SR.N4 Hovercraft arriving in Dover on its last commercial flight - 1st October 2000

The Mountbatten class hovercraft or SR-N4 was built by BHC, the British Hovercraft Corporation. BHC had been formed by the merger of Saunders-Roe and Vickers Supermarine in 1966, work on the SR-N4 had begun in 1965 and the first trials had taken place in early 1968. Image File history File links SR.N4 hovercraft arriving at Dover on its last day of commercial operations - 1st October 2000. ... Image File history File links SR.N4 hovercraft arriving at Dover on its last day of commercial operations - 1st October 2000. ... A U.S. Navy hovercraft attached to the Amphibious assault ship Kearsarge (LHD-3) A hovercraft is a vehicle that is supported on a cushion of air. ... British Hovercraft Corporation is the corporate entity created when Saunders Roe and Vickers Supermarine combined with the intention of creating viable commercial hovercraft. ... Saunders-Roe Princess G-ALUN History Saunders-Roe Limited was a British aircraft manufacturing company based in East Cowes, Isle of Wight. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ...

The SR-N4 was the largest hovercraft built to that date, designed to carry 254 passengers and 30 cars. It was 40 m long, weighed 190 tons and was capable of 83 knots and could cruise at over 60 knots. A knot is a non SI unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. ...

The craft entered commercial service in August 1968, with the Princess Margaret initially operated between Dover and Boulogne but later craft also made the Ramsgate (Pegwell Bay) to Calais route. The journey time, Dover to Boulogne, was roughly 35 minutes, with six trips a day at peak times. The fastest crossing was made in 1995 at just 22 minutes. 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret (Margaret Rose Armstrong-Jones, née Windsor; (August 21, 1930—February 9, 2002) was a member of the British Royal Family, the second eldest daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister of the current British... Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port. ... Boulogne-sur-Mer is a city and commune in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... Note: See Ramsgate, KwaZulu-Natal for a town in South Africa. ... The Burghers of Calais, by Rodin, with Calais Hotel de Ville behind Location within France Calais (Dutch:Kales) is a city in northern France, located at 50°57N 1°52E. It is in the département of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1972 the first SR-N4s were converted to allow for seven further car spaces and 28 more passengers. From 1976 two SR-N4s were refitted with new deep skirts and stretched by almost 17 m, increasing capacity to 418 passengers and 60 cars at the cost of an weight increase to almost 265 tons. To maintain speed the engines were upgraded to four 3,500 shp Rolls-Royce gas turbines fitted with enormous 21 feet diameter 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 3.5 m high and with 50 knot winds. 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Rolls Royce logo Rolls-Royce is a set of several companies, all deriving from the British automobile and aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls in 1906. ... A propeller can be seen as a rotating fin in water or a wing in air. ...

The two main commercial operators 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 March 30, 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. Hoverspeed, formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd, is one of the largest ferry companies operating the cross Channel ferry route (Dover-Calais). ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in Leap years). ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defense. ... 2000 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December This is a timeline for events in October, 2000. ...