The Lightship Portsmouth (LV-101) was built in 1915 and within a year, was pressed into duty as part of the United States Lighthouse Service, a predecessor to the U.S. Coast Guard. The ship, built in Wilmington, Delaware, is 102 feet long with a 25 foot beam and 360 ton displacement. Lightships served as floating lighthouses between April 1820 and March 1985 in places where it was impossible or impractical to erect conventional lighthouses. There were a total of 179 lightships built to serve 116 stations in the Pacific and Atlantic…
