Mike in Mousehhole saves the day - here's a photo taken by his brother Mr.Brian Ellis , Penzance NCI Station Manager of the two Penlee Lifeboats with what turned out to be a new Shannon Class Lifeboat still undergoing trials.
The Trials Lifeboat had it's AIS on - so I looked on their website and discovered it is this Shannon Class lifeboat . The first one to go into service is due to go to Hoylake, on The Wirral.
Here it is courtesy of RNLI."The new lifeboat features twin water jets instead of conventional propellers, allowing her to operate in shallow waters and be highly manoeuvrable, giving the crew greater control when alongside other craft and when in confined waters. The water jets also reduce the risk of damage to the lifeboat during launch and recovery, or when intentionally beached. She will be the first RNLI all-weather lifeboat to run on water jets instead of propellers.
The Shannon’s seats are designed to protect the crew members’ spines as much as possible from the forces of the sea in rough weather. Additionally the Shannon incorporates SIMS (System and Information Management System) which allows the crew to monitor the lifeboat from the safety of their seats, again reducing the likelihood of injury to the volunteer crew members during search and rescue operations"
The Shanon will certainly be the first all weather boat in modern times to run on water jets but in fact three of the RNLI's first steam lifeboats were propelled by water jets and in the 1930's the 32ft Surf class boats were mostly powered by a form of water jet, the Hotchkiss Internal Cone. One of the class, Kate Greatorex, was powered by Gill Jets, probably the cloest similarity to the Shannon in principle. Alun Pari Huws
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed your info about the lifeboats - don't look back too far - interesting to see how lifeboats have evolved over the years - especially to have the right type in the right place. Sue
DeleteJust to point out that Hoylake will not be receiving the first Shannon class - Dungeness is the first station. Hoylake will be getting a Shannon class but when exactly this will be is unknown at this stage.
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