RNLI hovercraft lifeboat
From SpottingWorld, the Hub for the SpottingWorld network...
| RNLI Hovercraft H-001 RNLI Hovercraft H-001 Molly Rayner in 2005 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Griffon Hovercraft |
| Operators: | 23px Royal National Lifeboat Institution |
| In service: | 2002– |
| Completed: | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2.5 t (2 long tons) |
| Length: | 7.75 m (25.4 ft) |
| Speed: | 30 knots (35 mph; 56 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 3 hours |
| Complement: | 3 |
Hovercraft serve the shores of the UK as a part of the RNLI inshore fleet. The class are of a modified Type 470TD design built by Griffon Hovercraft.
The hovercraft was developed to operate in tidal areas such as Morecambe Bay where strandings by incoming tides can have fatal consequences and where normal craft are unable to operate, for example due to mud flats.
Hovercraft also operate out of Hunstanton, New Brighton, and Southend-on-Sea stations.
As of 2009, the following are in operation, with their home station (note that vessels H-001 and H-006 are in reserve at Poole; they are used for training):
- H-001 Molly Rayner - in reserve at Poole
- H-002 The Hurley Flyer - Morecambe
- H-003 Hunstanton Flyer1 - Hunstanton
- H-004 Vera Ravine - Southend-on-Sea
- H-005 Hurley Spirit - New Brighton
- H-006 John Russell - in reserve at Poole
1: Also numbered "Civil Service No. 45".
External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
[[Commons: Category:RNLI hovercraft
| RNLI hovercraft
]] |
This article about an organisation in the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Ship Spotting World by expanding it. |
