When the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution was given the chance to design their dream lifeboat, they came up with the Shannon: a waterjet-propelled, highly-maneuverable, stop-on-a-dime, beach-launched and recovered, self-righting, shock-absorbing, 13-meter all-weather lifeboat capable of reaching speeds up to 25 knots.
The Shannon is actually the first class of all-weather lifeboats to be powered by waterjets, which are capable of pumping 1.5 tonnes of water per second at full-power and allow for beach launch and recovery.
To date, 10 lifeboat stations have been provided a Shannon class all-weather lifeboat. Dungeness was the first station to receive a Shannon class lifeboat, The Morrell 13-02, in February 2014. There are also four Shannon class lifeboats in our relief fleet.
Eventually, the Shannon class will replace the Mersey and Tyne class lifeboats.