The Waveney class lifeboat was the first class of lifeboats

Lifeboat (rescue)

A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

 operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....

 (RNLI) capable of operating at speeds in excess of 10 knots (19.6 km/h). Based on an American hull design, 22 were in operation between 1964 and 1999 at the RNLI's stations around the coast of the United Kingdom and Ireland. After being superseded by faster boats in the 1990s many were sold for further use with lifeboat services abroad, notably in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

The class name comes from the River Waveney

River Waveney

The Waveney is a river which forms the border between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads.-Course:The source of the River Waveney is a ditch on the east side of the B1113 road between the villages of Redgrave, Suffolk and South Lopham, Norfolk...

 which discharges into the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 at Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

.

History

In the 1960s the RNLI's fleet consisted of motor lifeboats of limited speed due to the shape of their hull. The United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 (USCG) had developed a faster 44-foot motor lifeboat

44-foot motor lifeboat

The 44-foot motor lifeboat was the standard workhorse of the United States Coast Guard rescue boat fleet. The 44′ MLB has been replaced by the 47′ MLB....

 which planed across the water with a reduced contact area and therefore could move much faster. One was built for the RNLI by the USCG in Curtis Bay Coast Guard Yard, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, and this was put through extensive trials and proved capable of operating in restricted spaces, even though the propellers lacked the usual protection afforded to lifeboats.

The prototype was never given a name although the crews nicknamed it "The Yank". It entered trials in 1964 but the first production boats did not start to emerge until 1967. After six had been placed in service there was a pause until 1974 before production restarted, and then continued through until 1982 by which time 22 were in service. The entire fleet was replaced between 1996 and 1999 as new and lifeboats came into service, but many were sold for further use as lifeboats or pilot boats.

The boats launched in 1967 and 1968 were built by Brooke Marine

Brooke Marine

Brooke Marine was a Lowestoft-based shipbuilding firm. The company constructed boats and small ships for civilian and commercial use, as well as minor warships for the Royal Navy, Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Australian Navy, Kenya Navy and United States Navy.The company was founded in 1874 as a...

 at Lowestoft

Lowestoft

Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...

 and those in 1975 by Groves and Gutterdige in Cowes

Cowes

Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...

. The 1976 batch came from Bideford

Bideford

Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...

 Ship Yard and the last three from Fairey Marine in Cowes.

Two 50 feet (15.2 m) long versions were built as the first of a proposed fleet of lifeboats but the class was cancelled in favour of an with a different hull shape and improved crew facilities.

Description

The steel hull is 44 in 10 in (13.67 m) long and 12 in 8 in (3.86 m) wide, drawing 4 in 2 in (1.27 m) of water. The hull is divided into seven watertight compartments including two survivor compartments and a crew space. The coxswain

Coxswain

The coxswain is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives us a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from cox, a coxboat or other small vessel kept aboard a ship, and swain, which can be rendered as boy, in authority. ...

 operates the boat from an open wheelhouse. Powered by a pair of diesel engines, it has an operating radius of 95 nautical miles (175.9 km).

The prototype was built with twin 200hp Cummins engines but in 1973 they were upgraded to 250hp Ford engines. The first batch of production boats were initially built with pairs of 215hp Cummins engines. All these, including the prototype were re-engined in the early 1980s with 203hp Caterpillar engines. The 1975 boats had more powerful 260hp General Motors engines. The ones built in 1976 were originally fitted with 250hp Ford Mermaid engines but these were changed after a couple of years for Caterpillar engines of the same power as had by then been fitted to the three final boats.

RNLI fleet

ON	Op. No.	Name	Built	In service	Principal stations	Further use	Image
–	44-001	–	1964	1964–1996		Preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham Historic Dockyard is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, England.Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilities for several hundred years until it was closed in 1984. After closure the dockyard was...
1001	44-002	John F. Kennedy	1966	1967–1996		Fishing boat Sarah JFK at North Shields North Shields North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
1002	44-003	Khami	1967	1967–1997		Sold to Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
1003	44-004	Faithful Forrester	1967	1967–1997		Sold to Australia
1004	44-005	Margaret Graham	1967	1967–1999	(1967–1988) (1986–1999)	Pilot boat St Hilda of Whitby at Whitby Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
1005	44-006	Arthur and Blanche Harris	1968	1968–1996	(1968–1974) (1979–1985)	Sold to Australia
1006	44-007	Connel Elizabeth Cargill	1967	1968–1997	(1968–1985) (1986–1990)	Sold to Australia
1026	44-008	Eric Seal (C.S. No. 36)	1974	1974–1996		Sold to Namibia Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
1027	44-009	Helen Turnbull	1974	1974–1997		Pleasure boat Badger at Douglas Douglas, Isle of Man right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
1028	44-010	Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse II	1974	1974–1997	(1974–1987) (1988–1996)
1029	44-011	Augustine Courtauld	1974	1974–1997	(1974–1983) (1990–1997)	Sold to Australia
1033	44-012	The White Rose of Yorkshire	1974	1974–1997	(1974–1988) (1989–1996)	Sold to Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
1034	44-013	Thomas James King	1975	1975–1997		Pilot boat Northesk at Montrose Montrose -Places:Scotland* Montrose, AngusAustralia* Montrose, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart* Montrose, Victoria, a suburb of MelbourneCanada* Montrose, British Columbia* Montrose , neighborhood in Edmonton, Alberta* Montrose No...
1035	44-014	St Patrick	1975	1975–1996		Sold to Australia
1036	44-015	Lady of Lancashire	1975	1976–1996	(1976–1989) (1990–1995)	Pilot boat St Boisil at Berwick-on-Tweed
1042	44-016	Ralph and Joy Swann	1976	1976–1988	(1976–1990) (1991–1996)	Trip boat West Swann at Port Howard Port Howard Port Howard is the largest settlement on West Falkland . it is in the east of the island, on an inlet of Falkland Sound...
1043	44-017	The Nelsons of Donaghadee	1976	1976–1997		Sold to New Zealand
1044	44-018	The Scout	1977	1977–1997		Sold to Uruguay Uruguay Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
1045	44-019	Louis Marchesi of Round Table	1977	1977–1997	(1977–1985) (1986–1994)	Sold to New Zealand
1060	44-020	John Fison	1980	1980–1996		Sold to New Zealand
1065	44-021	Barham	1980	1980–1999		Pleasure boat Legend at Auckland Auckland The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
1079	44-022	The William and Jane	1982	1982–1998		Sold to New Zealand

Australia

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station
P&O Nedlloyd Rawalpindi	1006	1967	1999	Mosman, New South Wales
P&O Nedlloyd Strathaird	1029	1974	1999	Horseshoe Bay, New South Wales
P&O Nedlloyd Strahallan	1005	1968	1999	Bayview Bayview -Places:Australia* Bayview, New South Wales* Bayview, Northern TerritoryCanada* Bayview, Calgary, a neighborhood in Alberta* Bayview Avenue , a road in Ontario** Bayview , a subway station located on the above roadNew Zealand... , New South Wales
P&O Nedlloyd Stratheden	1002	1967	1999	Brighton le Sands Brighton le Sands Brighton le Sands can refer to the following locations:*Brighton-le-Sands, Sefton, England*Brighton-Le-Sands, New South Wales, Australia... , New South Wales New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
P&O Nedlloyd Strathmore	1003	1967	1999	Narooma, New South Wales
P&O Nedlloyd Strathnaver	1035	1975	1999	Batemans Bay, New South Wales

New Zealand

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station	Comments
Hamilton Rotary Rescue	1060	1980	1999	Raglan	Now at Nelson Nelson, New Zealand Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
John Barton Acland Rescue	1079	1982	2000		Now cruiser William and Jane
Nicholsons Rescue/Trust Porinua Rescue	1043	1976	1998	Mana Mana Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
P&O Nedlloyd Rescue	1045	1977	1999		Now a houseboat at Whangarei Whangarei Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
Westgate Rescue	1028	1974	1999	Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island and is the 10th largest region of New Zealand by population. It is named for the region's main geographical feature, Mount Taranaki....

Elsewhere

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station	Comments
1a 001	1033	1974	1999	Roberts Bank, Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,... , Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Ades 16 14-016	1044	1977	1997	Puerto del Buceo, Uruguay Uruguay Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
Spirit of Standard Bank	1026	1974	1999	Walvis Bay Walvis Bay Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies... , Namibia Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...	Moved to Luderitz Lüderitz Lüderitz is a harbour town in south-west Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.- Overview :... in 2005