CCGS Cape Palmerston

CCGS Cape Palmerston is one of the Canadian Coast Guard's 36 Cape-class motor lifeboat. Cape Palmerston was built at the Victoria Shipyards, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was officially named and dedicated at her home port, Campbell River, in June 2011.

Design
Like all Cape-class motor lifeboats, Cape Palmerston has a displacement of 20 ST, a total length of 47 ft and a beam of 14 ft. Constructed from marine-grade aluminium, it has a draught of 4 ft. It contains two computer-operated inline 6, Caterpillar 3196 diesel engines providing a combined 900 shp. It has two 28 x 36 in four-blade propellers, and its complement is fourcrew members and five passengers.

The lifeboat has a maximum speed of 25 kn and a cruising speed of 22 kn. Cape-class lifeboats have fuel capacities of 400 USgal and ranges of 200 nmi when cruising. Cape Palmerston is capable of operating at wind speeds of 50 kn and wave heights of 30 ft. It can tow ships with displacements of up to 150 t and can withstand 60 kn winds and 20 ft-high breaking waves.

Communication options include Raytheon 152 HF-SSB and Motorola Spectra 9000 VHF50W radios, and a Raytheon RAY 430 loudhailer system. The boat also supports the Simrad TD-L1550 VHF-FM radio direction finder. Raytheon provides a number of other electronic systems for the lifeboat, including the RAYCHART 620, the ST 30 heading indicator and ST 50 depth indicator, the NAV 398 global positioning system, a RAYPILOT 650 autopilot system, and either the R41X AN or SPS-69 radar systems.