(Located – Pier 3, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD. Moored next to National Aquarium. Lightship designations: LV116 / LS116/ WAL538/WLV538 – revised 04/29/13)
1930 Built and placed in service with the US Lighthouse Service in Charleston, SC. 133 feet long w/30 foot beam and a 375mm electric lens fitted on each masthead. First Light Station assignment – Fenwick Island Shoal, Delaware.
1933 Equipped with radiobeacon – moved to Chesapeake Light Station – 14.5 miles east of Virginia Beach, VA.
1936 Lost anchor in hurricane.
1942 During World War II, served as examination and guard vessel, off the north end of the Cape Cod Canal – armed with two 20mm guns. Painted battleship gray.
1945 Fitted with detection radar – returned to the Chesapeake Light Station. Repainted bright red.
1962 Rides out another hurricane.
1965 Replaced on the Chesapeake Light Station by a Texas-type tower – moved to the Delaware Light Station. Last lightship on duty in the mid-Atlantic.
01/05/1971 Decommissioned by US Coast Guard & laid up in January. Transferred to National Park Service in September – on display on Potomac River at Hains Point, Washington, DC.
1982 Loaned to the city of Baltimore and moved to the Inner Harbor – on display as part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum.
1989 Designated a National Historic Landmark.
2009 Lightship becomes part of Historic Ships in Baltimore.
Source: Website – www.historicships.org, Lightships & Lightship Stations of the US Government by Willard Flint, the Lightship 116s Logs for 1942 through 1945, and Greg Krawczyk, volunteer at Chesapeake Lightship.
