Thames-class lifeboat [SEP] service entry
Thames-class lifeboat
The Thames-class lifeboat was operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) from its stations around the coasts of the United Kingdom between 1974 and 1997. Six were ordered but only two completed; they have both been sold on to other users.
The class takes its name from the River Thames which flows through London and into the North Sea.
History.
In the 1960s the RNLI's fleet consisted of motor lifeboats of limited speed due to the shape of their hull.
E-class lifeboat
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