The Oakley class lifeboat was a self-righting lifeboat

Lifeboat (rescue)

A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

 operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....

 around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 between 1958 and 1993. During this time they saved a combined total of 1,456 lives in 3,734 rescue launches.

The class is known by the name of its designer, Richard A. Oakley.

History

During the first half of the twentieth century the RNLI had equipped its lifeboat stations with motor lifeboats designed by G L Watson and, later, J R Barnett. Both these men had designed boats that were generally stable, but unlike the earlier boats, were not self-righting. Part of the problem was that motor lifeboats were much heavier than 'pulling and sailing' boats which could be packed with cork to make them buoyant. Richard Oakley worked out how to use shifting water ballast to create a self-righting motor lifeboat.

Oakley's 37 feet (11.3 m) prototype was launched in 1958 and placed in service at . Production boats started to be built in 1961 and in 1963 the prototype 48 in 6 in (14.78 m) boat was launched and sent to . The last was built in 1960 and the final in 1963, after which Oakleys were the only all-weather lifeboats put into service for the next eight years.

Design

The Oakley was designed as a self-righting boat. The design combined great stability with the ability to self-right in the event of it capsizing. This was achieved by a system of shifting water ballast. The system worked by the lifeboat taking on one and half tons of sea water at launching in to a tank built into the base of the hull. If the lifeboat then reached a crucial point of capsize the ballast water would transfer through valves to a righting tank built into the port side. If the capsize was to the starboard side of the lifeboat, the water shift started when an angle of 165° was reached. This would push the boat into completing a full 360° roll. If the capsize was to the port side, the water transfer started at 110°. In this case the weight of water combined with the weight of machinery aboard the lifeboat usually managed to stop the roll and allow the lifeboat to bounce back to upright. The water was discharged from the tank when the ship was taken out of the sea after each launch. A problem emerged with damp sand left in the tank after the water was drained. This caused a weak electrolytic action that eroded the copper nails which held the wooden hulls together.

The hull of the Oakley class was constructed from two wooden skins with a layer of calico between. After several years it was found that the calico absorbed water which caused softening of the wood around the copper nails. This led to a series of surveys in the late 1980s and the withdrawal of some boats, or replanking of others. The skins were made from diagonally laid African Mahogany

Khaya

Khaya is a genus of seven species of trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae, native to tropical Africa and Madagascar. All species become big trees 30-35 m tall, rarely 45 m, with a trunk over 1 m trunk diameter, often buttressed at the base...

 planks. The outer one was 0.375 inches (9.5 mm) thick with the inner 0.25 inches (6.4 mm). The keel

Keel

In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

 was iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 and weighed 1.154 tons. The hull was divided into eleven watertight compartments.

Two sizes were built. Most boats were 37 feet (11.3 m) in length and 11 in 6 in (3.51 m) in beam. It displaced 12.05 tons when fully laden with crew and gear. Five larger boats were built that were 48 in 6 in (14.78 m) long and 14 feet (4.3 m) wide.

37 foot boats

ON	Op. No.	Name	Built	In service	Principal stations	Further use
942	37-01	J.G. Graves of Sheffield	1958	1958–1993		Preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham Historic Dockyard is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, England.Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilities for several hundred years until it was closed in 1984. After closure the dockyard was...
960	37-02	Manchester Unity of Oddfellows Sheringham Lifeboat The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows ON 960 The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows was an lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution stationed at in the English county of Norfolk from 10 July 1961 until 1990 when she was replaced after 29 years service by an second generation Rigid Inflatable Boat in May 1992...	1961	1961–1990		Preserved at Sheringham
961	37-03	Calouste Gulbenkian	1961	1962–1991		Under restoration at Donaghadee Donaghadee Donaghadee is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles south east of Bangor. It had a population of 6,470 people in the 2001 Census...
966	37-04	Robert and Dorothy Hardcastle	1962	1962–1993	,	Preserved at Hartlepool Hartlepool Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
972	37-05	The Will and Fanny Kirby	1963	1963–1993	,	Preserved at Chatham Historic Dockyard
973	37-06	Fairlight	1964	1964–1992		Pleasure boat at Blakeney Blakeney, Norfolk Blakeney is a coastal village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Blakeney lies within the Norfolk Coast AONB and the North Norfolk Heritage Coast. The North Norfolk Coastal Path passes through the village...  Harbour
974	37-07	Jane Hay	1964	1964–1992	,	Broken up 1995
975	37-08	Sir James Knott	1963	1963–1990	,	Preserved at Redcar Redcar Redcar is a seaside resort in the north east of England, and a major town in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It lies east-northeast of Middlesbrough by the North Sea coast...
976	37-09	Lilly Wainwright	1964	1964–1992		Pleasure boat at Cobh Cobh Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...
977	37-10	Charles Fred Grantham	1964	1964–1993		Broken up 1993
978	37-11	The Royal Thames	1964	1964–1993	,
979	37-12	Amelia	1964	1964–1991		Originally named James and Catherine Macfarlane. Preserved at Charlestown Charlestown, Cornwall Charlestown is a village and port on the south coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, in the parish of St Austell Bay. It is situated approximately south east of St Austell town centre....
980	37-13	William Henry and Mary King	1964	1964–1990		Children's playground, Highbury Highbury - Early Highbury :The area now known as Islington was part of the larger manor of Tolentone, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Tolentone was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Road. The manor house was situated by what is now... , London
981	37-14	Mary Pullman	1964	1965–1989		Hull on display at Spalding Spalding, Lincolnshire Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....
982	37-15	Ernest Tom Nethercoat	1965	1965–1991	Wells Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea, known locally simply as Wells, is a town, civil parish and seaport situated on the North Norfolk coast in England.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,451 in 1,205 households...	In store
983	37-16	The Doctors	1965	1965–1991		Under restoration at Donaghadee
984	37-17	Mary Joicey	1966	1966–1989		Under restoration for display at Newbiggin
985	37-18	Valentine Wyndham-Quin	1967	1968–1988		Preserved at Harwich Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
986	37-19	Lloyds II Sheringham Lifeboat Lloyds II ON 986 Lloyds II ' was an lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution stationed at Sheringham in the English county of Norfolk from 8 October 1990 until April 1992 when she was replaced by the second generation Rigid Inflatable Boat Manchester Unity of Oddfellows in April 1992...	1966	1966–1992		Broken up 1993
991	37-20	Edward and Mary Lester	1967	1967–1989		Broken up 1989
992	37-21	Frank Penfold Marshall	1968	1968–1989		Broken up 1989
993	37-22	Har Lil	1968	1968–1990		At South Ferriby South Ferriby South Ferriby is a village in North Lincolnshire, England situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary 5 km west of the Humber Bridge and directly opposite North Ferriby on the Estuary’s north bank. It currently has a population of around 600 people.-History:It dates back at least to Roman...
994	37-23	The Vincent Nesfield	1969	1969–1991		Broken up 1991
995	37-24	James Ball Ritchie	1970	1970–1991		Broken up 1992
996	37-25	Birds Eye	1970	1970–1990		Preserved at Moelfre Moelfre Moelfre is a village and community on the east coast of Isle of Anglesey in Wales, and on the Anglesey Coastal Path. It has a population of 1,129.The Royal Mail postcode begins LL72....
997	37-26	Lady Murphy	1971	1972–1988		Broken up 1995

48 foot 6 inch boats

ON	Op. No.	Name	Built	In service	Principal stations	Further use
968	48-01	The Earl and Countess Howe	1963	1963–1984	,	Broken up 2003
989	48-02	James and Catherine Macfarlane	1967	1967–1987		Preserved at Land's End Land's End Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
990	48-03	Ruby and Arthur Reed Cromer Lifeboat Ruby and Arthur Reed ON 990 Ruby and Arthur Reed was an lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution stationed at Cromer in the English county of Norfolk from the 30 April 1967 and was the No 1 lifeboat between various relief’s until she was replaced after 17 years service by the Ruby and Arthur Reed II on the 16...	1966	1967–1988		Preserved at Hythe Hythe, Hampshire Hythe is a village near Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton...
1015	48-12	Charles Henry	1968	1969–1987		Pleasure boat at Exeter Exeter Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
1016	48-13	Princess Marina	1970	1970–1988		Broken up 2003