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The SR.N4 (Saunders-Roe Nautical 4) hovercraft (also known as the Mountbatten-class hovercraft) was a large passenger and vehicle carrying hovercraft built by the British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC). BHC was formed by the merger of Saunders-Roe and Vickers Supermarine in 1966. Work on the SR.N4 began in 1965 and the first trials took place in early 1968. Power was provided by four Rolls-Royce Proteus marine turboshaft engines each driving its own lift fan and pylon-mounted steerable propulsion propeller.
Contents
- Origins
- Prototype and testing
- Design
- Operational service
- Military interest
- Survivors
- Production
- Dimensions
- Performance
- References
The SR.N4 was the largest hovercraft built to that date, designed to carry 254 passengers in two cabins besides a four-lane automobile bay which held up to 30 cars. Cars were driven from a bow ramp just forward of the cockpit / wheelhouse. The first design was 40 metres (131 ft) long, weighed 190 long tons (193 t), was capable of 83 knots (154 km/h) and could cruise at over 60 knots (111 km/h).
The SR.N4s operated services across the English Channel between 1968 and 2000.
Origins
In August 1962, the original concept for the SR.N4, which had been conceived at the same time as the SR.N2 was being designed, was abandoned. This original concept had effectively been a pair of elongated SR.N2 fixed together in a side-by-side placement and would have been powered by an arrangement of four pairs of Blackburn A.129 turboshaft engines. In its place, a new proposed hovercraft, which was referred to as the SR.N4 as well, was considerably larger and heavier, and powered by three pairs of Rolls-Royce Proteus marinised gas turbine engine. However, during early 1963, work on the SR.N4 was put on hold due to a greater priority having been placed on the completion of the SR.N5 instead. In late 1964, it was decided to recommence design work on the proposed SR.N4.
By the end of 1964, it had been concluded that, due to the improved projected performance of the craft's flexible skirt having lowered the power requirements involved, only two pairs of Proteus engines would be required instead of three. At this stage, the proposed design for the SR.N4 had a displacement of 165 tons and a payload of up to 33 cars and 116 passengers; this would not substantially differ from the final design adopted for the type.
Experience gained from the SR.N5 and SR.N6 would contribute to the design of aspects of the larger SR.N4, which would be four times larger than any preceding hovercraft. This approach is credited with having been less expensive and having resulted in a more commercially-viable hovercraft than would have been if it had been constructed as per the earlier incarnation of the SR.N4 and then required to perform modifications to improve the capabilities of aspects such as the skirt, which had been considerably advanced by development of the SR.N5 and SR.N6. Specific improvements included the adoption of triangular rubber 'finger'-like attachments to the curtain which provided for a better seal between the hovercraft and the water's surface as well as being cheaper and easier to maintain than previous configurations.
During the mid-1960s, some management figures within British Rail had become interested in the potential for operating a fleet of hovercraft for scheduled services that would link up to Britain's national rail system. In November 1965, Frank Cousins, the Minister of Technology, announced that British Rail would participating in the development of the SR.N4 and would be a customer for the type. While orders had already been placed for the SR.N4 by this point, the British Railways Board had decided to commit to taking delivery of the first craft to be produced; this was particularly convenient as the two orders which had been placed by Swedish operator Cross-Channel Hover Services Ltd specifically excluded accepting delivery of the first example. By the end of 1965, having acquired a total of three firm orders, it was now plausible for production of the SR.N4 to proceed.
Prototype and testing
Having realised that the market for large hovercraft was yet large enough to sustain a number of competing companies at that time, in 1966, the hovercraft divisions of both Saunders-Roe and Vickers Supermarine merged to form a new united entity, known as the British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC), which was headquartered on the Isle of Wight. In autumn 1966, production work commenced on the structure of the first SR.N4, which was internally designated as 001; the vehicle was assembled within the same hangar in which the three Saunders-Roe Princess flying boats had been constructed within 15 years beforehand. During 1967, as 001 was taking shape, it was announced that the SR.N4 had been named as the Mountbatten-class. Throughout the development and production of 001, both Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed carefully monitored progress on the project.
In October 1967, the completed 001 was officially presented to gathered members of the press and to various representatives and dignitaries. On 20 November 1967, the first engine run was performed, after which 11 weeks of intense grounded test runs were performed and the exposed faults were addressed. On 4 February 1968, 001 was launched into the water for the first time. The launch, while successful, had involved some risk due to the lack of space to maneuver within and without the benefit of a tested and developed control system. Later that same day, 001 conducted its maiden flight, flown by Sheepy Lamb.
As experience with the prototype accumulated, the control arrangement proved to be quite effective even within confined spaces; incidents involving a loss of control did occur during the test programme, but these were mainly due to error on the part of the operator. Ray Wheeler, BHC's chief engineer, was reportedly very pleased with the progress made during the initial trials. At the same time, 001 required substantial refinement and alteration in order to be reworked into a commercially viable craft. Specifically, the air intakes had to be substantially modified in order to minimise salt ingestion, a revised skirt system was also developed.
Design
The Saunders-Roe SR.N4 (Saunders-Roe Nautical 4), otherwise known as the Mountbatten-class, was the biggest hovercraft to have been completed upon its introduction. Its primary structure comprised a large modular buoyancy tank, the internal structure of which being divided into 24 watertight compartments. It had an identical platform shape to the smaller SR.N5, being rectangular with a semi-circular bow and a length-to-beam ration of 1:1.66.
The SR.N4 was powered by four Rolls-Royce Proteus turboprop engines. The Proteus engines each drove a set of 19 ft (6.1 m) diameter steerable Dowty Rotol propellers, arranged in two pairs on pylons positioned on top of the craft's roof; upon the SR.N4's introduction to service, these were the largest propellers in the world. Six independent electrohydraulic systems, each driven from the main gearboxes, powered the movement of the fins and pylons, while a further four units were used to actuate the variable-pitch propellers.
The control cabin of the SR.N4 greatly resembled the flight deck of an aircraft, being relatively cramped in comparison with the bridge of a typical vessel. It housed a crew of three, comprising a captain, first officer/fight engineer, and a second officer/navigator; the main role of the second officer was to basically avoid collision, primarily using a Decca 629 radar to do so. The flying controls appeared broadly similar to a typical aircraft, using an assortment of rudder pedals, joysticks, yokes, separate propeller pitch levels, and engine speed controls; however, their functionality often differed substantially, such as the ability for the yoke to command the pitch of all four propellers.
The SR.N4 is fitted with a 12-ton skirt which runs under the perimeter of the whole craft and employs a complex structure. On the underside of the buoyancy tanks, a total of five 21-inch platforms (known as 'elephant feet') were positioned so that the craft could stably rest on three of them. Fuel was contained within flexible bags located at all four corners; the craft could be trimmed by intentionally redistributing fuel between the fore and aft tanks to better match the load and prevailing weather conditions. The stern of the craft featured a sizeable set of doors for the loading and unloading of vehicles onto the car deck as well as all four of the exhausts for the Proteus engines, another set of loading doors were present on the front as well.
Operational service
Upon completion of the prototype SR.N4, Charles Anthony Brindle, the Managing Director of British Rail Hovercraft Ltd, was responsible for establishing the first cross-Channel route for scheduled services by the type. In October 1966, Brindle and several engineers surveyed several potential sites on both the British and French sides of the English Channel using an SR.N6 to determine their suitability for the hovercraft service, which had been given the name Seaspeed. Amongst the most suitable candidates had been Dover or Folkestone on the English side and Calais or Boulogne on the French side would be most suitable.
It was soon determined that Dover and Boulogne would be the preferable option for the maiden route, a decision which had been motivated in part by the local Chamber of Commerce having agreed to build a suitable hoverport to readily facilitate such operations. As there was no funding available for pre-service passenger trials, the opening season of active operations effectively served as a continuation of the trials activities as well. Brindle was aware that BHC would not be paid until the SR.N4 was in service, and thus there was a considerable emphasis placed on getting the craft ready for commercial use right at the point of delivery.
In August 1968, the first SR.N4 entered commercial service with the Princess Margaret being initially operated by Seaspeed between Dover and Boulogne, but later craft also traversed the Ramsgate (Pegwell Bay) to Calais route as well. In 1971, the Princess Margaret featured in the James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever". The journey time from Dover to Boulogne was roughly 35 minutes with a total of six trips per day being conducted at peak times. The fastest ever crossing of the English Channel by a commercial car-carrying hovercraft was 22 minutes, which had been achieved by the SR.N4 Mk.III Princess Anne on 14 September 1995 during the 10:00 a.m. service.
In 1972, the first SR.N4s were temporarily withdrawn for conversion to Mk.II specification which would provide for seven further car spaces and 28 more passengers. The first of the enlarged craft, the Swift, entered service at the beginning of February 1973. The capacity increase was achieved by removing an inner passenger cabin in order to accommodate the extra cars and widening the outer passenger cabin: this was achieved without changing the overall footprint of the craft. New aircraft-style forward-facing seats created an atmosphere of enhanced sophistication, and a redesigned skirt was intended to reduce window spray, enhancing the view out for passengers, and to give a smoother ride in rough seas: contemporary reports nevertheless commented on the "unsprung" nature of the ride.
After 1976, a pair of SR.N4s were refitted with new deep skirts and stretched by almost 56.1 ft (17.1 m), increasing capacity to 418 passengers and 60 cars at the cost of a weight increase to roughly 320 t (315 long tons). To maintain speed, the engines were upgraded to four 3,800 shaft horsepower (2,834 kW) models, which were fitted with four 21 ft (6.4 m) diameter steerable Dowty Rotol propellers. The work cost around £5 million for each craft, and they were designated Mark IIIs; the improvements allowed them to operate in seas up to 11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) high and with 57.5-mile-per-hour (92.5 km/h) winds. The stretched SR.N4s (Super-4's) held the distinction of being the world's largest hovercraft, and continued to hold this title until the Russian Zubr class LCAC hovercrafts' arrival early in the 21st century.
The two main commercial operators (Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd) merged in 1981 to form Hoverspeed, which operated six SR.N4 of all marks. In all operations, while the craft were occasionally damaged, there was loss of life only once when on 30 March 1985 the Princess Margaret was blown onto a breakwater at Dover and four passengers were killed. The last of the craft was withdrawn from service in October 2000 and Hoverspeed itself ceased operations in November 2005.
Military interest
The Royal Navy considered a mine sweeping version of the SR.N4, hovercraft being almost invulnerable to mines. This never got further than the concept stage, although an SR.N3 was used by the Inter-Service Hovercraft Unit for trials.
Survivors
The two remaining Mk.III examples of the craft (GH-2006 Princess Margaret and GH-2007 Princess Anne) were bought by Wensley Haydon-Baillie for £500,000 and reside at the Hovercraft Museum. Haydon-Baillie is the owner of the super yacht Brave Challenger and uses the same Rolls-Royce Proteus Marine engines as the SR.N4s. The purchase included seven years' worth of spares including engines. As of winter 2015 all engines and APU's have been removed from the craft. The SR.N4s were put up for sale and Hover Transit Services of Bolton, Ontario, proposed putting the hovercraft back in operation (following a US$10 million purchase and refurbishment) on Lake Ontario with service between Rochester, New York, and Toronto, Ontario. The plan did not come to fruition, with government officials concluding that the organisation lacked the experience necessary to be viable.
The land on which the Hovercraft Museum stands is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency. Proposed redevelopment of the site has led to the two craft being threatened with scrapping, but a petition was launched with the aim of preserving one of the craft, which led in to a 3-year lease of the hovercraft to the museum in August 2016 with the intention of subsequently permanently handing over the hovercraft to the museum.
The plastic construction kit company Airfix produced a 1:144 scale model of the SR.N4 in the early 1970s, with a clear plastic top decking to show the detailed interior.
Production
Built as Mk.I unless specified otherwise.
Dimensions
Performance
Mk.II - 70 knots (130 km/h)