VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Coast Guard is celebrating a milestone anniversary for one of its vessels.
10-years ago on April 7th, 2008, the 45601 was delivered to Station Little Creek.
It was the first 45 foot Response Boat – Medium (RB-M) in the Coast Guard.
Since 2008, more than 170 RB-Ms have been delivered into service across the country.
It replaced the 41-foot Utility Boat which they said was slower and had problems in shallow water because of its propellers.
It was officially retired in 2014.
Calling the RB-M a state of the art vessel, the Coast Guard told News 3 it’s able to handle more types of missions.
“It’s a self-riding vessel,” Petty Officer 1st Class Correll B. Saint said. “It also has a jet drive compulsion system that allows us to get into shallow water as well as maintain high speeds with little wake. It’s a great platform for search and rescue, for law enforcement.”
They’ve recently performed search and rescues in Hawaii using the boat.
Two of them are stationed at Little Creek.
