Response Boat – Medium

The Response Boat – Medium (RB-M) is a 45-foot (14 m) utility boat used by the United States Coast Guard. It is a replacement for the Coast Guard's retired fleet of 41-foot (12 m) utility boats (UTB), which had been in use by the Coast Guard since the 1970s. On June 21, 2006 the USCG awarded the RB-M contract to Marinette Marine of Marinette, Wisconsin and Kvichak Marine Industries of Seattle, Washington. The RB-M was designed by Camarc Design in the UK. Between June of 2006 and March of 2015 Marinette, in Green Bay Wisconsin and Kvichak in Kent, Washington partnered to build and deliver 174 RB-Ms to the USCG. Kvichak developed and delivered several police boat variants to several cities including Seattle and New York.

A US Coast Guard RB-M underway off Yorktown, Virginia
Class overview
Builders	Marinette Marine Corporation Kvichak Marine Industries
Operators	United States Coast Guard Canadian Coast Guard
Preceded by	41-foot Utility Boat, Large
Planned	170
Completed	174
General characteristics
Displacement	16.3 ton
Length	44 ft 9 in (13.64 m)
Beam	14 ft 7.75 in (4.4641 m)
Draft	3 ft 4 in (1.02 m)
Installed power	2 × MTU Detroit Diesel turbocharged Series 60 engines, 825 hp (615 kW) total
Propulsion	2 × Kongsberg Maritime FF-Series waterjets
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) (cruise) 42.5 knots (78.7 km/h; 48.9 mph) (max)
Range	250 nmi (460 km; 290 mi) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	4
Armament	2 × M240B general-purpose machine guns

The USCG Response Boat Medium (RBM) has replaced a fleet of 41-foot utility boats (UTBs) that averaged over 30-years of service^[1]

In the summer of 2017, the Canadian Coast Guard purchased a used 45 RBM from the United States Coast Guard. It is based in Vancouver British Columbia under the name CCGS Laredo Sound.

According to the US Coast Guard, "While primarily a search and rescue asset when the 41' UTB was first fielded, the evolution of missions has increased the requirement to perform many missions including recreational boating safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ports, waterways, and coastal security, and defense operations, including those traditional missions associated with Homeland Security."^{[2][failed verification]}

On March 17, 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard received the 174th and final RB-M into service.^[3]

General characteristics

The boat has a deep-V, double chine hull, which provides a balance of performance and stability. The vessel is self-righting if it capsizes in rough seas. Below the pilot house are six compartments:

• Lazarette
• Auxiliary machinery compartment
• Engine room
• Survivors' Compartment
• Forepeak
• Head

(Sources:^[4][5])

Electronics

• FLIR navigator thermal imager
• Furuno scalable integrated navigation system
• Furuno radios
• Gentex LVIS digital intercom system
• Taiyo TD-L1550A VHF Direction Finder
• Motorola 5000 digital mobile radio
• Mount for KY-99 makes RB-M ready for secure communications
• L3 Communications automatic identification system

Hull numbering

In keeping with standard USCG practice, boats of this size have hull numbers and are not named. This type of boat has a hull number beginning with the length of the boat (45′) and then a sequential number. In the case of the RB-M boats, the hull numbers begin with 601. Thus the first boat will be RB-M 45601.

Boats

USCG 45602 underway at Cape Disappointment, Washington. August 7, 2008

USCG RB-M 45604 patrolling Lake Michigan at Gary, Indiana, during an airshow

Birds-eye view of a RB-M

Boat	Station	Delivery date
45601	Little Creek, Virginia	March 2008
45602	Cape Disappointment, Washington	August 2008
45603	Key West, Florida	October 2008
45604	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	October 2008
45605	Staten Island, New York	December 2008
45606	Port Aransas, Texas	January 2009
45607	Yorktown, Virginia	February 2009
45608	Boston, Massachusetts	March 2009
45609	San Juan, Puerto Rico	May 2009
45610	Staten Island, New York	July 2009
45611	Port Aransas, Texas	July 2009
45612	Staten Island, New York	August 2009
45613	Maui, Hawaii	September 2009
45614	Staten Island, New York	August 2009
45615	Little Creek, Virginia	November 2009
45616	Staten Island, New York	December 2009
45617	Cortez, Florida	November 2009
45618	Galveston, Texas	January 2010
45619	Honolulu, Hawaii	March 2010
45620	Castle Hill, Rhode Island	November 2009
45621	Panama City, Florida	January 2010
45622	Staten Island, New York	December 2009
45623	St. Petersburg, Florida	June 2010
45624	Cleveland Harbor, Ohio	April 2010
45625	Lake Worth Inlet, Florida	July 2010
45626	Belle Isle, Michigan	April 2010
45627	Honolulu, Hawaii	August 2010
45628	Duluth, Minnesota	May 2010
45629	Castle Hill, Rhode Island	June 2010
45630	Galveston, Texas	June 2010
45631	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	July 2010
45632	Belle Isle, Michigan	August 2010
45633	Panama City, Florida	August 2010
45634	Fort Pierce, Florida	September 2010
45635	Calumet Harbor, Illinois	September 2010
45636	New Orleans, Louisiana	September 2010
45640	Annapolis, Maryland	November 2010
45641	Curtis Bay, Maryland	November 2010
45643	Los Angeles/Long Beach, California	December 2010
45645	Seattle, Washington	January 2010
45651	Los Angeles/Long Beach, California	March 2011
45652	Los Angeles/Long Beach, California	March 2011
45664	Seattle, Washington	June 2011
45658	Seattle, Washington	August 2011
45690	Buffalo, New York	May 2012
45703	Essexville, Michigan	October 2012
45721	Charlevoix, Michigan	April 2013
45723	Youngstown, New York	May 2013
45744	Hobucken, North Carolina	2014
45745	Hudgins, Virginia	February 2014
45742	Crisfield, Maryland
45749	Port Angeles, Washington
45754	St. Joseph, Michigan	May 2014
45771	Destin, Florida	2015
45772	Charleston, South Carolina	2015
45773	New Orleans, Louisiana	2015
45774	St. Petersburg, Florida	2015

Sources:^[6][7]

Media

RB-M 45771 at Station Destin, Florida was featured at Smarter Every Day channel ^[8]

See also

• Equipment of the United States Coast Guard