The

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aerospace and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took ...

(later

British Hovercraft Corporation British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC) was a British hovercraft manufacturer that designed and produced multiple types of vehicles for both commercial and civil purposes. Created with the intention of producing viable commercial hovercraft in March ...

) SR.N6

hovercraft A hovercraft (: hovercraft), also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the ...

(also known as the ''Winchester'' class) was essentially a larger version of the earlier

SR.N5 The Saunders-Roe SR.N5 (or ''Warden'' class) was a medium-sized hovercraft which first flew in 1964. It has the distinction of being the first production-built hovercraft in the world. A total of 14 SR.N5s were constructed. While Saunders-Ro ...

series. It incorporated several features that resulted in the type becoming one of the most produced and commercially successful hovercraft designs in the world. While the SR.N2 and SR.N5s operated in commercial service as trials craft, the SR.N6 has the distinction of being the first production hovercraft to enter commercial service. In comparison to the SR.N5, the SR.N6 was stretched in length, providing more than double the seating capacity. Some models of the craft were stretched further, enabling an even greater capacity. Experience gained in the development of the SR.N6 has been attributed as heavily contributing towards the design and production of the largest civil hovercraft to be ever produced, the

SR.N4 The SR.N4 (Saunders-Roe Nautical 4) hovercraft (also known as the ''Mountbatten'' class hovercraft) was a combined passenger and vehicle-carrying class of hovercraft. The type has the distinction of being the largest civil hovercraft to have ...

. Several major design features of the SR.N6 appeared on both the SR.N4 and further hovercraft designs by Saunders-Roe and its successor, the British Hovercraft Corporation.

Development

Origins

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, British inventor

Christopher Cockerell Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft. Early life and education Cockerell was born in Cambridge, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell, was curat ...

had, in cooperation with British aerospace manufacturer

, developed a pioneering new form of transportation. With public funding through the

National Research Development Corporation The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was a non-departmental government body established by the British Government to transfer technology from the public sector to the private sector. History The NRDC was established by Attlee's La ...

the experimental

SR.N1 The Saunders-Roe SR.N1 (Saunders-Roe Nautical 1) was the first practical hovercraft. The concept has its origins in the work of British engineer and inventor Christopher Cockerell, who succeeded in convincing figures within the services and in ...

vehicle proved the

concept by the end of the 1950s.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 82. By late 1964, Saunders-Roe had commenced design work on multiple hovercraft designs; in addition to the relatively huge

and studies into a prospective 2,000 ton freighter, there was also interest in developing its existing smaller hovercraft range.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 147. In particular, the company had observed there to be customer demand for a model of the SR.N5 that would be capable of carrying a much greater payload; there was a view that the existing craft was uneconomic for what payload it could carry and that an expanded, or 'stretched', model would be able to rectify this. According to Saunders-Roe's own projections, an increase of the craft's payload by 110 per cent would only reduce performance by 10 per cent as the increased payload was in part offset by the expanded cushion area, which meant that cushion pressure would not need to be substantially increased instead. The first craft to be lengthened in this manner, in effect becoming the first SR.N6, was the ninth SR.N5 to have been produced. Following three months of work to adapt the craft to the new configuration, this first prototype was launched for the first time on 9 March 1965. Portions of the SR.N6's development were performed in conjunction with

Hovertravel Hovertravel is a ferry company operating from Southsea, Portsmouth to Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK. It is the largest passenger hovercraft company currently operating in the world since the demise of Hoverspeed. Hovertravel is now the world's old ...

, a newly formed operating company located near Saunders-Roe's

East Cowes East Cowes is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the north of the Isle of Wight, on the east bank of the River Medina, next to its west bank neighbour Cowes. It has a population of 8,428 according to the United Kingdom Census ...

facility.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 147, 174. In June 1965, following an initial series of trials, the SR.N6 prototype was delivered to Scandinavian Hovercraft Promotions of

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway under the name 'Scanhover'; it was followed by a second craft later that same month.

Further development

The SR.N6 had been designed in such a fashion that it could be extended from its initial 36 seat capacity to 58 without having to perform a major redesign or incurring high building costs.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 188. Work on the stretched SR.N6 was headed by Ray Wheeler, the chief designer of the

(BHC) - which Saunders-Roe had by then merged into. Many components and systems remained unchanged, including the relatively expensive Bristol Gnome

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaft horsepower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the ex ...

engine. Perhaps the most substantial change on the stretched craft, beyond the increased length, was the adoption of a twin-propeller configuration, which was done in order to reduce tip speed and thus noise.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 189. The first SRN6 Mark 6 Twin Prop hovercraft, also known as "Super 6" was conversion of a SR.N6 Mark 1, that had been used by Hoverlloyd and Pacific Hovercraft. Extended by 9 ft 8 in and given two 10 ft diameter propellers, it launched in 1973. Hovertravel produced its first stretched SR.N6, achieved with engineering support from the BHC, by converting an existing damaged SR.N6 and two SR.N5s.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 188-189.

Design

Ryde Pier Head hovercraft geograph-3212359-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The Saunders-Roe SR.N6 (also known as the ''Winchester'' class) is a medium-sized hovercraft primarily designed for passenger service.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 147, 238. The initial models of the type were capable of accommodating up to 38 passengers, which was greater than the maximum capacity of 18 that could be carried by the smaller SR.N5. The SR.N6 was subsequently further stretched to accommodate a further 20 passengers; this capacity upgrade let to it being considered to be more viable for commercial operations than any previous hovercraft design. By eventually increasing the capacity to 58 seats, the SR.N6 Mk.1S became the first hovercraft to be capable of transporting a typical coach load of people. In a military configuration, the SR.N6 is capable of carrying up to 55 fully equipped troops, or alternatively up to 6 tons of equipment. The SR.N6 was powered by a single marinised model of the Bristol Gnome

engine; this drove both a single rear-facing 9 ft (2.74 m) diameter 4-bladed

Dowty Rotol Dowty Propellers is a British engineering company based in Brockworth, Gloucestershire that specialises in the manufacture, repair and overhaul of propellers and propeller components for customers around the world. It is owned by GE Aerospace ...

variable-pitch propeller along with a 7 ft (2.13 m) diameter centrifugal lift fan. The Gnome engine was an expensive component for operators, leading to some establishing their own internal overhaul facilities and making arrangements with other Gnome operators, including the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, to reduce costs from relying on costly services from

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane ( ...

.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 148, 180-181. Around 20 per cent of the operating costs of the type have been attributed to maintenance of the 4 ft flexible skirt, which reportedly lasted for up to 500 hours, while similar cost levels have been reported for fuel.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 181. Early on, the SR.N6 was outfitted with an improved skirt, featuring ''fingers'' and forward puff ports, which resulted in improved forward control and reduced skirt wear; fingers had not been present upon the initial version of the skirt used prior to 1966.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 134, 176-177. The endurance of the fingers would be progressively improved over time, issues with salt spray negatively affecting both the engine and propeller were also encountered early on. An initial experience of some components having short overhaul lifespans or being unreliable was encountered during early days.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 221-223. During the early years of not only the SR.N6 but other hovercraft as well, the hovercraft skirt remained an unresolved area of difficulty during this era.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 166. The SR.N6 was piloted from a forward-seated position at the front of the main passenger cabin.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 148. The pilot would exercise control over the direction of the craft via a series of control surfaces that was located immediately behind the variable pitch propeller. Early on, pilots were normally aviators who had been recruited from the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

, however it has been claimed that experienced mariners would often be more skilled at operating the type, if not taking more time to adapt to its atypical form of propulsion, in part due to their familiarity at safely navigating within uncontrolled maritime environments.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 180-182. For navigation purposes, some SR.N6s were outfitted with onboard

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

; multiple radar arrangements were used with the type, including pilots receiving radio guidance from on-shore radar operators in some circumstances.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 177.

Operational history

Civilian use

Norwegian operator Scanhover served as the SR.N6's launch customer. In June 1965, the first SR.N6 entered commercial service and was quickly joined by another craft. They operated on a 120-mile route, with six stopping points, in the

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

area. These craft were later operated between

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

and

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, in the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

. The introduction of regular hovercraft services in the form of the SR.N6 attracted worldwide interest.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 149. On 24 July 1965, British operator

took delivery of its first SR.N6, placing it into service in the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

area on a route between the

Ryde Transport Interchange Ryde Transport Interchange or Gateway serves the town of Ryde, Isle of Wight, England. The interchange consists of Ryde Esplanade railway station on the Island Line, the connected bus station and taxi ranks, and the nearby Hoverport. The exi ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

and

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea began as a f ...

.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 175-176. This route was particularly well suited to hovercraft, as the tidal conditions of the surrounding coastline made berthing ships difficult, as well as a high volume of traffic; by 2012, Hovertravel had become the oldest hovercraft operator in the Western world, continuing to operate the same route.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 175.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

, using the operating name of

Seaspeed Seaspeed was a British hovercraft operator which ran services in the Solent and English Channel between 1965 and 1981, when it merged with a rival to form Hoverspeed. Seaspeed was a jointly owned subsidiary of railway companies British Rail ...

, started a hovercraft service using the SR.N6 across the Solent between

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

on the Isle of Wight in 1965. This was later taken over by Hovertravel. The service ended in 1980 because of rising costs and increased competition. In 1966, operator

P & A Campbell P & A Campbell was a shipping company based in Bristol which operated steamship services in the Bristol Channel between 1893 and 1979. History In the early 19th century, steamships were introduced to Europe with Clyde steamer sailings which ...

, in conjunction with Townsend Ferries, purchased SR.N6-024 to conduct a

Townsend Car Ferries European Ferries Group plc was a company that operated in passenger and freight ferries, harbour operation and property management in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was taken over by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co ...

service, initially performing cross-

Channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

services between

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

. This service did not prove popular and was terminated after roughly two months.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 182. During 1966 and 1967, Campbell toured various holiday resorts across Great Britain, offering pleasure rides on the craft. SR.N6-024 was subsequently sold to Hovertravel, which soon deployed it on board the

Cunard The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

ocean liner RMS ''Sylvania'' in order to perform practical demonstrations in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

to officials of various nations as well as some trips for passengers on board.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 182-183. In 1967, Hoverwork, a subsidiary of Hovertravel, operated a pair of SR.N6s at

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...

, a

World's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

held in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, to provide passenger services between the exhibition site and Montreal itself.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 195-196. In 1968, a single Hoverwork SR.N6 traversed a 2,400 km route of inhospitable jungle terrain within central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, between

Manaus Manaus () is the List of capitals of subdivisions of Brazil, capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas. It is the List of largest cities in Brazil, seventh-largest city in Brazil, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, for a

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

scientific expedition.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 196-197. Between Hoverwork and Hovertravel, a fleet of up to nine SR.N6s was employed on both scheduled and

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

ed operations around the world.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 194. Prior to its introduction of the far-larger

('Mountbatten'-class),

's hovercraft operating division, named

, decided to adopt a pair of SR.N6s for route proving and information gathering purposes.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 255. In October 1966, Charles Brindle and several engineers surveyed several potential sites on both the British and French sides of the English Channel, using an SR.N6 to determine their suitability for the future SR.N4 service.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 230-234. In late 1971, the company stretched its SR.N6 to the larger Mk 1S standard and fitted more powerful Gnome engines to account for the increased payload. However, in the long term, it was determined by Seaspeed that the SR.N6 could not be profitable on the

route to which it had tasked the type.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 229. During the late 1960s,

Hoverlloyd Hoverlloyd operated a cross-Channel hovercraft service between Ramsgate, England, and Calais, France. Originally registered as ''Cross-Channel Hover Services Ltd'' in 1965, the company was renamed Hoverlloyd the following year. It was initiall ...

also launched a cross-Channel service using a pair of SR.N6s, running four return trips per day.Paine and Syms 2012, p. 270. Like Seaspeed, Hoverlloyd used its SR.N6 fleet to gain experience prior to its own acquisition of the larger SR.N4.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 356, 482. In 1998, the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

decommissioned its last SR.N6, CCGH ''045'', that was in active service.

Military use

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

variants have seen service with the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

Egyptian Navy The Egyptian Navy (), also known as the Egyptian Naval Forces, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East as well as Africa, and is the twelfth largest (by the number of vessels) navy in the w ...

Iraqi Navy The Iraqi Navy (), is the naval warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Armed forces of Iraq. Formed in 1937, initially as the ''Iraqi Coastal Defense Force,'' its primary responsibilities was the protection of Iraq's coastline and off ...

(Mk.6C),

Iranian Navy The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN; ), also referred as the Iranian Navy (abbreviated NEDAJA; ), is the naval warfare service branch of Iran's regular military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''). It is one of Iran's two maritim ...

, and the Saudi Arabian Frontier Force. The Boat Company of the

Royal Brunei Malay Regiment The Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF); (ABDB), Jawi: , is the official organisation and collective term for all of the military forces or service branches of the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. The RBAF consists of three primary military branc ...

(forerunner of the

Royal Brunei Navy The Royal Brunei Navy (RBN), natively known as (TLDB) is the naval force of Brunei. It is a small but relatively well-equipped military force whose main responsibility is to conduct search and rescue missions, and to deter and defend the Bru ...

) operated an SR.N6 from 1968. The British

operated a SR.N6 XV589 alongside The Royal Marines in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s to evaluate them for use in remote regions. A. Cecil Hampshire writes that Naval Party 8902 was established with a strength of ten to use an SR.N6 in June 1967. The

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

under the

Royal Corps of Transport The Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) was a British Army Corps established to manage all matters in relation to the transport of men and material for the Army and the wider defence forces. It was formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1993; its units and tr ...

had 200 Hovercraft Trials Squadron at

Lee-on-Solent Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a seaside district of the borough of Gosport in Hampshire, England, about five miles (8 km) west of Portsmouth. The area is located on the coast of the Solent. It is primarily a resi ...

and Browndown formed in 1966 and disbanded in 1974. The Iraqi Navy operated its fleet of six SR.N6s as patrol vehicles along Iraq's contested border with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and were used during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

.Paine and Syms 2012, pp. 189–190. The North Korean Kongbang-class hovercraft is derived from the SR.N6. Currently the

North Korean Navy The Korean People's Army Navy (KPANF; ) or the Korean People's Navy (KPN) is the naval component of the Korean People's Army, the North Korean armed forces. There are some 780 vessels including 70 midget submarines (including the Yono-class su ...

fields 130 such hovercraft.

Variants

* SR.N6 Mark 1 * SR.N6 Mark 1s - stretched version * SR.N6 Mark 2 - military logistic support, with roof loading hatch and strengthened side decks for loads. Used by Iranian and Egyptian navies * SR.N6 Mark 3 - military logistic support * SR.N6 Mark 4 * SR.N6 Mark 5 - well deck variant * SR.N6 Mark 6 - Twin propeller

Accidents and incidents

On 4 March 1972, SRN6-012 of

capsized in the

whilst on a flight from

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 24,096 according to the 2021 Census. Its growth as a seaside resort came after the villages of Upper Ryde and ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. Five of the 27 people on board were killed.

Merchandise

The SR.N6 has been the subject of two popular toy versions. A small metal replica was produced for over 20 years by Matchbox Toys, while a much larger die-cast version was produced in the 1970s by

Dinky Toys Dinky Toys was the brand name for a range of die-cast zamak zinc alloy scale model vehicles, traffic lights, and road signs produced by British toy company Meccano Ltd. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in ...

. A 12.7 cm model was released by Matchbox in 1974 as part of its Super Kings range.McGimpsey & Orr 1989, p. 232.

Specifications

*SR.N6 Mk. 1S Winchester Class - SR.N6 Mk 8 (in production) *Manufacturer:

, (later

) *Crew 3 *Dimensions **Length 17.78 metres **Width 7.97 metres **Height (on cushion) 6.32 meters **full load displacement 10.9 tons *Propulsion **1

Rolls-Royce Gnome The Rolls-Royce Gnome is a British turboshaft engine originally developed by the de Havilland Engine Company as a licence-built General Electric T58, an American mid-1950s design. The Gnome came to Rolls-Royce after their takeover of Bristo ...

turbine engine 1,050 horsepower for lift and propulsion driving single four-bladed

variable-pitch propeller *Performance **Speed 50 knots **Range 170 miles at 30 knots **Military lift: 55 fully equipped troops or 6 tons of equipment *Weapons **Either a ring-mounted machine gun (0.5 in or 7.62 mm) or short range wire guided surface-to-surface missiles mounted on the side decks.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* McGimpsey, Kevin & Stewart Orr. "Collecting Matchbox Diecast Toys: The First Forty Years." ''Major Productions Ltd'', 1989. . * Paine, Robin and Roger Syms
"On a Cushion of Air."
''Robin Paine'', 2012. . * Saunders, Stephen (RN). "Jane's Fighting Ships 2003-2004." ''Jane's Information Group'', June 2003. .

External links

Footage of an SR.N6 arriving in Nanaimo BC in 1969
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sr.N6 Hovercraft Landing craft Saunders-Roe Ship classes of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy