 Mark I E-002 (left) and Mark II E-07 (right) at Tower Lifeboat Station
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | E-class |
| Operators |  Royal National Lifeboat Institution |
| In service | 2002–present |
| Completed | 10 |
| Active | 4 |
| Retired | 5 |
| Preserved | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 3.86 tonnes / 5.4 tonnes |
| Length | 9 m (30 ft) / 10.5 m (34 ft) |
| Beam | 2.94 m (9.6 ft) / 3.5 m (11 ft) |
| Draught | 0.67 m (2.2 ft) / 0.7 m (2.3 ft) |
| Propulsion | Diesel powered waterjets |
| Speed | 33 knots (61 km/h) / 40 knots (74 km/h) |
| Endurance | 4 hours / 3 hours |
| Capacity | 20 |
| Complement | 3 / 4 |
The E-class lifeboat forms part of the RNLI fleet in the United Kingdom, operating exclusively in the tidal reach of the River Thames in London. 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 in 1989, in which 51 people died. The enquiry criticised the lack of a rescue service for the tidal Thames, and the UK government asked the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Port of London Authority and the RNLI to work together to set up a dedicated Search and Rescue service for this stretch of the river.[1]
There are three different versions of the E-class, described as the Mark I, Mark II and Mark III.
Mark I boats operated from 2002, but their service came to an end with the retirement of Legacy in 2021.
As of December 2023, there are 4 boats in service, three Mark II's, and a Mk III, split between Chiswick Lifeboat Station to the west of central London, and Tower Lifeboat Station at Victoria Embankment in central London.[2]
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 2008 with an Atlantic 85, B-827 Olive Laura Deane II.[3]
All versions of the E-class carry a variety of rescue equipment including marine VHF radios, a first aid kit, an emergency defibrillator, a GPS navigation system, night vision equipment, a self-righting system, a radar interrogator, towing equipment, and lighting equipment.[2]
- ^ "Thames lifeboat service launched". BBC News. 2 January 2002. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
- ^ a b "E class lifeboat". RNLI. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
LBESwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).