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.
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 Corporation, East Boothbay, Maine |
| Cost | $223,900 |
| Launched | 4 June 1938 |
| Commissioned | 11 September 1938 |
| Decommissioned | 7 November 1972 |
| Renamed |
|
| Status | Museum Ship 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 within Delaware | |
| Location | Lewes, Delaware |
| Coordinates | 38°46′40.5″N 75°8′28″W |
| Built | 1938 |
| Architect | Rice Brothers |
| NRHP reference No. | 89000006 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 16 February 1989[1] |
| Designated NHL | 14 June 2011 |
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]
