The E-class lifeboat forms part of the

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

fleet in the

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, operating exclusively in the tidal reach of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The class was introduced in 2002 to serve the tidal reach of the River Thames, which had not previously been covered by an RNLI rescue service, as a result of a much delayed enquiry into the

Marchioness disaster The ''Marchioness'' disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure steamer ''Marchioness'' sank after being hit twice by ...

in 1989, in which 51 people died. The enquiry criticised the lack of a rescue service for the tidal Thames, and the

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asked the

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, the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and it ...

and the RNLI to work together to set up a dedicated Search and Rescue service for this stretch of the river. There are two different versions of the E-class, described as the mark I and mark II. The original intention was that the mark II boats would replace the mark Is, but building of the last two mark Is has been put on hold and there are currently two mark Is and three mark IIs in use, split between

Chiswick Lifeboat Station Chiswick Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station on the north bank of the River Thames at Corney Reach, Chiswick, in west London. It is one of the newest stations operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), and one of the first ...

to the west of central London, and

Tower Lifeboat Station The Tower Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station on the River Thames in London, UK, operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). It is located at Victoria Embankment on the North Bank of the Thames, next to Waterloo Bridge. The ...

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfa ...

in central London. An E-class boat also originally operated from Gravesend Lifeboat Station to the east of London, but it proved less suitable for the more estuarine conditions found there and was replaced in 2009 with an

Atlantic 85 The Atlantic 85 is part of the B-class of lifeboats that serve the shores of the United Kingdom and Ireland as a part of the RNLI inshore fleet. The Atlantic 85 is the third generation B-class Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) developed from the an ...

. Both versions of the E-class carry a variety of rescue equipment including

marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-ai ...

s, a

first aid kit A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents of first aid ...

, an emergency defibrillator, a GPS navigation system,

night vision equipment A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...

, a self-righting system, a radar interrogator, towing equipment, and lighting equipment.

Mark I

RNLI Chatham E class ILB Olive Deare 8358

The mark I boat was an off the shelf design built by

Tiger Marine The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

. It is made of an aluminium alloy with a closed cell polythene foam collar, and is powered by two

Steyr Steyr (; Central Bavarian: ''Steia'') is a statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd ...

marine diesel engines delivering each at 4,100rpm and driving Hamilton waterjets. This combination gives the boats a maximum speed of and the extreme maneuverability which is essential to enable crews to reach casualties in the fast flowing river. The boat is long, has a beam of , a draft of , a displacement of , and carries three crew. The maximum endurance at full speed is 4 hours.

Mark II

The mark II boat was designed by RNLI engineers, incorporating experience gained with the mark I boats, and built by Marine Specialised Technology in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. It has a glass epoxy-resin composite hull with a detachable polyurethane covered solid closed-cell foam collar, and is powered by two

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

marine diesel engines delivering each at 3,300rpm and driving Hamilton waterjets. This combination gives the boats an improved maximum speed of . The boat is long, has a beam of without collar and with collar, a draft of , a displacement of , and carries four crew. The maximum endurance at full speed is 3 hours.

Mark III

New Delta Power Group RIB Mark III E-Class lifeboat operated by RNLI allocated the fleet number E-10.

Other

The RNLI also had a Valiant RIB which was allocated the fleet number E-01.

Notes

References

External links

The E-class lifeboat on the RNLI web site
{{RNLI lifeboat classes Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats