Lightvessel

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Lightship Finngrundet, now a museum ship in Stockholm. The day markers can be seen on the masts.
Lightship Finngrundet, now a museum ship in Stockholm. The day markers can be seen on the masts.
Lightship Fehmarnbelt, now a museum ship in Lübeck
Lightship Fehmarnbelt, now a museum ship in Lübeck

A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship which acts as a lighthouse, usually anchored permanently and having no means of propulsion.

Lightvessels are used in waters that are too deep for a lighthouse. Instead of marking coastlines, they usually mark marine traffic routes. They are superior to a buoy for this purpose because its navigational aids are more visible. They also usually carry data recorders used in research oceanography, such as wave recorders, and may also function as weather stations.

The first lightvessel was placed off the Nore sandbank at the mouth of the River Thames in England, placed there by its inventor Robert Hamblin in 1732.

Some lightships are mobile, such as relief lightships used as temporary replacements while the normal ship is in port for maintenance, and lightships which operate in Arctic waters during the ice-free summer months only, such as the Lightship Finngrundet.

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[edit] Appearance

LV-11 (originally British lightship Trinity House) is docked in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as "Breeveertien" serving as a restaurant.
LV-11 (originally British lightship Trinity House) is docked in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as "Breeveertien" serving as a restaurant.

Lightships, for visibility purposes, normally had bright red hulls which displayed the name of the station in white upper case letters; relief light vessels displayed the word RELIEF instead. A few ships had different colour hulls; for example, the Huron Lightship was painted black since she was assigned the black buoy side of the entrance to the Lake Huron Cut. The lightvessel that operated at Minots Ledge, Cohasset, Mass. from 1854 until 1860 had a light yellow hull to make it visible against the blue-green seas and the green hills behind it.

As well as the light, which operated in the fog and also at night, from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise, early lightvessels were equipped with red (or very occasionally white) day markers at the tops of masts, which were the first thing seen from an approaching ship. The designs varied; filled circles or globes, and pairs of inverted cones being the most common.

[edit] Mooring

Lightship Portsmouth (LV-101) shows its mushroom anchor. It can be seen at downtown Portsmouth, Virginia, and is a part of the Naval Shipyard Museum.
Lightship Portsmouth (LV-101) shows its mushroom anchor. It can be seen at downtown Portsmouth, Virginia, and is a part of the Naval Shipyard Museum.

Early lightships used fluke anchors, which are still used on many vessels. These were not very satisfactory, since a lightship has to remain stationary in very rough seas which other vessels can avoid, and these anchors are prone to dragging.

Since the early 19th century, lightships have used mushroom anchors, named for their shape, which typically weigh 3-4 tons. They were invented by Robert Stevenson. The first lightvessel equipped with one was an 82-ton converted fishing boat, renamed Pharos, which entered service on 15 September 1807 near to Bell Rock and had a 1.5 ton example. The effectiveness of these anchors improved dramatically in the 1820s, when cast iron anchor chains were introduced (the rule of thumb being 6 feet of chain for every foot depth of water).

[edit] British lightvessels

Calshot Spit lightship, now an attraction at Ocean Village marina, Southampton
Calshot Spit lightship, now an attraction at Ocean Village marina, Southampton

In England and Wales, Trinity House is in charge of all lightvessels. Most are unmanned, but some have up to nine crew. There are 11 lightvessels and 2 smaller lightfloats.

The first lightvessel was changed to solar power in 1995, and all except the '20 class' have been converted. The '20 class' represents a slightly larger type of vessel that derives its power from diesel electric generators and has not been converted to solar power due to navigational requirements. Where a main light with a visible range in excess of 20 nautical miles (37 km) is required, a '20 class' vessel is used, as the main light from a Trinity House solar lightvessel has a maximum range of 19 nautical miles (35 km).

There are hull numbers: 19, 22, 23 and 25 (the 20 class); 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 17 (solar lightvessels); and LF2 and LF3 (solar lightfloats). Solar lightvessels 93 and 95 have been decommissioned and scrapped.

[edit] American lightships

Lightship Columbia, WLV-604
Lightship Columbia, WLV-604

The first United States lightship was established at Chesapeake Bay in 1820, and the total number around the coast peaked in 1909 with 56 locations marked. Of those ships, 168 were constructed by the United States Lighthouse Service and six by the United States Coast Guard, which absorbed it in 1939. From 1820 until 1983, there were 179 lightships build for the U.S. govenrment, and they were assigned to 116 separate light stations on four coasts (including the Great Lakes).[1]

The official use of lightships in the United States ended March 29, 1985, when the United States Coast Guard decommissioned its last such ship, the Nantucket I. Many lightships were replaced with offshore light platforms called "Texas Towers" (as they were modelled after the small offshore oil drilling platforms first used off the Texas coast[1]) or large navigational buoys - all of which are cheaper to build and operate than lightvessels.

Lightship #51 at Sandy Hook, NJ, as it appeared in the 1890s.
Lightship #51 at Sandy Hook, NJ, as it appeared in the 1890s.

It is estimated that there are 15 left today. Two lightships are in New York Harbor: the Ambrose (No. 87) at the South Street Seaport; and the Frying Pan (No. 115), docked at Pier 63 in Chelsea.

A third lightship, Lightship No. 84 (135 feet long, weighing 683 tons), lies sunk in a shallow section of New York Harbor and its two masts are still visible above the surface [2].

Lightship LV 82, Buffalo foundered in Lake Erie near Buffalo, during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913‎ with the loss of six lives.[2] See Shipwrecks of the 1913 Great Lakes storm and List of victims of the 1913 Great Lakes storm. In the same storm, Lightship No. 61 "Corsica Shoals" was destroyed on Lake Huron.[3] See Huron Lightship for further details.

The Nantucket (No. 112) is moored in Oyster Bay, NY at The Waterfront Center.

The first lightship on the Pacific Coast, the Lightship Columbia, marked the entrance to the Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon. Another Pacific Coast lightship, Swiftsure, is displayed at South Lake Union Park in Seattle.

The City of Portsmouth, VA, has LV-101 in their naval shipyard museum. LV-101 was built in 1915 by Pusey & Jones. It first served at Cape Charles, VA, then Relief, Overfalls, DE, and Stonhorse Shoal, MA. After being decommissioned it was stored in Portland, ME, before being sold to the museum. Today LV-101 is dry docked and lettered as Portsmouth, having never served there.

The Huron Lightship is one of many that have plied the waters of the Great Lakes.[4][5] It should be noted that in 1832 the first Lightship on the Great Lakes -- the Lois McLain -- was placed at Waugoshance Shoal.[6] In fact, lighthouses often replaced lightships.[7] After 1940, the Huron was the last lightship on the Great Lakes She was decommmisioned in 1970 and grounded at Port Huron, Michigan as a museum. It is the smallest surviving lightship, and is representative of the 96 foot class.[8]

LV-6 and LV-73 were both lost with all hands.[9][10]

[edit] Popular culture

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