Saunders-Roe SR.N4

The SR.N4, short for Saunders-Roe Nautical 4 and also known as the Mountbatten class, was a combined passenger and vehicle-carrying hovercraft and the largest civil hovercraft ever put into service. It was designed to carry 254 passengers in two cabins besides a four-lane automobile bay holding up to 30 cars, and four Rolls-Royce Proteus marine turboshaft engines each drove its own lift fan and pylon-mounted steerable propeller, the largest propellers in the world when it entered service. By the time of its first trials in early 1968 Saunders-Roe had merged with the Vickers hovercraft division to form the British Hovercraft Corporation, which continued development. The first craft, 001, was launched onto water on 4 February 1968 and made its maiden flight the same day. The last SR.N4 was withdrawn from cross-Channel service in October 2000, and the Mk.III Princess Anne is on display at the Hovercraft Museum at Lee-on-the-Solent.