Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Hovercraft in Service
AssociatedAssociated with
Lord Mountbatten of Burma
(Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)
Medallist
John Pinches, Medallists
DateMay 2004
Object NameMedal
MediumSterling Silver
ClassificationsMedals
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDMS072500.101
Keywords
The ordinary ship or boat travels through the water, the lower part of her hull, which is submerged, displacing sufficient water to provide the upthrust which keeps her afloat. She is extremely efficient, requiring only low power to move large loads, provided that relatively low speeds are acceptable. For high speeds very large powers must be used and the vessel's load capacity is limited by design factors. The hovercraft is an amphibious vehicle requiring no prepared roadway to land. She is kept a short distance above water or land by a cushion of air generated by horizontal propellors and propelled forward by vertical propellors like those of a light aircraft. She is a very agile vehicle that can travel very fast.
Her history really begins in the early years of this century, and the first successful air cushion vehicle was built for the Austrian Navy during the First World War, but it was a British inventor. Christopher Cockerell, who in the late 1950s established the commercially practical system in use today. Development of this type of craft was very rapid indeed after the efficiency of early hovercraft had been greatly increased by the addition of flexible skirts to contain the air cushion.
Today hovercraft carry a large percentage of passenger and car traffic across the English Channel, and their use is developing throughout the world as short-range amphibious vehicles providing transport in difficult conditions, such as in the Canadian Arctic and large parts of the Soviet Union.
The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.
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