8.6 meters Lifeboat

8.6 meters long lifeboat on board Italian battleships during WWII

During World War II, the 8.6-meter lifeboat (often referenced as imbarcazione di salvataggio da 8.60 metri) was a standard utility and survival watercraft carried aboard capital ships of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina).
These distinct service boats are well-documented among naval historians and scale modelers due to their prevalence on major Italian warships, such as the formidable Littorio-class battleships (Littorio, Vittorio Veneto, and Roma).

Key Specifications & Design
• Length: 8.60 meters (approximately 28.2 feet).
• Construction: Traditionally constructed using a robust wooden hull template modeled precisely according to historical Regia Marina blueprints.
• Propulsion: Typically configured as rowboats or equipped with small auxiliary motors (varying by specific deployment roles, as the Regia Marina also operated dedicated 8.6-meter motorboats).

Tactical Deployment Context
In actual combat preparation, the operational reality of these lifeboats differed greatly from standard cruising conditions. Naval history forums like Reddit note that a consensus among naval history experts indicates that major warships—including Italian battleships—frequently left behind or discarded rigid wooden service boats prior to engaging in active combat operations.
This precaution was taken because large wooden boats stowed on deck posed severe hazards during a battle; they could easily be splintered by incoming artillery fire, generating lethal secondary shrapnel, or caught on fire, creating major damage control crises. Consequently, during active surface engagements, the crews primarily relied on compact, inflatable, or modular life rafts for emergency survival situations.

The model was created based on blueprints, photos and historical documentation. It was created with precision in detail and in real units of measurement to be a faithful digital reproduction of the original.