. The class of vessels underwent an overhaul in the early nineties to extend their life until the newer and faster 47' motor lifeboats came into service and in the late 1990s most of the 30 footers were de-commissioned. One still remains on active duty at Motor Lifeboat Station Depoe Bay in Depoe Bay, Oregon and is used almost daily. This station was host to the last 36' motor lifeboat in the late 1980s.
Even though the boats have many quirks, including "dynamic instability", where the boat becomes unstable at high speeds, many surfmen who became qualified on the boats have sworn by them. Sometimes referred to as a sports car compared to a tractor, referring to the larger MLBs, they are challenging to learn to operate but once mastered one of the most seaworthy boats the Coast Guard has used.
CCGS Cape Sutil is a Canadian Coast Guard Cape-class motor lifeboat stationed at Port Hardy, British Columbia. She was commissioned by Herb Dhaliwal, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, on 1 August 2000 at CCG Station Port Hardy at the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crew and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine. Lifeboats may be rigid, inflatable or rigid-inflatable combination-hulled vessels.
The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) maintains a fleet of 14.6 m Cape-class motor lifeboats based on a motor lifeboat design used by the United States Coast Guard. In September 2009 the CCG announced plans to add five new lifeboats, bringing the total number of Cape-class lifeboats to 36.
The 47-foot MLB is the standard lifeboat of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). The 47′ MLB is the successor to the 44′ MLB.
CCGS Cape Hearne is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. She as christened in 2005, at the Canadian Coast Guard station at Kingston, Ontario. According to Peter Milliken, the local member of Parliament: "Kingston, with its long-standing history with fishing, maritime trade and recreational boating fully understands the clear need for search and rescue capacity on our Great Lakes. Assigning these new state-of-the-art lifeboats to coastal communities demonstrates the federal commitment to providing the highest levels of safety to ensure the ongoing prosperity and enjoyment of our aquatic riches."
CCGS Cape Discovery is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats.` She is stationed at Goderich, Ontario. At the vessel's official christening, on June 10, 2006, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Loyola Hearn, said: "Having this state-of-the-art vessel for our personnel provides them with greater safety, as they aid those in distress -- very often in conditions that put their own lives at risk. With the cutter Cape Discovery, we are well positioned to respond to emergency calls, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."
CCGS Cape Fox is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. She and a sister vessel, CCGS Cape Norman, serve the northern coast of Newfoundland. Her home port is Lark Harbour.
CCGS Thunder Cape is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. She was built in Kingston, Ontario, in 2000, by MetalCraft Marine and MIL Systems and was moved to Goderich, Ontario, in October 2005. Assigned to the Central and Arctic Region, the lifeboat serves the Lake Erie area. The boat is backed up by search and rescue operations from 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron. The Thunder Cape was damaged in a collision with the breakwater at the outlet of the Mission River in Thunder Bay.
CCGS Cape Cockburn is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. Cape Cockburn was built in the Victoria Shipyards, in Vancouver, and is stationed at Powell River, British Columbia.
CCGS Cap Breton is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. The vessel is stationed in Shippegan, New Brunswick.
CCGS Cape Commodore is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. The vessel was built in Victoria Shipyards, in Vancouver, British Columbia and was stationed in Tobermory, Ontario, in September 2005.
The 44-foot motor lifeboat was the standard workhorse of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) rescue boat fleet. The 44′ MLB has been replaced by the 47′ MLB. The boats are powered by twin diesel engines, each powering a separate propeller. The propellers are protected by the hull to help prevent them being damaged if the boat runs aground. The boats have air-tight compartments forward and aft of the steering station. The aft compartment is designed to hold litters to strap in injured people, while the forward compartment holds uninjured rescued.
CCGS Cape Naden is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboat. Cape Naden was built at the Victoria Shipyards, in Victoria, British Columbia. Keith Ashfield Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway officiated at the vessel's dedication at Pat Bay.
CCGS Cape Dauphin is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboats. Cape Dauphin was built at the Victoria Shipyards, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was officially named and dedicated at her home port, Prince Rupert, in July 2011.
Richard Dixon was the coxswain of a 44-foot Motor Lifeboat, on the July 4th weekend of 1980, when his skill and daring enabled him to rescue stricken pleasure boat crew off Tillamook Bay, Oregon. During the first incident a 58-foot yacht was in distress in the aftermath of hurricane Celia, and needed to seek sheltered waters, but wave conditions seemed likely to batter it apart if it tried to use the narrow entrance between two stone jetties to enter Tillamook Bay's harbor. Dixon and the coxswain of another motor lifeboat maneuvered beside the yacht, to absorb some of the wave energy as it entered harbor.
The United States Coast Guard no longer operates four 52-foot Motor Lifeboats (MLBs), which supplement its fleet of 227 47-foot Motor Lifeboats. These vessels were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and displace 32 tons. The four vessels are all stationed in the Pacific Northwest.
The United States Coast Guard's series of motor lifeboats included a class of 36 foot motor lifeboats. The Coast Guard built the first of version these vessels in 1929, and retired the last active version, in 1987 as they were replaced by the 44 foot Steel Hull Motor Lifeboat. CG 36500 was retired from active service in 1968, and has since been restored and preserved as a floating museum. These vessels are remembered for the daring rescues Coast Guard seamen performed, using them.
CCGS Cape Spry is a Cape-class lifeboat in the Canadian Coast Guard Service, stationed at Souris, Prince Edward Island.
The United States Coast Guard wooden-hulled 83-foot patrol boats were all built by Wheeler Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York during World War II. The first 136 cutters were fitted with a tapered-roof Everdur silicon bronze wheelhouse but due to a growing scarcity of that metal during the war, the later units were fitted with a flat-roofed plywood wheelhouse. A total of 230 83-footers were built and entered service with the Coast Guard during the war. Twelve other 83-footers were built for the Navy and were transferred to Latin American navies.
Splinter fleet or Splinter navy was a nickname given to the United States wooden boats used in World War II. The boats served in many different roles during the war. These boats were built in small boatyards on the West coast and East coast, Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. They could be built quickly, in just 60 to 120 days. Most of the boats were built by boatyards that already had the tools and knowledge from building yachts, sailboats and motor boats. Many were built by craftsmen in family-owned small businesses. Under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program and War Shipping Administration contracts went out to over fifty boatyards across the country. The boats were built for the US Navy, the United States Army Air Forces, United States Coast Guard, and US Army. Some of the wooden boats went to Allied nations on the Lend-Lease program.
1983 May -- Station Tillamook Bay puts into use the 30-foot Surf Rescue Boat (SRB)