The U.S. Coast Guard Steel 44-Foot Motor Life Boat CG44301 was the first production series lifeboat of its type constructed by the Coast Guard’s shipyard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. It measured 44 feet 1.5 inches in overall length, had a maximum beam of 12 feet 8 inches, a draft of 3 feet 6 inches, and a displacement of 39,500 pounds. Powered by twin 185 horsepower diesel engines with twin propellers and twin rudders, it had a maximum speed of 14 knots, an operational range of 215 nautical miles, a crew of 3, a minimum survivor capacity of 21, a maximum sea height of 30 feet, a maximum wind speed of 50 knots, and a maximum tow of 125 gross tons. Its self-righting and self-bailing design used a corten steel hull 3/16 inches thick, with nine watertight compartments and longitudinal and transverse frames spaced 18-22 inches apart. CG44301 was completed on 7 January 1963 and assigned to Station Chatham. The 44-foot steel-hulled motor lifeboat was designed and built as a more modern and capable replacement for the 36-foot wooden-hulled motor lifeboat, one famous example of which, CG36500, was used by BM1 Bernard C. Webber as coxswain to rescue 32 survivors from the disabled tanker SS Pendleton off Monomoy Island on 18 February 1952. Webber was later chosen to help evaluate the capabilities of the 44-foot lifeboat. CG44301 served at Chatham from 25 March 1962 to 1971, and again from 2002 until 8 May 2009, when it was retired from active service. Forty-four-foot motor lifeboats were also used by lifeboat services in Great Britain, Italy, and Canada.