In 2013, we’ll start replacing Mersey class lifeboats with the next generation of all-weather lifeboat – the Shannon class. At £1.5M a piece, why are we doing it?

The Mersey class lifeboat is a big favourite with our crews. You only have to read the story on pages 16–19, in which Dungeness’s Mersey Pride and Spirit takes on the storms that battered England’s south coast in January to see why. But she’s been going to sea in the worst imaginable conditions for 24 years now. Technology’s moved on and we think we can give our crews something even better.

First, the Shannon will be capable of a speed of 25 knots, compared with the Mersey’s top speed of 17 knots. It’s not just about more powerful engines – the hull shape needed a lot of work to achieve this extra speed, which could mean the difference between life and death.

Second, a lifeboat has to be safe. Extra safety features have been introduced so that we can ask our volunteers to take on those storms for another 25 years.

All of this has been achieved by an in-house team of specialist engineers and naval architects working with commercial partners.

Deck
The Shannon’s aft (rear) deck will have more space, giving the crew the room they need to winch survivors into rescue helicopters and making it easier to set up tows. There will be two anchors and two liferafts.

Electronic controls
The Shannon will be fitted with the Systems and Information Management System (SIMS).

With this RNLI-developed technology, the crew can monitor the lifeboat’s engines, manage the bilge system, check which hatches are open, see and record what’s happening with the CCTV cameras, as well as navigating with radar, GPS and electronic charts.

This system is available on screens at five of the six seats – so the crew don’t have to get up and walk around the boat in rough weather.

Wheelhouse
The Shannon will have more window space than her predecessor – 5.7m2 to be exact – so it will be easier to spot casualties.

The crew will be able to dim all instrument lights during searches that require good night vision. Shock-mitigating seats will protect the crews’ backs from excessive jolting in heavy seas. And, of course, as in every classy mode of transport, each seat has a cup-holder. The engines need diesel and the crews need tea!

Access to the survivor space down below is easy. In the Mersey class lifeboat, rescuees have to pass through the engine room to get to their designated safe space for the return journey to shore. The Shannon will make the trip easier for tired, cold and injured survivors.

Waterjets
The Shannon will be our first modern allweather lifeboat to use waterjets for propulsion.

Her twin waterjets will give helmsmen much better manoeuvrability, which is particularly important when working close to a vessel in danger – for example, getting people off a sinking ship in rough seas.

The jets will be protected within the hull, so the Shannon will be able to get into shallow areas more easily than a boat with traditional propellers. This will also allow her to be driven straight onto a beach for recovery without damage.

Engines
Two 13-litre 650hp engines will help the Shannon to easily achieve 25 knots. In fact, she’ll only need 80% of her power to do so, meaning the engines won’t have to work so hard and should last longer.

Each engine will have its own 1,200-litre fuel tank. These can be refuelled at a rate of 200 litres a minute, so the lifeboat will never be out of action for long.

Hull
The shape of a boat’s hull is the most important factor in how she’ll handle at sea. During the development of the new class, several hull shapes were trialled and compared. Designed by the RNLI’s in-house naval architects, the chosen hull gives the smoothest ride through rough seas. (Offshore members can find out more about the hull’s development in their magazine.)

A crew view
Volunteer lifeboat crews have been part of the Shannon’s development, being consulted at every stage. We spoke to Andy Dodd, Mechanic at Hoylake, Merseyside: ‘We’ve been involved from the start, in the user groups, and we were lucky enough to have launch and recovery trials at Hoylake for 5 weeks.

‘I think getting a Shannon will make a dramatic difference to us at Hoylake. Firstly, with the speed of the boat we’ll get to casualties a lot quicker. We took the new launch and recovery set-up into places we could never, ever consider taking the current equipment, so it’s going to open up a wider range of launch sites for us, possibly closer to the casualty at certain states of tide. So I think the speed of both the launching equipment and the boat is going to make a tremendous difference.

‘We’ve had a Liverpool class lifeboat and we’ve got a Mersey class lifeboat, so those classes of lifeboat are close to our hearts. We’ve had the Lady of Hilbre now for 21 years and she’s been a fine sea boat and is going to take some beating. But I think the design team and all the people on the coast have really done themselves proud this time and it’s going to be a really good boat.’

What’s in a name?
We’ve been naming classes of lifeboats after rivers or stretches of water for 45 years – we’ve had the Clyde, Thames, Brede, Waveney, Solent, Rother, Arun, Mersey, Tyne, Severn, Trent and Tamar classes.

At 240 miles, the River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland, and longer than any in the UK. As it’s such a major waterway, we’ve three lifeboat stations on the Shannon – Kilrush, Lough Derg and the newly opened Lough Ree.

Launch and recovery
There’s no point in having a state-of-the-art lifeboat if we can’t get her in and out of the sea. The rig we’ve chosen to launch and recover the Shannon is nearly as impressive a piece of kit as the lifeboat herself!

Its tracks can power over the stickiest mud and the soggiest sand.

Should mechanical failure cause it to get stuck on the waterline with an incoming tide, the whole rig can be submerged under 7m of water. We’d be able to go in when the tide recedes, fix the problem and drive back up the beach, none the worse for wear for its submarine adventure! The tractor has big windows so that the driver can see more during launch and recovery. We also included a second seat, to make training easier and safer.

The carriage includes a rotating hydraulic platform, which allows the lifeboat to be recovered bow-first, and then spun 180˚, ready for a faster and less tiring relaunch. Project Manager Chris Eves explains: ‘If you were recovering the boat on the beach and suddenly the Coastguard rang up and said: “I want you to launch again”, to get you into the water again would be much faster than if you had the Mersey system.’ When the time comes to release the lifeboat from the rig, the Coxswain only needs to press a button. On earlier classes, four crew members were needed to manually release chains at various points around the lifeboat.

(Read about some early predecessors of this equipment on page 48.)

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We'd like to thank everybody who gave to the New Lifeboat appeal in the Spring. Thanks to your generosity, we quickly reached our target of £1.5M to build the first Shannon class lifeboat, which will join the relief fleet. Now, we're aiming for £5M to build another Shannon and two launch and recovery systems. Visit rnli.org.uk/newlifeboatappeal to find out more about the appeal, watch videos of the Shannon prototype's sea trials and see interviews with the project team.