United_States_lightship_Overfalls_(LV-118)

United States lightship <i>Overfalls</i> (LV-118)

United States lightship Overfalls (LV-118)

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Lightship Overfalls (LV-118) (later renumbered WAL-539) was the last lightvessel constructed for the United States Lighthouse Service before the Service became part of the United States Coast Guard.[2] She is currently preserved in Lewes, Delaware as a museum ship.

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History

This ship was built to replace LV-44, badly damaged in the New England Hurricane of 1938, for the Cornfield Point station.[3] Patterned after the LV-112,[2] she has a hull unlike that of any of her sisters; in effect, a single-ship class.[4] She is the last riveted-hull lightship built for the United States Lighthouse Service, all subsequent ships having welded hulls. Propulsion was diesel, with a set of diesel generators and compressors providing power for the beacon and auxiliaries.[2][5] The light was a duplex 375 mm (14.8 in) lantern on a single mast, at 57 ft (17 m) above the water line.[5] Dual diaphones were provided for a fog signal, as well as a bell and radiobeacon.[2] A radar unit was installed in 1943.[5] The crew complement was fourteen, to serve on a two weeks on/one week off basis.[5] When the lighthouse service was merged into the coast guard in 1939, she was renumbered WAL 539.[2]

LV 118 / WAL 539 served at these stations:[2]

1938-1957: Cornfield Point, Connecticut
1958-1962: Cross Rip, Massachusetts
1962-1972: Boston, Massachusetts

Unlike most US lightships WAL 539 remained on station during World War II.[4] A severe storm in December 1970 damaged the ship, leading to her decommissioning on November 7, 1972.[6] Upon retirement WAL 539 was donated to the Lewes Historical Society and placed on display in Lewes, Delaware, painted for the "OVERFALLS" station, though she never served there.[4] The Lightship that actually served on the Overfalls station, is on display in Portsmouth Virginia. The ship's condition deteriorated and a failed attempt in 1999 to sell her led to the formation of a separate group, the Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation, to take over the maintenance and restore the vessel.[7] She remains in Lewes and is available for tours.[7]

The lightship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, and in 2011 was further designated a National Historic Landmark.[8]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. [2]
    "Vessel Designation: LV 118/WAL 539". U.S. Coast Guard Lightships & Those of the U.S. Lighthouse Service. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved November 16, 2010.
  3. [3]
    "U.S. Coast Guard Lightships: LV 44". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  4. [4]
    "National Historic Landmark nomination" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  5. [5]
    "Specifications and Other Facts". Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  6. [6]
    "About the Lightship Overfalls: History". Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  7. [7]
    "The History of the OMMF and the Lightship's more recent adventures". Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation. Archived from the original on February 17, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  8. [8]
    "National Register of Historic Places listings for June 24, 2011". National Park Service. June 24, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
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