Lightship Nantucket (LV-112)
Nantucket Lightship / LV-112 is the largest lightship ever built in the U.S. Lightships were placed where it was impractical to build a permanent lighthouse structure. From 1936 until it was decommissioned in 1975, this vessel and its U.S. Coast Guard crew were stationed 100 miles off the Massachusetts coast, where its powerful beacon and foghorn helped guide ships through the Nantucket shoals, known as the most remote and treacherous lightship station in the world.
Many famous vessels such as the SS United States, the Queen Mary, Normandie and naval cargo vessels depended on her as a navigational aid. She was the last serving lightship and at time of its application as a landmark, one of only two capable of moving under their own power. She's now docked at the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina under restoration as a National Historic Landmark.