YEAR BUILT: 1950

BUILT AT: East Boothbay (ME)

BUILDER: Rice Brothers

APPROPRIATION: ?

CONTRACT PRICE: $651,000

SISTER VESSELS: WLV 604

DESIGN: Diesel propelled; steel hull and deckhouses: breakwater on foredeck; 2 masts; stack amidships

LENGTH: 158' 0" (loa); BEAM: 30' 0"; DRAFT: 11 '0"; TONNAGE: 617 displ. ("light")

PROPULSION: Diesel - Atlas Imperial 550HP @ 750rpm; 7' dia. propeller: max speed 10.7 knots

ILLUMINATING APPARATUS: Dunlex 500mm electric lens lantern on foremast only;
15, 000cp each light

FOG SIGNAL: Twin F2T diaphones mounted aft of pilot house

CONSTRUCTION NOTES - MODIFICATIONS --

EQUIPMENT CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS: WLV 605-
Same general plan and features as for WLV 180-
Used all-welded construction with transverse bulkheads carried up

 to weather deck level; hawsepipes carried to main deck before leading

 to chain locker; alternating current electrical system throughout-
Laid down 1949 Mar 1, involved in fire when 65% complete; launched

1950 May 4, sponsor Miss Elizbeth F Loughlin, Washington DC:

 Sea trials- 1951 Feb 7; delivered 1951 Feb 15.-
Designated WAL 605 when built, changed to WLV in 1965-
1964 USCG lists vessel with CG high intensity 500,000cp light on mainmast,

 duplex 375mm lens- lantern on fore, 13, 000cp each light;

CR-103 radar Radio and visual call sign NKVY (1951 1975)

STATION ASSIGNMENTS: WLV 605
1951-1960: Overfalls (DE)
1960-1969: Blunts Reef' (CA)
1969-1975: Relief (West Coast)

RETIRED FROM LIGHTSHIP DUTY: 1975; AGE: 25

SUBSEQUENT DISPOSITION: Decommissioned Jan 1, 1976;

acquired by State Capital Museum Association Olympia WA 1978;

sold 1979 to Alan Hoskins and used for tours at Half Noon Bay (CA).

 Acquired by US Lighthouse Society San Francisco, Dec 1988

. Berthed San Francisco Bay area, on display as floating museum

COMMANDING OFFICERS: WLV 605
1956: WO L R Smith, OIC

Back to Blunts Reef Lightship Station History

Copyright © 2003  United States Coast Guard Lightship Sailors Association INC. All rights reserved. Copyrights also protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Revised: 10/23/06.