United States lightship Relief (WLV-605)
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United States lightship ''Relief'' (WLV-605) is a lightvessel now serving as a
museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
. Built in 1950, she is one of a small number of surviving lightships, and one of an even smaller number built specifically for the
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
. Along with her sister ship, the WLV-604 ''Columbia'', she is a good example of the last generation of lightships built. She was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1989.


Description and history

WLV-605 is located on the Oakland waterfront, at the far eastern end of the Port of Oakland just west of the
Oakland Ferry Terminal The Oakland Ferry Terminal (also known as Clay Street Ferry Terminal and Jack London Square Ferry Terminal) is a ferry terminal on the San Francisco Bay, located in Jack London Square in Oakland, California. History Origins The terminal opened ...
. The ship has a welded steel hull long, with a beam of and a hold depth of . She is register at 400 gross tons. Above-deck features include a steel deckhouse, a breakwater fore, and two steel masts on which its lights are mounted. She also historically carried a fog signal and bell, both operated by hand. WLV-605 was laid down as WAL-605 in 1949 at the Rice Brothers shipyard in East Boothbay Harbor, Maine. She was launched on March 4, 1950, just sixteen days after ''Columbia'', and was delivered, fully fitted, to the Coast Guard on February 11, 1951. She began service at the lightstation "Overfalls" at the entrance to Delaware Bay, serving until 1960, when the station was discontinued. She then sailed to the west coast, where she served at "Blunts Reef" until 1969; during this time Coast Guard lightvessels were redesignated, and she was redesignated WLV-605. She was then given the name "Relief", assigned duty to relieve other lightships on the Pacific coast. She was retired from service in 1975 and decommissioned the following year. After several unsuccessful attempts to convert her to a museum ship, she was acquired in 1986 by the United States Lighthouse Society, which now maintains the vessel in Oakland.


See also

* List of National Historic Landmarks in California *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, Ca ...


References

* * **


External links


U.S, Lightship Relief


* National Historic Landmark Nomination {{DEFAULTSORT:Relief (WLV-605)
Relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
Relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
Relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
Relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
Ships built in Boothbay, Maine National Historic Landmark lighthouses
Relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
National Register of Historic Places in Oakland, California 1950 ships Ships built by Rice Brothers Corporation