United States lightship Overfalls (LV-118)
 WAL 539 painted for "OVERFALLS" station, docked in Lewes, Delaware in 2015 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
| |
| Name: | LV 118 |
| Operator: | United States Lighthouse Service/United States Coast Guard |
| Builder: | Rice Brothers, East Boothbay, Maine |
| Cost: | $223,900 |
| Launched: | 4 June 1938 |
| Commissioned: | 11 September 1938 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 November 1972 |
| Renamed: |
|
| Status: | Museum in Lewes, Delaware |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Lightvessel |
| Displacement: | 412 short tons (374 t) |
| Length: | 114 ft 9 in (34.98 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 4 in (4.06 m) |
| Installed power: | Cooper-Bessemer 8 cylinder air-start Diesel engine, 400 bhp (300 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Single shaft, reduction gear, 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) propeller |
| Speed: | 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Crew: | 14 |
|
Lightship WAL-539 | |
  | |
| Location | Lewes, Delaware |
| Coordinates | 38°46′40.5″N 75°8′28″W / 38.777917°N 75.14111°WCoordinates: 38°46′40.5″N 75°8′28″W / 38.777917°N 75.14111°W |
| Built | 1938 |
| Architect | Rice Brothers |
| NRHP Reference # | 89000006 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 16 February 1989[1] |
| Designated NHL | 14 June 2011 |
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.
History
This ship was built to replace LV-44, badly damaged in the New England Hurricane of 1938, for the Cornfield Point station.[2] Patterned after the LV-112,[2] she has a hull unlike that of any of her sisters; in effect, a single-ship class.[3] She is the last riveted-hull lightship built for the US 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][4] The light was a duplex 375 mm (14.8 in) lantern on a single mast, at 57 ft (17 m) above the water line.[4] Dual diaphones were provided for a fog signal, as well as a bell and radiobeacon.[2] A radar unit was installed in 1943.[4] The crew complement was fourteen, to serve on a two weeks on/one week off basis.[4] 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.[3] A severe storm in December 1970 damaged the ship, leading to her decommissioning on November 7, 1972.[5] 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.[3] 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.[6] She remains in Lewes and is available for tours.[6]
The lightship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, and in 2011 was further designated a National Historic Landmark.[7]
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Delaware
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Sussex County, Delaware
References
- ↑ Staff (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Vessel Designation: LV 118/WAL 539". U.S. Coast Guard Lightships & Those of the U.S. Lighthouse Service. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
- 1 2 3 "National Historic Landmark nomination" (pdf). National Park Service. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- 1 2 3 4 "Specifications and Other Facts". Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
- ↑ "About the Lightship Overfalls: History". Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
- 1 2 "The History of the OMMF and the Lightship's more recent adventures". Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation. Archived from the original on 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- ↑ "National Register of Historic Places listings for June 24, 2011". National Park Service. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
External links
Media related to United States lightship Overfalls (LV-118) at Wikimedia Commons- Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation
- Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Lightship Overfalls
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