United States lightship Overfalls (LV-118)

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	WAL 539 (1939/1947–1965)[clarification needed] WLV-539 (1965-1973)
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
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
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]

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Delaware
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Sussex County, Delaware
• List of maritime museums in the United States