U.S.
Coast Guard History Program
52-Foot Wooden-Hulled Motor Lifeboat
Number: 52300 & 52301
Completed: 12 April 1935; 30 July 1935
Remarks: Invincible (52300); 1935-1967, stationed at Point Adams,
OR; transferred to USN 15 August 1967
Triumph I (52301) 1935-1941 stationed at Sandy Hook, NJ;
1941-? stationed at Grays Harbor, WA; ?- 12 January 1961
stationed at Coos Bay, OR; 12 January 1961, lost.
________________________________________________________________________________
Cost: N/A
Hull
Displacement (lbs): 30 tons fl
Length: 52’ oa; 50’ wl
Beam: 14’ 4” max
Draft: 6’ 8” max
Machinery
Main Engines: 1 Buda diesel
BHP: 150
Propellers: Single
Performance
Max Speed: 10.5 knots (1936)
Logistics
Fuel Oil (95%): N/A
Complement: 4 (1936)
Electronics
Radar:
Design
For the Coast Guard, lack of funding during the early Depression period combined with the need to
respond to other vessel construction priorities resulted in delays to the completion of the design of a
new, larger wooden-hulled lifeboat of 52’ overall length, having grown in size from the 45’ initially
projected in Coast Guard annual reports of 1930 and 1931. In 1933, as a direct result of the
Roosevelt administration’s public works programs to help stimulate the Depression economy, funding
was provided under Public Works Project F.P 32 for a program of lifeboat and surfboat construction to
include completion of the 52’ motor lifeboat model.
Ultimately, two new Type F (official Coast Guard designation) motor lifeboats were completed by the
Curtis Bay Yard. Boat No. 4460, later named Triumph, was completed in Fiscal Year 1934-35, and
boat No. 4000, later named Invincible, was completed in Fiscal Year 1936. The application of names
to these lifeboats was a first for the Coast Guard, although the Lifesaving Service had done so for a
number of the pulling/sailing and power lifeboats built during that era. During World War II, when the
Coast Guard adopted a new system of boat numbering, the two Type F lifeboats were renumbered,
with Invincible renumbered as CG-52300, and Triumph renumbered as CG-52301.
The Type F lifeboats were unique in terms of both their design as well as their propulsion plant
(please see Appendix X for detailed specifications and drawings). In terms of design, they were
double-ended with round bilges and considerable dead-rise to provide easy motion in a seaway.
Substantial freeboard and much sheer resulted in a relatively dry deck. Initially installed bulwarks
were later replaced by life rails to allow boarding seas in heavy weather to clear more readily, as well
as to provide as much working deck space as possible for carrying out rescues. Deck structures were
kept to a minimum in order to reduce the boat’s profile and increase stability. A total of sixty survivors
could be accommodated inside, while an additional one hundred survivors could, under good weather
conditions, be carried up on deck.
The hull was of especially strong construction, designed to distribute external stress over large areas
of framing and into bulkheads. Frames were of the double web type, and bulkheads divided the hull
into eight watertight compartments, any two of which could flood and still leave the boat floating
upright. The hull was single-planked of copper-fastened mahogany, and the deck was double-planked
teak. No metal air cases, balsa, or cork buoyancy blocks were fitted, but the engine compartment,
located amidships, was isolated from the hull sides by longitudinal watertight bulkheads. Although
these lifeboats were not self-righting, they possessed a much higher degree of initial stability than the
traditional 36’ lifeboat designs.
The pilothouse and engineroom trunk were of welded manganese-silicon bronze. In addition to an
inside steering station, an outside steering station was provided on the main deck aft of the pilot
house. Communication with the engine compartment was via voice tube. Crew quarters were located
in the watertight compartment forward of the engine compartment, and included a galley, heating and
ventilation, and pipe-frame bunks for overnight accommodations.
In terms of propulsion plant, the new 52’ lifeboats were the first Coast Guard lifeboats to have diesel
engines installed. Each boat was powered by a single Buda, six cylinder, four stroke engine of 159HP
at 900RPM. With 2:1 ratio reduction gearing and a 30” diameter/28” pitch, three-bladed propeller, the
lifeboats gave a maximum trial speed of 10.5 statute MPH. Good towing ability and long cruising
range were basic design requirements, which were met with this machinery installation. Having a fuel
capacity of 680gal., a cruising range at maximum speed of 600nm. was achieved. In 1945, the
original Buda diesel engine was replaced with a single Superior fresh water-cooled, eight cylinder,
solid injection, 160HP diesel engine63.
These lifeboats were 52’ in overall length (50’ long at the waterline), with a 14’ 3 ½” beam over the
guards, a 6’8” draft, and a displacement of about 30tons. Each boat cost about $70,000 complete64.
Upon completion, Triumph was assigned to Station Point Adams, Oregon, at the entrance to the
Columbia River, where her larger size, greater stability, and longer radius of action could prove
useful. She responded to her first rescue case on the night of January 12, 1936. Invincible was at first
assigned to Station Sandy Hook, New Jersey, but was later transferred to Station Grays Harbor,
Washington where her capabilities could be of greater use. To be noted is that both lifeboats transited
under their own power from Curtis Bay to the Pacific Northwest coast, a cruise of over 6000nm. In
operation, these lifeboats provided good service, responding to rescue cases that were usually
beyond the capabilities of the 36’ motor lifeboat, including the towing of disabled vessels over
treacherous Pacific Northwest inlet bars.
Despite their comparatively rugged construction, however, operations under Pacific Northwest surf
conditions showed that these lifeboats had some limitations and/or design problems including:
obstruction of view for the coxswain while towing, resulting from the aft companionway profile above
the deck (this was later removed during post-World War II overhauls on the Invincible); the aft lifeline
was too high, obstructing towlines, but when lowered resulted in greater risk of the crew being swept
overboard; the engine exhaust stack and engine room vents were vulnerable to water entry (with
resultant engine shutdown) from heavy seas or in the event of a significant roll; there was only one
way of ingress/egress from each compartment, limiting the means of crew escape; when the original
Buda diesel engine was replaced in the 1950s with a lighter weight GM diesel, insufficient ballast may
have been incorporated to compensate for the reduction in weight, reducing the boat’s righting ability
in the event of a heavy roll.
During the night of January 12, 1961, the Coast Guard suffered one of its most serious lifeboat
operational losses when Triumph capsized during a rescue mission in severe weather off of the
Columbia River entrance bar in the vicinity of Astoria, Oregon. She was responding to a disabled
local fishing vessel, Mermaid, and was attempting to take the vessel in tow when a large wave struck
the Triumph broadside, causing her to capsize. Five out of her six crew were lost, and Mermaid,
despite additional rescue efforts by other responding Coast Guard lifeboats, sank, adding her crew to
the total number lost. Although Triumph later re-righted and washed ashore, it was believed that her
lack of self-righting capability contributed to her loss and the loss of crew66. In addition, it is believed
that the vulnerability of the engine exhaust stack and engine room vents to water entry also
contributed to the tragedy, since it is reported that the engine shut down when the boat rolled, which
would have hindered the coxswain’s ability to maneuver the boat for recovery. Invincible also
experienced a roll-over in 1959 (without loss of life among the crew), but was able to recover due to
modifications that had been made to the engine exhaust and engine room vents to prevent water
entry.
Despite their limitations and problems, the Type F motor lifeboats helped to validate the concept of a
larger type of motor lifeboat for use in heavier sea and surf conditions than what the 36’ Type T series
was capable of, and where greater response radius and better towing capabilities were needed. The
loss of Triumph also served to confirm the Coast Guard’s long-standing belief that self-righting
capability was, in fact, a critical design feature in coastal lifeboats. These superior qualities were
certainly found in the later replacements for the wooden 52’ lifeboats, the steel 52’ motor lifeboats, of
which more will be described in a subsequent chapter. Invincible still survives to this day,
unfortunately, as a stripped-down hulk, having been used following Coast Guard service in the Pacific
Northwest area as a fishing vessel.
Images
52' MLB Invincible, CG-52300.
Line Drawing of Wooden 52-Foot MLB
Sources
Boat Files, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office.
Scheina, Robert L. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1982.
Scheina, Robert L. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1990.
Wilkinson, William D., and Timothy R. Dring. American Coastal Rescue Craft: A Design History of
Coastal Rescue Craft Used by the United States Life-Saving Service and the United States Coast
Guard. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009.
