History
Built in 1930 at Charleston Drydock & Machine Co in Charleston, S.C. for $274,434.00, Chesapeake took on the name of whatever station where she was anchored. The ship was also absorbed into the Coast Guard in 1939, as were all vessels in the United States Lighthouse Service.
Service in the US Coast Guard meant a pay cut for the sailors aboard Chesapeake and other Lightships, as well as the requirements for the crew to pass Coast Guard physical exams and wear uniforms. Coast Guard officers, usually a Warrant Bos'n, were also placed in command of the lightships, which meant a more efficient, orderly and strict operation. It did also, however, mean better supplies and training reached the crew. During WWII, Chesapeake was based out of Sandwich, Massachusetts, where she served as an examination and guard vessel at the north entrance of the Cape Cod Canal and helped protect the important port of Boston.
In the 1960s with the introduction of automated buoys as well as permanent light stations, the lightship fleet was slowly mothballed. Chesapeake left her station at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in September 1965 when she was replaced by a large, manned light tower similar to an oil rig. This station was helicopter accessible and was easier to maintain than a lightship. Eventually the light tower was fully automated. Eight lightships were built after Chesapeake.
Chesapeake's last tour of duty was at the mouth of the Delaware Bay from 1966 to 1970 where she was named "DELAWARE". A large 104 ton buoy beacon replaced her at this station in 1970. After leaving Delaware Bay, Chesapeake was moored in Cape May, New Jersey until her decommissioning on 6 January 1971. She was then transferred to the National Park Service and used as a sea-going environmental education classroom until she was handed over to the city of Baltimore in 1982. In 1988 Chesapeake became part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, now the Historic Ships In Baltimore museum and is moored at Pier 3 in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. She is open for touring after a paid admission to the Museum. Chesapeake was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 1 August 1980 and was designated a National Historic Landmark on 20 November 1989. Chesapeake and her companions are major contributing elements in the Baltimore National Heritage Area.
Read more about this topic: United States Lightship Chesapeake (LV-116)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
Stringent laws, and that things
Do get done in this way, but never the things
We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“English history is all about men liking their fathers, and American history is all about men hating their fathers and trying to burn down everything they ever did.”
—Malcolm Bradbury (b. 1932)
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)