Page 30 - Theory and Design of Air Cushion Craft

ACV and SES development in the UK 15

Fig. 1.13 British military ACVs from the 1970s, SR.N6, BH.7 and VT.2, in formation on the Solent.

About 30 HM-2 sidewall hovercraft are operated by the Hong Kong and Yaumati
Ferry Company on various Hong Kong routes, while many SR.N6s, and HM-2s were
operated on British mainland coastal routes for transporting passengers, such as Isle
of Wight to Southampton and Portsmouth, from the early 1970s. Many of these ser-
vices were short-lived, lasting only a summer season or so. The Solent services continue
successfully, having progressed from SR.N6 to AP1-88 craft. Meanwhile in Japan,
Mitsui, who had a technology sharing agreement with BHC, built and supplied the
MV.PP5 (Fig. 1.19) and the larger MV.PP15 to passenger transport routes on the coast.
In the later 60s and early 70s ambitious development programmes were mapped out
by the three main UK companies, progressing through various stages to proposals for
open ocean hover freighters of up to 4000 tons with a transatlantic range. Such craft
were projected to have exceptionally high work capacity and carry payloads of up to
2000 tons of containerized cargo. On such craft, air screw populsion would be
replaced by water-jets as limitations imposed by propeller development and transmis-
sion gearing occur at an all up weight of 750 to 1000 tons. The main problem occurred