High-speed launch

{{Short description|Military boat classification}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:HSL 164 with RAF Hurricane off Colombo c1943.jpg, off Colombo with a Hawker Hurricane overhead]]

A high-speed launch (HSL) is a type of military boat typically used for air-sea rescue operations. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) and others used HSLs especially during World War II.

The 64 ft. high-speed, air/sea rescue launch built by British Power Boat Company (BPBC) was one of the earliest high-speed offshore rescue vessel used by the Royal Air Force.{{Cite web

|title=High Speed Launch 102

|website=Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust

|url=https://www.pnbpropertytrust.org/historic-boats/boatdetails/high-speed-launch-102/67/

}} The prototype, numbered 100, gave its name to the class as the "100 class"; High Speed Launch 102 is the only surviving boat from that class. It was tested in 1936 and production boats were delivered in 1937.Canwell and Sutherland 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=uCPOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA191 p191]

Later designs included the 1941 Type Two 63 ft HSL "Whaleback", an adaptation of a motor anti-submarine boat, the first HSL to include gun turrets.Canwell and Sutherland 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=uCPOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 p41] British Power Boat chief designer George Selman later designed the 68 ft. "Hants & Dorset" Canwell and Sutherland 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=uCPOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA191 p191]

By May 1944, The RAF had 130 HSLs.{{cite book |last1=Pitchfork |first1=Graham |title=Shot Down and in the Drink: True Stories of RAF and Commonwealth Aircrews Saved from the Sea in WWII |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781472827258 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-CuQDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57}}