Citation please. Required by who? IMO?
I have been on hundreds of foreign flag ships and interacted with hundreds of of different Master’s and crews in addition to a large number of DPAs and superintendents from a wide variety of countries. I have never once heard it outside of gCaptain.
You want to get sophisticated, here is a davit system that allows the MOB-boat to be stowed in a protected “garage”:
https://www.aukramaritime.no/davits/
For operation in harsh environment and areas prone to icing:
On a ship with two lifeboats both lifeboats are identical, except one is marked “RESCUE” on the outside.
The difference (at least on the ships I was on) is the davits for #1 boat, the designated rescue boat had a bigger winch motor and the winch had two speeds. The faster speed was to recover the boat in rough seas.
The other difference was the rescue boat was equipped with “lifeboat recovery strops”.
By IMO SOLAS. (See post#17)
In order to be designated as the rescue boat, a lifeboat must be able to meet all the LSA Code requirements for rescue boats. It is very typical for a ship with two lifeboats to have one be a rescue boat and vessel’s with a FFLB to have a dedicated rescue boat.
It wasn’t post #17 but I found it anyway.
SOLAS III Regulation 26 - Additional Requirements for Ro-Ro Passenger Ships
3 Fast rescue boats**
3.1 At least one of the rescue boats on a ro-ro passenger ship shall be a fast rescue boat complying with section 5.1.4 of the Code*.
AFAIK both boats were identical, at least no difference that I ever noticed, , so presumably both boats meet all the LS A Code requirements for rescue boats.
The recover arrangements differed.
Tangentially related but did anyone ever notice the little orange tugboat looking workboat on the HOS Strongline?
I don’t think you can call it an American thing. I know I’m obviously an American, but I too have only heard rescue boats in any form on US and foreign flag vessels referred to as rescue boats, rescue craft, or fast rescue craft. IMO/SOLAS, Class Societies, and Flag all use the term Rescue Boat and Fast Rescue Boat in their rules and regs, not MOB Boat. In the case of a Man Overboard (MOB) that person needs to be rescued…with a Rescue Boat. Seems pretty straightforward.
On older ships the rescue boat was the lifeboat that had an engine and was capable of towing. The other lifeboat may only have the infamous Fleming gear for propulsion or just oars.
they were always frb’s to me but then things change. meanwhile ombugge, that looks like a dyson class ship up north … the dyson?
As far as the term “MOB” goes…A friend of mine was C/M on one of the US Flag NCL cruise ships for awhile. He spoke of the man overboard drills and the response time required to get the rescue boat in the water. Over time and repeated drills I can see them colloquially referring to the rescue boat as the MOB boat. Probably something you might only hear on Cruise ships or RoPax ferries.
I am happy that we are discussing FRCs. I was operating >10 RoPax vessels in the Red and Mediterranean Seas in the 1990’s when FRCs became mandatory. I describe the mess and the reasons for it at my website since then. FRCs have killed seamen.
My first ship had fleming gear in the lifeboat. We called them “idiot sticks”. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
FWIW, “MOB boat” is the only thing I’ve heard them called. I’d never heard anyone say “FRC” until I came here. Probably a regional thing…
At the IMO, London, 20 years ago we called them Fast Rescue Boats, FRBs! Absolutely dangerous and useless in severe weather conditions.
Seems more likely calling it a man overboard boat is a colloquialism. Solas uses the terms:
Lifeboats (including free-fall lifeboats), rescue boats and fast rescue boats.
The term “MOB boat” has been used on this thread to describe a type of boat and/or the function of the boat. Not clear precisely what is meant.
Of course. I meant to indicate that its use is more prevalent in Europe. It’s the only way I can rationalize that all my IRL peers use it, while none of y’all have heard about it. TBH, I wasn’t fully aware of the distinct classes of MOB boat until now. I did notice that some ships have nicer ones than others, but I’m just the guy fixing the things when they break, lucky enough to take them for the occasional “test drive”.
The term “lifeboat” describes both type and function. A lifeboat taken out of service and converted to a pleasure boat is no longer a lifeboat. Seems like the term MOB boat is similar.
Might be a shore side / ship thing. Perhaps shoreside the perception is that the function is man overboard duties. Crew might be more likely to think of it as a rescue boat.
As I said at the very beginning of this “discussion”, MOB-boat is a commonly used term, while IMO SOLAS and Class etc. use the term Rescue boat.
FRC are not found on most ships- They are frequently called “MOB-boat” and Rescue boats are frequently called “FRC” without meeting the requirement for that title.
BTW; It is not only in Europe that “MOB-boat” is commonly used. The same applies in Asia and other parts of the world.
Maybe the confusion between MOB-boat and FRC is more in the Offshore business, where many vessels are equipped with FRCs. (??)