The Shannon-class lifeboat (previously FCB2 – Fast Carriage Boat 2) is the latest class of lifeboat currently being deployed to 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 to serve the shores of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

. The Shannon class is due to replace the Mersey class carriage-launched lifeboat, the remaining

Tyne-class lifeboat The Tyne-class lifeboat was a class of lifeboat that served as a part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution fleet until 2019. They were named after the River Tyne in North East England. They were designed to be launched from slipways or o ...

s, and to also replace the

Trent-class lifeboat The Trent-class lifeboat is an all-weather lifeboat operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) from 30 stations around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland to provide coverage up to out to sea. Introduced to service in 1994, ...

s in due course.

History

Prototype Fast Carriage Lifeboat 2 off Lowestoft

The experimental boat, named ''Effseabee Too'' underwent sea trials during 2005–2008. It is based on a Camarc Pilot vessel design, and was designed by RNLI engineers, with a fibre-reinforced composite hull, powered by twin water jets. It had a top speed of approximately , but was planned to be rated down to when the final design was put into production. In 2008, FCB2 development was delayed due to hull shape issues, as trials showed crews would be subjected to unacceptable shocks and excessive horizontal shaking in high seas. The RNLI indicated that the project would be extended by at least three more years to research a new hull shape. In April 2009 it was announced a new hull had been chosen. The Shannon class prototype boat was completed late 2011 when active service was expected to start in mid-2013. In April 2011 it was announced the class would be named after the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Sha ...

, the longest river in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. This is the first time that the name of an Irish river has been used for a class of RNLI lifeboat. After boatyard acceptance in March 2012 the first of the fleet went through sea acceptance trials in 2012. Early hulls were moulded by SAR Composites and up to ON1318 were fitted out by Berthon Boat Co. of

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

. From ON1319 fitting-out progressively switched to the RNLI All-Weather Lifeboat Centre (ALC) at Poole, to which hull moulding also transferred from ON1330.

Service

The first Shannon-class to be delivered for service was demonstrated at Dungeness,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

on 21 February 2014. The boat, to begin active service the following month, has been named ''The Morrell'' in honour of Barbara Morrell, a keen fundraiser for the RNLI who bequeathed the service £6 million which she asked to be used for a lifeboat for Kent. The Shannon class uses similar Systems and Information Management System (SIMS) technology to that of the Tamar class lifeboat so that crew members can operate all of the boat's systems collaboratively without leaving their seats. Crew seats are also similar to the Tamar, sprung to reduce the shocks in heavy seas. Most Shannons are launched by a newly designed Shannon Launch and Recovery System (SLARS) by which a tractor propels the lifeboat on its cradle into the water. The cradle is then tilted and acts as a mobile slipway as the boat is launched by release of a single bow strop from the wheelhouse, rather than the old carriage launched method of four chains being released by crew members on deck. Recovery is bow first onto the cradle, which then rotates through 180 degrees, enabling the boat to be launched again within ten minutes. Some Shannons are due to be kept afloat at moorings or a pontoon berth and the boats are also capable of being slipway launched, although only currently has a slipway launched Shannon. The boat at Workington uses the same davit crane system as the previous Tyne class boat.

Fleet

Note 1: Relief boats use the launch method of the station they are covering. Boats are capable of any of the launch methods but may require minor modification.

References

External links

RNLI Fleet
{{RNLI lifeboat classes Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats