For many years the RNLI provided a rescue service covering a 50 mile radius from any British coastline. With improvements and miniturisation of navigation equipment this allowed small private boats to have full navigation equipment allowing them to explore further out to sea as a result the RNLI extended its range to 100 Nautical Miles and as a result it was necessary to replace the current 15 Knot Mersey Class Lifeboat with a lifeboat that could do at least 25 Knots, Enter "The Shannon". The Shannon class now completes our all weather lifeboat fleet, the largest at 17 meters is the Seven the next largest is the Tamar at 16 meters after that comes the Trent at 14 meters and lastly at 13 meters is the Shannon. The Shannon has been developed in house by our own Naval Archtects went through a testing phase and then brought into service in 2014

The boat was funded by Several very generous legacies namely Mr F W Plaxton, The F W Plaxton Charitable Trust,, The Ganton Furse Settlement and Mr William Ranyard.