The USCG 40-foot Utility Boat

[MastersMate]

Now this was a bit of interest concerning the 40' UTB. Don't know if the picture will be clear enough, but the 40 boat in service with the French Navy in VietNam.

[boatmanmark]

This is a paragraph out of the book United States Coast Guard Harbor Patrol Fleet 1924-1980



"The Korean War in 1950 led to the Magnuson Act, amending the old Espionage Act. The new bill authorized the President to invoke a strong Port Security Program. President Truman acted almost at once. This executive order has never been rescinded. In 1952, the Coast Guard yard built 15 COTP 40' Utility Boats MK1 for South Korea and approximately twentyseven 40' UTB MK1s for service in the French Navy in Indochina under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP). These UTBs were transferred to Vietnam with the establishment of the Vietnamese Navy on January 1st, 1955."

[BuoyJumper]

Now this was a bit of interest concerning the 40' UTB. Don't know if the picture will be clear enough, but the 40 boat in service with the French Navy in VietNam.

That is pretty interesting Dana, French/Vietnamese 40-footers in Nam.  Thanks for the explanation Mark.
Okay, how about this.  Royal Canadian Air Force forties in the mid 1950s.

 
RCAF Crash Boats Skua & Mallard in Vancouver, BC circa 1955.            The now restored Black Duck is a typical example of the RCAF’s post-
                                                                                                                    World War II 40-foot crash boats.

Source & Crash Boat History   Scroll down almost to the bottom of the page.

[Zoomer]

Boy!  Am "I" getting an education

[pachesma]

Yeah, this IS great!!

Just HOW freaking good were these hulls!-JRC

[Zoomer]

The steel hulled 40's seemed to be great.....but in San Francisco there was one of the fiberglass hulled 40's of the 600 series that had it's hull open up while underway......at least that was the story back in the early 70's.

[boatmanmark]

I like the look of that 40 in the lower picture, notice the larger windshield with the  "clearview" high speed wiper in it, and a top. As for the plastic 40 opening up, there were always rumors whenever something new came out. I heard stories that the yard was full of 41s with bent keels and holes in the hulls that were not true. It was just change we had to get used to. But is change always good? You could fix the 40s and even the 41s with basic tools. The newer boats seem much more complicated and I wonder if they will cost much more to operate and repair?

[MastersMate]

Cripes, when they called it a utility boat, they weren't kidding. Have been looking, but no luck so far, for some pictures of the 40' UTB in USN colors. It was a small article about crashboats at some US Naval Air Station in the 50s/60s.

Will keep digging.

[pachesma]

The newer boats seem much more complicated and I wonder if they will cost much more to operate and repair?

Observant Comment, Mark. And I don't even think we have to discuss if they're more complicated, just how's about a poor decision or two.

Look at the "new" MLB, WHO decided putting a 92 series in there was a good idea?? Out of all the Detroit 2 cycles, they; by far, were the worse. Post "T", that is. At one point in my career I was taking care ofa bunch of 8V-92N's in heavy construction equipment(road building and redi-mix), and ya couldn't kill them things, then they "T" 'd 'em, and it was the beginning of the end of Detroits 2 stroke dept. Remember the "Silver 92" series?? 6V-92TTA, now there was a F-I-N-E prime mover!!

Several years back I attended an open house at my local USCG small boat STA maybe a year or two afta they had gotten their "new" 47' MLB. And I got to talking to ona the snipes in the duty section about the 92's in the 47. ALL the heads been off of 'em at less than 500 hours and the CG had to institute a program that if they made it to 3000 hours they were changed out and they had a contracted exchange program with Detroit for them to overhaul the cores. I can only imagine what that cost!!!

Compared to them even the 903's in the 41's were better. But even on them not 6 months outa the yard we had to re-pump and re-injector both of 'em in our 41(41468), couldn't keep max loaded RPM on either one of them. But we didn't have to take 'em apart and when they were running right they ran "pissa". If I remember correctly they did seem to like R/W impellers though.

I think ; without question, the 40 UTB was the best "cover as many bases as possible" small boat the USCG ever had-JRC

[boatmanmark]

I had heard that about the 92s in the 47. I also heard it was an air supply/heat problem. I think the biggest thing that has lowered the life of an engine is the output. Like you said when they turboed them and raised the hp dramatically. Look at a 6-71 from the beggining. What did the early low blocks make, back in ww2? 160? then in the 40s what, 200 or so? And an N series, 250? Look at the JT 6-71 TIB at 485 hp! Way beyond what they started with. Now I have to say I have always had good luck with Cummins. The 903s in the 41 put out 336 shp (originally non turboed 903s had about 250 hp) but they were well below the high output 903s in other yachts of the time, up to 550 hp. I guess its just progress. Cummins 6BTs had 210 hp and now the common rail versions are 425-450hp. Of course you can't run them wot for hours on end. My boat has twin Cummins 4BTAs at 250 hp, I baby them but what life should I get from them? 1500 hours? I had over 5000 hours out of 71s and even 903s and Cat 3208/375horse engines.
But its not just engines. What about the electronic controls they have? When a 47 rolls, what happens to all that? I have attached a link to a clip of the new 45, replacing the 41. Twin jet drives. If you have ever operated on the south shore of Long Island NY you lnow about eel grass. What happens when these jets start sucking up globs of that stuff?
But I did notice if you compare the 40 , 41 and the new 45 one step back. Look how high the decks of the 41 are compared to the 40. The new 45 brings the height back down and should make it easier for the crew to handle side tows and lines.



http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=252066

[BuoyJumper]

Found some more photos of forties.  If anybody knows where these were stationed let me know.


The 40376                                                                                        New York's 40394


The 40519 at Base Milwaukee                                                                  The 40532


The 40557 (Bill Collette photos)

[pachesma]

Geez that 519 boat looks familiar, the only 40 hull I positively remember is the 499, cause that was attached to the unit I was at(St Joe, Mi.), we had 4-5 "transient" 40 hulls going thru there being outprocessed and I honestly don't accurately remember the hull numbers. I don't remember that monstrosity on top of the cabin but I do remember a 40 boat with two cleats "on the rail" right where ya stepped up on deck to go forward around the cabin. Jammed my toes into 'em enough(size 13 shoe) jumping up and running forward. Damn handy for alongside work though.

519 MIGHTA "lived" around Chicago (Cal Hbr/Wilmette/Kenosha???), but that memory is probably no more accurate than my memory of hull numbers!!

Seeing that doghouse off, that mighta been the 40 we goosed up that I identified in another post as 458. We went and got a couple 40 boats outa Milwaukee that were in TOUGH shape, one we had to tow, one we had to escort(THAT was interesting. Originally a crew from our sta had been flown over in an AUXILIARY plane to pick it up and the BM2 Coxswain had refused acceptance of the 40 from Milwaukee declaring it "manifestly unsafe for voyage" , which prompted some VERY interesting phone conversations between our E-8 OinC, Our GRU(Muskegon) CO, GRU Milwaukees CO, and some "gold" from DIST. It was finally ordered that the Raritan would ferry one of our boat crews over to Milwaukee(I was eng), and; one way or another, under tow or under escort, we WOULD take that 40 boat outa there. The "Rat" escorted us to the edge of our AOR, where our 44(44389) picked us up and escorted us back to St Joe. Can you say S-L-O-W ride?? To this day I've never understood the politics or diplomacy involved in this "caper"), MIGHTA been the 519, I just don't remember.

BUOY, ya got anymore detail on that 519 photo?? Maybe a date?? This woulda happened maybe 78, more than likely 79 or 80. I'm almost positive the 40 boat the BM2 initially refused come out of the water at GRU Milwaukee and had some work done to it before we come back with the "Rat" to pick it up, this mighta been a "CYA" foto from somebody over @ GRU Milwaukee ta prove they had had it outa the water to work on it. I'll even go so far as to say that several of the items the BM2 listed as reasons to refuse acceptance of the boat were the shaft packings were shot and it needed at least one cutlass bearing(or something) based on how bad he said it vibrated at anything above basically clutch speed. I think we found out it was a bad cutlass(or two) when we went back to get it.

Its weird, I remember all this detail but I have no clue(only a "familiar guess), as to the hull numbers. Same BM2 went over on the "Rat" with us to pick it up, and it was fairly acrimonious and a little tense when we showed up. Wanna say more than likely some folk @ GRU Milwaukee above E-5 ended up getting their "pee-pees" whacked for trying to force a BM2 to take a boat that probably either woulda sunk or fallen apart on the ride back across Lake Michigan. There was a Chief standing on the dock beside the 40 boat when we got there to get the acceptance papers signed, and there was steam coming outa his ears as the BM2 and me(at his direction) gave it a quick once over inspection before the BM2 would sign the papers. I'm not sure but I believe the last words the Chief said to the BM2(right afta he signed the papers) was "Now get offa my dock", something we happily and quickly complied with!!!

Anyway, no idea if it was the 519, but it was a very interesting time.

The BM2 by the way, who I've had contact with over the years, stayed in for 26 years and retired as a Lt. Commander-JRC

[MastersMate]

The 40557 was at Gloucester, Mass Station. She had a larger windscreen and cuddy cabin added to the helm station about 1970. She was an experiment in putting radar on board the boats.


The 40376 sure appears to be one of the few wooden hulled 40s. Notice the smmother lines on the transom. The was a fiberglass 40 of the MK 1 design also at base Miami Beach in the late 60s. Looks like a lightship hull forward of the boat. Can just make out some lettering. That would place her either at Base Boston, St George on Staten Island, or Norfolk area.

[BuoyJumper]

Geez that 519 boat looks familiar, the only 40 hull I positively remember is the 499, cause that was attached to the unit I was at(St Joe, Mi.), we had 4-5 "transient" 40 hulls going thru there being outprocessed and I honestly don't accurately remember the hull numbers.

BUOY, ya got anymore detail on that 519 photo?? Maybe a date?? This woulda happened maybe 78, more than likely 79 or 80. I'm almost positive the 40 boat the BM2 initially refused come out of the water at GRU Milwaukee and had some work done to it before we come back with the "Rat" to pick it up, this mighta been a "CYA" foto from somebody over @ GRU Milwaukee ta prove they had had it outa the water to work on it. I'll even go so far as to say that several of the items the BM2 listed as reasons to refuse acceptance of the boat were the shaft packings were shot and it needed at least one cutlass bearing(or something) based on how bad he said it vibrated at anything above basically clutch speed. I think we found out it was a bad cutlass(or two) when we went back to get it.

According to Mike Carr (HSCS Ret) who was a 519 coxswain that photo is from 1971-72 or he was the coxswain in 71-72.

[CG40394]

The 40376 13 D, Seattle P.S.U. WASH,Trans, 11-19-64 to US DEPT. OF INTERIOR. 40519 9D, Trans, to Sheriff dept, Racine WI, 12-3-82  40532 1D, SCRAPPED 10-20-75   40557 1D, SCRAPPED 11-30-79.  THE 40394 is owned by me the photo is at Sandy hook  N.J. 1999.  All this info and photos are in my book   USCG HARBOR PATROL FLEET 1924 TO 1980. AMAZON .COM $22.99 OR AUTHORHOUSE .COM 233 PAGIES.