WLV-612 Lightship
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WLV-612 Quick Facts
Year Built: 1950
Length: 128 feet
Beam: 30 feet
Draft: 11 feet
Tonnage: 617 tons displacement tons displacement
Construction: Steel hull deck and
house. Single tripod lantern mast
forward with conventional mast aft.
Propulsion: Diesel, 550HP
Station on Assignment:
1951-1969: San Francisco (CA)
1969-1971: Blunts Reef (CA)
1971-1975: Portland (ME)
1975-1983: Nantucket Shoals (MA)
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Lightship WLV-612, San Francisco/Nantucket I
All photos of "San Francisco" on this page © 1954, John E. Richardson
[Photo 2]
History:
In 1954 my Dad, John Richardson, then a member of the US Air Force was returning from overseas on a Navy ship. As they entered San Francisco Bay, the pilot ship approached them. My Dad snapped a picture of the pilot ship. In the background you can see a lightship. I scanned in the slide my Dad took 47 years ago and cropped and enlarged it to get the close-up photo you see above. To see the original, complete, photo click on the link above.
The lightship, designated WLV-612, was built in Curtis Bay, MD in 1950 and first put into service in 1951 in San Francisco Bay. It served there for the next 18 years. Eventually in 1975 it served off the coast of Nantucket and 1979 was then designated with the name Nantucket I. It alternated duty with WLV-613, also known as Lightship Nantucket II (click here to see the WLV-613 lightship page). One ship would relieve the other ship every 21 days until both ships were relieved of their lightship duties in 1983.
Lightship WLV-612, now still known as Nantucket I, is privately owned and docked at a pier in Quincy, MA.
To see an old picture and get more info on this lightship click here to go to a page at the EastWind Publishing web site.
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![[Photo 2]](https://www.cyberlights.com/lh/calif/images/sanfrancisco/sanfrancisco2.jpg){kind=link}