I would imagine life boats would be as fast as possible. Probably even explosively removing any exterior hull, making the life boat launch not something you would want to do as an alternative to using a regular ships as you need to recover or get a new cover.
Or perhaps the life boats themselves are part of the hull - you get in, hit the big red escape button, and it just gets shoved out as it is just locked into the hull. Sort of like the experimental space suits that you basically walk into, zip up behind you, and you are already outside basically (and dang if I just can't find that link)