The integration of all Coast Guard missions has saved thousands of lives, enhanced public security, and contributed to the nation’s economic and environmental well-being, according to Coast Guard:

“Coast Guard activities in support of maritime safety are often inseparable from those we perform to protect the marine environment or secure the U.S. Marine Transportation System (MTS). A routine inspection for safety compliance may uncover a serious risk to the environment. Coast Guard vessel traffic services not only reduce the risk of vessel collisions, but also provide maritime domain awareness. This improves security. A buoy tender working an aid to navigation may immediately divert to a search-and-rescue case.”

 

Lightships: “Lonely Sentinels of the Sea-Lanes”

The first known lightships were Roman republic galleys carrying at their mastheads open framework baskets, in which fires could be lit to serve as signal beacons to guide other ships – and to warn pirates a Roman warship was in the area. Those early lightships patrolled the Roman coasts until about the time the Republic became the Roman Empire.

They did not return in great numbers and prominence until the 18th century, assisting what by then had become a round-the-clock, global network of merchant ships. The first U.S. “light boat” – a special-built 70-ton vessel – entered service in 1820. Initially stationed off Willoughby Spit, Virginia, to assist commercial traffic in the Chesapeake Bay, it was moved nearer to Norfolk to escape storms and heavy seas. Nonetheless, it proved its worth in helping ships navigate the dangerous shoals in the bay and was soon joined by four sister ships. The first true “outside lightship” – anchored in the open sea rather than in a bay or inlet – began patrolling off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in 1823.

Between 1820 and 1983, a total of 116 lightship stations were created by the United States, including some that had been renamed and moved to better locations or taken over by Canada. The most lightships in service at any one time was 56 in 1909; less than two decades later, 68 stations had been shut down (deemed unnecessary), replaced by lighthouses or buoys or taken over by Canada.

Although the first U.S. lightships were poorly constructed by builders with little or no knowledge of their purpose or operations, their value as versatile, easily repositioned platforms eventually saw the application of innovative engineering to create a fleet employing advanced radio beacons, lighting and optical equipment, and improved signaling methods – highly sophisticated and efficient ATON.

Only 30 stations remained in operation when the Coast Guard took over responsibility for ATON in 1939. The number of U.S. lightship stations continued to decline steadily until 1983, when the era ended with the replacement of the Nantucket Shoals Lightship with a large navigational buoy. The lightship’s final message included the following: “An important part of Coast Guard history ended today. We must now look somewhere else to find the stuff that sea stories are made of.”

 

Lighthouses and Lightships

Lightships and lighthouses worked together from the start, but both had problems. In 1838, Congress sought to improve the latter by creating six Atlantic Coast lighthouse districts and two for the Great Lakes. A Navy officer was assigned to each, along with a revenue cutter or leased vessel to conduct inspections. This change generated reports indicating defective equipment, low morale, incompetence among lighthouse personnel, irresponsible performance by contractors, and large-scale overall mismanagement.

The Treasury Department, while acknowledging the reports, did little to remedy them, leading to a congressional investigation in 1851. The resulting report – which validated everything from the previous individual reports – led to creation of the Lighthouse Board in 1852 as a separate branch of the Treasury Department, with a nine-member board of Navy and Army Corps of Engineers officers and civilian scientists.

Using the recent investigation as a guide, the new board moved quickly to make needed changes, including upgrading lighthouse equipment to the latest technologies. The board also overhauled the organizational structure, adding a seventh Atlantic Coast district, two on the Gulf Coast, and one on the Pacific, with separate subcommittees looking into ATON requirements – including testing and evaluating new equipment, determining requirements for each district, and developing standard maintenance procedures.