Arun-class lifeboat

The Arun-class lifeboat was a fast all-weather lifeboat designed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) for service at its stations around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland. They were operated by the RNLI between 1971 and 2008. Many have been sold to see further service in the lifeboat and coastguard services of other countries.

Arun-class lifeboat
Class overview
Builders:	52-01/2, 54-03 William Osborne, Littlehampton Others, hulls moulded by Halmatic Ltd. Fitted out by : William Osbourne Halmatic W.A Souter Fairey Marine Berthon Boat Co. Robsons
Operators:	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Preceded by:	Waveney
Succeeded by:	Severn
Cost:	£128,000 (52-01) – £640,000 (52-46)
Built:	1971–1990
In service:	1971–2008
Completed:	46
Retired:	46
Preserved:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Lifeboat
Displacement:	32 long tons (33 t)
Length:	52 or 54 ft (16 or 16 m)
Beam:	17 ft (5.2 m)
Draught:	5 ft (1.5 m)
Propulsion:	52-02 to 52-14: 2 x 460 bhp (340 kW) Caterpillar D343 6-cylinder 52-15 to 52-46: 2 x 485 bhp (362 kW) Caterpillar 3408TA V-8
Speed:	18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph)
Range:	250 nmi (460 km; 290 mi)
Complement:	6

The class takes its name from the River Arun in Sussex, England.

History

The RNLI's first lifeboat capable of speeds in excess of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) was the 14-knot (26 km/h; 16 mph) Waveney-class boats introduced in 1967. This was based on an American design, but in 1971 it was supplemented by the Arun class which was designed by the RNLI and gave vastly improved accommodation and increased the speed to 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph).[1]

The first prototype boat entered service at St Peter Port in 1972 but moved on to Barry Dock where it was stationed until 1997. Two more boats were introduced in 1973 and 1974 and then full production started in 1975 although small numbers of Waveney-class boats were still built until 1982. By 1990, 46 Arun-class boats had been launched. The following year saw the launch of the first 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) Severn- and Trent-class boats.[2]

The three prototype boats were withdrawn between 1994 and 1997, the third of which then went on display at the National Lifeboat Museum. The production series boats were taken out of regular service between 1998 and 2007. While a few have found new uses around the coast of Great Britain, the majority have been sold to other lifeboat operators around the world, predominantly in China, Finland and Iceland[2] and some further boats were built new for service in Canada and Greece.[3] Those travelling long distances go as deck cargo on larger ships but those going to closer harbours are generally sailed across under their own power. The first boat to go to Iceland, Richard Evans, was loaded as deck cargo on a container ship but was washed overboard during the passage – the only Arun to have been lost at sea.[4]

Design

The design was developed for the RNLI by J.A. MacLachlan working for naval architects G.L. Watson of Glasgow. Initially proposed with chines along the hull to disperse the spray and improve stability when underway at speed, this caused a high deck above water which proved difficult when trying to get people aboard from the water, so the chines were dispensed with on the second boat and the deck curved down nearer the water.[5] The first three boats were built with wooden hulls[6] and were respectively 51 feet 7 inches (15.72 m), 52 feet (16 m) and 54 feet (16 m) long, the extra length due to a rounded transom. All differed in superstructure design, 52-01 having a raked back superstructure front with the flying bridge at the after end. 52-02 introduced forward raked wheelhouse windscreens, had a unique wheelhouse side window pattern and retained the aft mounted flying bridge. On 52-03, the flying bridge was moved to the forward end of the wheelhouse, the front of which was rounded. From 54-04, the forward flying bridge was standardised and the forward raked wheelhouse windscreens were reintroduced. The side windows were recessed from the superstructure sides. 54-04 had a Glass Reinforce Plastic hull and this was standardised for future boats. 54-04 to 54-07 retained the rounded transon but from 52-08 a square transom was reintroduced. The final external change came with 52-11 which had flush sided forward wheelhouse windows and this was a feature of all subsequent boats. In 1986 52-030 (ON 1100) became the only steel-hulled Arun. It was regarded as the best of the class for seakeeping, although the slowest. The GRP hulls were moulded in blue material in the outer skin. After a while it was found that water was accumulating in the fibreglass which added up to two tons to the weight. The boats had the coloured layer stripped off and replaced by a new one made with clear gel which reduced the amount of water absorbed.[5]

The interior of the upper rear cabin

The large watertight cabin gave it self-righting capability. Two survivor cabins are situated below decks where first aid and emergency equipment is stowed. The hull is divided into 26 watertight compartments as protection against sinking should it be holed. There is also a flying bridge above the main cabin with an auxiliary steering position which can be used when additional height or visibility is required during an operation. The boat won a Design Council award in 1982.[6]

Two Caterpillar D343 460 hp (340 kW) diesel engines were fitted to boats up 52-14, subsequent boats being fitted with two Caterpillar 3408TA 485 hp (362 kW) . Fuel tanks have 620 gallon capacity which gives an operating range of 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi).[6]

RNLI fleet

ON[lower-alpha 1]	Op. No.[lower-alpha 2]	Name	Built	In service	Principal stations	Further use
1018	52-01	Arun	1971	1974–1997	Barry Dock	Commercial use at Dundee Renamed Arun Adventurer
1025	52-02	Sir William Arnold	1973	1973–1997	St Peter Port	Pleasure boat at Cork
1037	54-03	Edward Bridges (C.S. No. 37)	1974	1975–1994	Torbay	Preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard
1049	54-04	Tony Vandervell	1976	1975–1999	Weymouth	Sold to SMPS Finland SAR 1999 as Mac Elliot and based at Porkkala. Sold to Russia in November 2013 for SAR operations in Kronstadt. Modernized in 2014 and renamed as Barracuda.
1050	54-05	B.P. Forties	1975	1975–1998	Aberdeen	Iceland
1051	54-06	The Gough Ritchie	1976	1976–1998	Port St Mary	Chile image here
1052	54-07	City of Bradford IV	1976	1977–1987 1991–1998	Humber Tobermory	Ship's tender in Sweden
1053	52-08	Joy and John Wade	1977	1977–2001	Yarmouth	Iceland
1056	52-09	Spirit of Tayside	1978	1978–1999	Broughty Ferry	Australia
1057	52-10	Soldian	1978	1978–1997 1998–1999 1999–2001	Lerwick Achill Island Relief fleet	Iceland
1058	52-11	Elizabeth Ann	1979	1979–2001	Falmouth	Australia
1059	52-12	Walter and Margaret Couper	1979	1979–2001	Campbeltown	Sold to SMPS Finland in 2001 Arvin Silma/ Russaro and based at Hanko from June 2002. Sold to Russia in November 2013 for SAR operations in Kronstadt. Modernized in 2014 and renamed as Murena.
1061	52-13	George and Olive Turner	1980	1980–2000	Tynemouth	Iceland
1062	52-14	Edith Emilie	1980	1980–1999		Pilot boat at Montrose
1067	52-15	Hyman Winstone	1980	1980–1985 1985–1998 1998–2002	Relief fleet Ballycotton Relief fleet	Madeira
1070	52-16	Richard Evans (C.S. No. 39)	1981	1981–2000 2000–2003	Portrush Relief fleet	Sold to Iceland but wrecked during delivery.
1071	52-17	Sir Max Aitken	1981	1981–2001		Trip boat on the River Crouch
1073	52-18	Robert Edgar	1981	1981–1997 1997–2002	St Mary's Relief fleet	Pleasure boat in New Zealand
1076	52-19	Marie Winstone	1981	1981–1994 1995–2002	Fishguard Torbay	Finland
1077	52-20	Duchess of Kent	1982	1982–2002		Madeira (Portugal) lifeboat of SANAS Madeira, renamed Salvador do Mar
1078	52-21	The Davina and Charles Matthew Hunter	1982	1982–2001 2001–2003	Mallaig Relief fleet	Iceland
1081	52-22	Ralph and Bonella Farrant	1982	1982–1994 1994–1999 1999–2003	Relief fleet Fenit Relief fleet	China
1082	52-23	Margaret Frances Love	1982	1983–1996 1997–2003	Valentia Barry Dock	China
1085	52-24	Mabel Alice	1982	1983–2003	Penlee	Trip boat at Portishead
1086	52-25	A.J.R. & L.G. Uridge	1983	1983–2003	Relief Fleet	Finland
1092	52-26	St Brendan	1984	1984–2001	Rosslare Harbour	Fishing boat at Holyhead
1093	52-27	Charles Brown	1984	1984–2005	Buckie	China
1098	52-28	Sir Max Aitken II	1984	1984–1999 1999–2004 2004–2005	Stornoway Longhope Relief fleet	China
1099	52-29	The Joseph Rothwell Sykes and Hilda M	1984	1984–1998 1998–2002	Stromness Relief fleet	Finland
1100	52-030	Snolda	1986	1986–1998 1998–2007	Aith Relief fleet	Iceland
1103	52-31	Newsbuoy	1984	1984–2004		Faroe Islands
1106	52-32	Keith Anderson	1985	1985–1999 1999–2003	Newhaven Relief fleet	China
1107	52-33	City of Belfast	1985	1985–2003	Donaghadee	China
1108	52-34	Margaret Russell Fraser	1984	1986–2002 2002–2004	Relief Fleet Calshot	Iceland
1113	52-35	City of Dublin	1986	1986–2003	Howth	Iceland
1118	52-36	Roy and Barbara Harding	1987	1987–1997 1997–2004	Galway Bay Castletownbere	Iceland
1123	52-37	Kenneth Thelwall	1987	1987–1997 1997–2003 2003–2004	Humber Holyhead Relief fleet	China
1134	52-38	City of Glasgow III	1987	1987–2005	Troon	Iceland
1135	52-39	Mickie Salvensen	1988	1988–1998 1998–2000 2000–2003 2003-2006	Kirkwall Aberdeen Relief fleet Barry Dock	Iceland
1136	52-40	City of Plymouth	1987	1988–2004	Plymouth	Iceland
1143	52-41	Ann Lewis Fraser	1988	1988–1998 1998–2003 2003–2004	Barra Island Tobermory Relief fleet	China
1144	52-42	Murray Lornie	1988	1989–2005	Lochinver	Iceland
1149	52-43	The Queen Mother	1989	1989–2009	Thurso	Sold to the Montevideo Pilot Association, Uruguay as Ederra 4[7]
1150	52-44	Hibernia	1989	1989–2007		China
1159	52-45	Mabel Williams	1990	1990–1998 1998–2007	Ballyglass Relief fleet	China
1160	52-46	Duke of Atholl	1990	1990–1999 1999-1999 1999-2003 2003-2004 2004-2008	Relief Fleet Weymouth unknown Hartlepool Relief Fleet	Iceland

1. ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
2. Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.

Other fleets

Australia

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station[2]
P V Danial Thain	1056	1978	1999	Port Stephens, New South Wales
P&O Nedlloyd Encounter	1058	1979	2002	Ulladulla, New South Wales

Canada

CCGS Sambro

CCGS Spray

Ten 15.77-metre (51.7 ft) boats were built for the Canadian Coast Guard.[3] They were all built in Canada by Industrie Raymond Ltée of Sept-Iles, Quebec; East Isle Shipyard Ltd. of Georgetown, Prince Edward Island; Hike Metals & Shipbuilbing Ltd. of Wheatley, Ontario, with aluminium hulls except for the GRP-hulled British-built prototype (CCGS Bickerton) which was built by Halmatic, Southampton. They are considered "high endurance" lifeboats staffed by a crew of four. The first vessels of this class were ordered in 1990.[8] The Canadian Coast Guard also maintains approximately three dozen smaller Cape-class motor lifeboats.[9] They are considered "medium endurance" lifeboats.

Name	Built	Sold	Station
CCGS Bickerton	1989		Bickerton East, Nova Scotia
CCGS Cap aux Meules	1996		Cap-aux-Meules, Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec
CCGS Clarks Harbour	1996		West Head, Nova Scotia
CCGS Courtney Bay	1994		Saint John, New Brunswick
CCGS Sambro	1996		Sambro, Nova Scotia
CCGS Spindrift	1992		Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
CCGS Spray	1994		Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
CCGS W.G. George	1994		Burgeo, Newfoundland and Labrador
CCGS W. Jackman	1994		Burin, Newfoundland and Labrador
CCGS Westport	1997		Westport, Nova Scotia

Chile

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station	Comments[2]
Capitan Eduardo Simpson Roth	1051	1976	1998	Valparaíso	54 ft (16 m) boat

China

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station[2]
Huaying 390	1150	1989	2007	Waigaoqiao
Huaying 391	1159	1990	2007	Donghai
Huaying 392	1143	1988	2006	Shantou
Huaying 393	1081	1982	2004	Fuzhou
Huaying 394	1107	1985	2004	Dalian
Huaying 395	1106	1985	2004	Dalian
Huaying 396	1093	1984	2005	Shenzen
Huaying 397	1098	1984	2005	Zhangjiang
Huaying 398	1082	1982	2004	Donghai, Shanghai
Huaying 399	1123	1987	2004	Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Faroe Islands

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station[2]
Ziska	1103	1984	2005	Klaksvik, Faroe Islands

Comment : Kept in same condition and used for SAR operations, covering all of the Faroe islands.

Finland

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station	Comments[2]
Hebe	1086	1983	2003	Kemi	Relocated in Hanko
Janne Malén	1099	1984	2002	Uusikaupunki
Mac Elliot	1049	1975	1999	Porkkala (1999-2008), Porvoo (2008-2013)	54 ft (16 m) boat, sold to Kronstadt,Russia
Russarö	1059	1979	2001	Hanko (2001-2013)	sold to Kronstadt,Russia
Torbay	1076	1981	2002	Kaskinen

Greece

The Greek boats were built in Greece by MotoMarine with GRP hulls.[10] Ten are in service with the Hellenic Coast Guard.

Iceland

Name	RNLI ON	Built	Sold	Station	Comments[2]
Asgrimur S Bjornsson	1057	1978	2002	Reykjavík	In use by Ársæll SAR team
Bjorg	1053	1977	2002	Rif
Hannes Þ hafsteinn	1078	1982	2003	Sandgerði
former named Jon Oddgeir	1061	1980	2000	decommissioned	Reported for sale in 2008, previously Gunnar Fridriksson but replaced by ON 1160. Reported damaged beyond repair, scrapped in December 2014
	1070	1981	2003		Wrecked on passage to Iceland
Gunnbjorg	1118	1987	2004	Raufarhofn	Replacement for ON 1070 lost on passage
Hafbjorg	1113	1986	2004	Neskaupstadur
Jón oddgeir	1050	1975	1999	relief fleet December 2014	54 ft (16 m) boat,previously Oddur V Gislason but replaced by 1100. replaced by on 1078 in December 2014
Hunabjorg	1136	1987	2005	Skagastrond
Ingibjorg	1108	1986	2006	Hornafjordur
Oddur V Gislason	1100	1986	2007	Grindavik	Steel hull
Sigurvin	1144	198	2005	Siglufjordur
Sveinbjörn Sveinsson	1134	1987	2006	Vopnafjordur
Vordur II	1135	1988	2006	Patreksfjordur
Gunnar Fridriksson	1160	1990	2007	Isafjordur

Madeira

Name	RNLI ON[2]	Built	Sold	Station
Salvador do Mar	1067	1980	2003	SANAS
?	1077	1982	2003	SANAS

References

1. Wake-Walker, Edward (2008). The Lifeboats Story. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. pp. 59–63. ISBN 978-0-7509-4858-6.
2. Denton, Tony (2009). Handbook 2009. Shrewsbury: Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 26–33.
3. Leach 2011, pp. 34–35
4. Kipling, Ray; Kipling, Susannah (2006). Never Turn Back. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. p. 173. ISBN 0-7509-4307-6.
5. Kipling, Ray; Kipling, Susannah (2006). Never Turn Back. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. pp. 85–87. ISBN 0-7509-4307-6.
6. Wake-Walker, Edward; Deane, Heather; Purches, Georgette (1989). Lifeboat! Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Shepperton: Ian Allan. pp. 38–41. ISBN 0-7110-1835-9.
7. Leach 2011, p. 122
8. "Fishermen's union: Supports plan to move Coast Guard lifeboat". North Island Gazette. 7 February 1990. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
9. "New vessels ordered for Canadian Coast Guard". Marine Log. 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009.
10. http://www.motomarine.gr/military/index.html

Bibliography

• Leach, Nicholas (2011). Arun Lifeboats - An Illustrated History of the RNLI Arun lifeboats 1971-2009. Cudham, Kent, United Kingdom: Kelsey Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-907426-21-6.