1931 General Service Tender, a 37ft. 6in. 200h.p. boat offered to the Air Ministry, who after trials placed orders for a number of boats, including No. 261

Colonel T E Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, and serving as Aircraftsman Shaw, was posted to RAF Mount Batten to help develop new craft. The result was the 200 Class Seaplane Tender, a 37½ foot vessel capable of 27 knots. Deliveries commenced in 1932, and at the time it was claimed to be the fastest craft of their size in the world. From this was developed the standard RAF vessel of the ASR Service, the 100 Class High-Speed Launch (HSL).

Class: 37_ft 200 Class Seaplane Tender
Use: RAF Seaplane Tender & Marine Craft Section duties
Built By: The British Power Boat Co, Hythe in 1931 No built: 104
Dimensions: Length: 37_ft Beam: 14_ft
Maximum Displacement: 4.5 tons
Original Engines: 2 x 100hp Power Meadows petrol engines
Max Speed: 30 knots

ST 206 was one of the 104 boats of the 200 class seaplane tenders built for the RAF. The prototype ST 200 was jointly developed by Scott Paine of the British Power Boat Co and the Air Ministry who had entrusted a great deal of the development and testing of the boat to 338171 Aircraftman 2nd Class T.E.Shaw better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Shaw, who had first entered the RAF in 1922 and then re-entered in 1925, was aware that the chances of being rescued from a seaplane or flying boat, that crashed on take off or landing, were very slim indeed, especially with the slow tenders that the RAF used at that time and he campaigned for fast launches to be used for both tendering and rescue. The 200 class was the outcome and could be said to be the blueprint for all subsequent classes of high speed vessel built for all three services.

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