United States lightship Columbia
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates
| Script error: No such module "InfoboxImage".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
United States lightship Columbia (WLV-604) is a lightship located in Astoria, Oregon, United States of America. Columbia was formerly moored near the mouth of the Columbia River.
History
Commissioned in 1951, Columbia was the fourth and final lightship stationed at the mouth of the Columbia River. Built by Rice Brothers Shipyard in Boothbay, Maine, Columbia was launched with her sister-ship, Relief (WLV-605). The new WLV-604 replaced the aging vessel LV-93, which had been in service on the Columbia River since 1939. From 1892 until 1979, the Columbia River lightships guided vessels across the Columbia River Bar and an area known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. Columbia was the final lightship to be decommissioned on the U.S. West coast. She was replaced by an automated navigational buoy soon after. The buoy has since been retired.
Because of its importance, the Coast Guard had a permanent 18 man crew stationed on board, consisting of 17 enlisted men and one warrant officer who served as ship's captain. Everything the crew needed had to be on board. In the winter, weeks of rough weather prevented any supplies from being delivered. Life on board the lightship was marked by long stretches of monotony and boredom intermixed with riding gale-force storms. The crew worked two to four week rotations, with ten men on duty at all times.[1][2]
In 1978, Columbia was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was removed from the Register in 1983 due to relocation from its historic location. She was returned to the Register in 1989 when she was declared a National Historic Landmark, listed under the name Lightship WAL-604, "Columbia".[3][4] WLV-604 is now located at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, alongside the navigational buoy that replaced her in 1979.
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club station: W7BU, Lightship COLUMBIA museum.
- Template:HAER
- National Historic Landmark Nomination for Lightship Columbia
Template:Lightvessels Template:National Register of Historic Places Oregon
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with ignored display titles
- 1950 ships
- Columbia River
- Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
- Lightships of the United States
- Museum ships in Oregon
- Museums in Astoria, Oregon
- National Historic Landmark lighthouses
- National Historic Landmarks in Oregon
- National Register of Historic Places in Astoria, Oregon
- Ships built in Boothbay, Maine
- Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
- Ships built by Rice Brothers Corporation