OT Victory: ‘the queen of the fleet’

Aging Coast Guard boat placed on restricted duty





NEWPORT — For more than 60 years, one name was the best hope for large commercial vessels stranded or imperiled at sea off the central Oregon coast — Victory.

The 52-foot motor lifeboat Victory came to Newport’s Station Yaquina Bay in 1956 (although it remained nameless until the 1970s). It was the first of four steel 52-foot vessels built by the U.S. Coast Guard to replace its aging wooden lifeboats, Invincible and Triumph, and was joined in the early 1960s by the Intrepid, Invincible II and Triumph II, stationed at Grays Harbor, Coos Bay and Cape Disappointment, respectively. The four boats are the only named vessels smaller than 65 feet in the guard’s fleet.

“It’s probably the finest lifeboat of its size ever built,” Retired Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas McAdams told the News-Times. McAdams was among the first to crew the Victory — they both arrived in Newport at about the same time — and within a year of operations, McAdams was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for rescuing four people on a capsized boat.

McAdams is known in the Coast Guard as the “the champion lifesaver and lifeboat roller of the Pacific Coast.” He’s credited with saving more than 100 lives in his 27-year career, four of which were spent in Newport as coxswain of the victory. He retired to the city in 1977 after returning to Station Yaquina Bay as officer in charge.

“The Victory could take tremendous breakers, and it survived one call in winds up to 100 mph and sea swells over 50 feet high. For 23 hours, it went out and found its quarry and brought it on in. The only problem was, it was slow,” McAdams said.

Designed specifically for the rough waters of the Pacific Northwest, it’s built to motor into conditions that would imperil other boats. Victory is self-bailing and self-righting — allowing it to stay afloat while powering into the region’s often violent, massive surf — and has a range of just under 500 miles. It can carry 40 survivors and tow up to 750 tons (compared to 150 tons for the newer 47- foot motor lifeboats).

It was the Coast Guard’s workhorse out of Newport from the time it was commissioned until October of last year, when the 13th District commander ordered it and its sister ships’ use restricted after incidents of equipment failures and breakdowns at sea.

Lt. Russel Tibbets, a Coast Guard spokesman, told the News-Times, “We’re worried about their ability to respond in heavy surf conditions. Over the last few years, our engineers and operators have expressed concern about the safety of the vessels, specifically with regard to their ability to tow vessels in heavy surf,” Tibbets said. For example, he said, the Victory experienced a generator breakdown at sea, and it lost its radar navigation capabilities during a mission.

“Right now, we’ve basically restricted the use of all four of our 52-foot special weather boats here in the Pacific Northwest,” Tibbets said. “We’re not decommissioning them yet. We still have them in reserve, and if there was a case where we knew there was life at stake at sea and only the 52 can do the job right now, we will still use them with the permission of the 13th District commander.”

Taunette Dixon, co-president of the Newport Fishermen’s Wives, said the Coast Guard notified her organization of the impending restriction. The Victory is a familiar sight to the organization’s members, many of whom have watched it with relief as it entered port towing friends and family behind it. “Because we have a large vessel fleet in Newport, the Victory was the boat that was used the most,” Dixon said.

Given their deep interest in the vessel’s operations, the Coast Guard invited organization members and elected officials to a meeting late last year in Newport. Dixon said the Coast Guard brought in marine engineering experts to explain problems with the Korean War-era boat and issues surrounding its replacement.

“It was very informative. They let us know the problems they were having, and why they couldn’t immediately replace the Victory with a boat that has the same capabilities — they just don’t have one yet,” Dixon said. She said she understood the Coast Guard was in the process of designing and building or acquiring such a vessel but that it could be years yet before one is in the water (Tibbets would confirm only that the guard is “studying possibilities for a replacement”).

“In the meantime, they’ve rearranged the fleets in other ports and brought in extra 47s,” Dixon said.

In conditions where the Victory would have been deployed, involving larger vessels, the Coast Guard now uses aerial assets and two 47-foot motor lifeboats. That was the case with Dixon’s husband’s ship, the F/V Seeker, when it was stranded shortly after the Victory’s duty was restricted.

Dixon said she was “very happy” the Coast Guard reached out to the Fishermen’s Wives to make them aware of the change. She said that wasn’t the case in 2014, when the agency announced in October it would close the Newport Air Facility, from which it deploys rescue helicopters, at the end of the following month. That decision was eventually reversed after outcry from the community and elected leaders.

“I think it’s very important for everyone to know that unlike when we had the rescue of the helo, this time the Coast Guard has been very communicative. We have a full dialogue with them, and any time we have questions, they’re there to answer them. And they’ve said that throughout this process of acquiring a new boat that they will keep updating us as new steps are taken,” Dixon said. “I also think it’s really important for people to know that our whole coalition is working on this too. It’s not just us, it’s our representatives also making sure that our port is safe.”

While she’s pleased with the level of communication, Dixon said, the absence of the Victory on the waves is still felt as a huge loss to the fishing community.

Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Molloy, who was commander of Station Yaquina Bay until he was relieved by Chief Warrant Officer Ryan O’Meara last June, was among the last to helm the Victory. Molloy said he looked to the lifeboat, which he called “the queen of the fleet,” when coming up with introductory remarks upon taking command at the station in 2017.

“In order to get inspiration, I spent a lot of time in the line locker — not a place that someone on a lifeboat would normally want to spend much time but a good place to find inspiration for my short greeting speech,” Molloy said.

“One thing you noticed no matter who you had with you — I was out on the Victory with everyone from admirals to Master Chief McAdams — whenever that boat approaches the waterfront, everyone waves at you,” Molloy said.

Molloy, who is now commander of the National Lifeboat Academy at Cape Disappointment (where he replaced his replacement in Newport, O’Meara), said one of his fondest memories of deployment from Yaquina Bay was a cruise in the Victory up to Seattle for comparison to a new lifeboat in the Canadian Coast Guard’s fleet. “To take that boat from Newport to Seattle with a few select crew members — we saw whales — that was kind of the highlight of operations,” Molloy said. At the Victory’s 10-knot pace, the trip took 40 hours.

O’Meara, who is serving in his second tenure as commander at Yaquina Bay, said, “The Victory is like a member of the crew, and every single person that’s been stationed here is proud that they’ve served on the Victory.Losing her is like losing a member of the crew. She was also built in the Eisenhower era, and it’s time for us to let her rest. She’s done her job.”

Because of the boat’s age, the Coast Guard must have parts manufactured to conduct repairs, which means extended periods out of service when something breaks down. “She’s been in and out of service for a while now. When I was here the last time, out of the three years I was here, she was broken for almost a year total while we were trying to find and make parts,” O’Meara said. “So we’re running into trouble trying to keep our crews proficient on an aging asset that is difficult to keep running. When it’s broken, it’s down, we can’t train. And in 25-foot surf, you have to be at the top of your game.”

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