Atlantic 21-class lifeboat
The Atlantic 21 is part of the B class of lifeboats that served the shores of the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) inshore fleet. The Atlantic 21 was the first generation rigid inflatable boat (RIB), originated at and by Atlantic College in South Wales, the birthplace of the RIB after which the craft is so named. The school was also one of nine locations where the RNLI first established lifeboat stations using smaller inshore watercraft. Atlantic College Lifeboat Station was commissioned by the RNLI in 1963 and decommissioned in 2013.
Falmouth Round Table (B-595) during Falmouth Lifeboat Day, August 2006. | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | B class (Atlantic 21) |
| Builders | Inshore Lifeboat Centre, Cowes |
| Operators | Royal National Lifeboat Institution |
| Preceded by | C class |
| Succeeded by | B class (Atlantic 75) |
| Built | 1969–1994 |
| In service | 1970–2007 |
| Completed | 96 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Lifeboat |
| Displacement | 1.4 tonnes |
| Length | 7.21 m (23 ft 8 in) |
| Beam | 2.49 m (8 ft 2 in) |
| Draught | 0.81 m (2 ft 8 in) |
| Propulsion | 2 × 70 hp (52 kW) 2-stroke outboard engines |
| Speed | 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) |
| Endurance | 3 hours |
| Capacity | 22 |
| Complement | 3 |
Nearly all of the Atlantic 21s have been retired from service by 2006, one of the notable exceptions to this being the boat allocated to Walmer in Kent. RNLB James Burgess (B-589) was retired to the relief fleet in December 2006. It was replaced by an Atlantic 85.