Arun class lifeboat

Arun Class Lifeboat
Class overview
Builders:	VT Halmatic Fairey Marine
Operators:	23px Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Cost:	£1.5 million
Built:	1971–1990
In service:	1971–2008
Completed:	46
General characteristics
Displacement:	36 long tons (37 t)
Length:	15.8 m (51 ft 10 in)
Beam:	5.2 m (17 ft 1 in)
Draught:	1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)
Propulsion:	2 × Caterpillar 3408 TA diesel engines, 485 hp (362 kW) 2 × 4-bladed contra-rotating propellers
Speed:	18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Range:	250 nmi (460 km)
Complement:	6

The Arun class lifeboat is the second largest lifeboat in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution all-weather fleet. They take their name from the River Arun in Sussex and the hull was designed by Alan McLachlan of GL Watson (Naval Architects) Glasgow, designers of the Watson, Barnett and McLachlan classes of lifeboat for many years in their capacity as consultant naval architects to the RNLI.

The first three were built of wood, but apart from one other, the remainder were built of fibreglass. One was built of steel - 52-030 Snolda which was stationed at Aith, in Shetland. It was regarded as the best of the class for seakeeping, although the slowest. Five of the class were built as 54'ft boats with rounded transoms, the remainder were all 52ft and 46 boats were built in total. The Arun class is used by Icelandic rescue teams as well as those in Canada, Greece, Chile, Australia and Finland. The Greek boats were built of GRP in the UK and the Canadian boats were built in Canada of either steel (prototype) or aluminium. Other countries use boats which have been disposed of by the RNLI

After 20 years service these boats are being replaced by the Trent, Severn and Tamar class lifeboats.

External links

• RNLI - Fleet
• VT Halmatic - Builders
• Shetland Coastguard - Arun class lifeboat
• [1] - The Icelandic rescue organisation.