The former New Bedford lightship (actually Lightship #114) has been demolished:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbc ... /707030382

This ends years of neglect and vandalism that resulted in the ship partially capsizing at its moorings and having to be raised in order to be auctioned and destroyed (see the next to last paragraph of the article).

Perhaps some of you may remember, the city of New Bedford Massachusetts also once had, and also neglected, the whaleship Charles W. Morgan, which is now the centerpiece of the Mystic Seaport historical collection.

Here is another link that shows some pictures of Lightship #114, of course the situation of the ship as listed in the article is totally out of date:

http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=617

Southeastern Massachusetts continues to be the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" for supposedly preserved vessels, that are subsequently neglected and scrapped.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)

I think New Bedford, not all of southeastern Massachusetts could qualify as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" for preserved vessels. Just up the road from New Bedford in Fall River one can see the USS Massachusetts, USS Joseph P. Kennedy, USS Lionfish, plus a former Soviet submarine and various other naval memorabilia.

Fall River has in many ways picked up the ball that New Bedford dropped. I deeply regret the loss of the lightship New Bedford. The loss of any of the above mentioned ships in Fall River would distress me a great deal more.

The Russian Sub, K-77 / Juliett 484 / Star of Movie `K-19 Widowmaker' is actually across the river in Providence RI. After reading the previous post, I went to their website to confirm her name and found out they were a victim of the April Nor-easter storm. Apparently the discharge pipes of the Port's flood control pumps are located just behind the stern of the Sub. When the city closed the flood gates and started the pumps, it exasperated the storm situation in relation to the Sub, causing her to take on water and sink at her mooring. Luckily they have a million dollar marine insurance policy which has 500,000 available for salvage, but it has a 10,000 dollar deductible. They are currently trying to raise funds to cover the deductible, so she can be raised and re-restored.

For more information go to: http://www.juliett484.org/juliett/index.html

The Saratoga Museum Foundation (who owns the Sub and runs the museum) is also trying to save the USS Saratoga, CV-60 (they seem to be 70%-80% of the way there) and create a Marine Museum park on the former Quonset Point Naval Base in Davisville, RI, along with the Air Museum already on site. This is a great museum group with a plan, a goal, the support of the local community & the support of the Media & the Politicos. Last I checked they are a all volunteer non-profit group.

If you can help, please do.

Take care,

Rich Cizik
MoW Foreman
Blacksmith Shop Co-Head
Ct Eastern RR Museum
Willimantic, Ct 06226

Looks like that Russian sub's inherited the bad luck of the K-19 it portrayed in the movie.

The mistake was mine gentlemen. The Battleship Cove group in Fall River has a cold war Soviet frigate, not a submarine.

After reading through the description of what happened to the submarine and looking at the pictures, I have doubts about what the future holds for the sub. I realize their effort to raise and restore it is very courageous, but the task looks enormous. It certainly demonstrates the risk in eliminating watertight closures on museum vessels that have relatively little freeboard or reserve bouyancy. With intact watertight hatches the sub would have just been stuck in the mud after the storm with the bow up high, removal would still be a big task, but nothing compared with the cleanup they will be facing after this sinking.

I recall USS Lionfish at Fall River is similarly modified for easier visitor access, which probably poses a similar risk to the vessel. This is also a good illustration of why the crew on USS Slater has put so much time and effort into restoring functionality to the ship's onboard diesel generators and auxiliary equipment. Ability to function without shore power can be very important in an unexpected situation like this.

Don't forget last year's demolition of the New York Central 16 in Buzzard's Bay, or the Nobska, scrapped last year in Boston to clear the drydock for work on the Cassin Young and Constitution. It has been about a year since Nobska's demise, and to my knowledge, the drydock hasn't been used at all in that time.

Yes, I still remember the colossal "line" that was fed out by the media about how some the parts cut off of NYC #16 were going to be installed on a "new" replica of the tug that would visit Bourne this summer.

I also remember the great piece of "fluff" in the New Bedford Standard Times back around 1995 about how the engine from the Nobska was going to be used to train the "childern" of New Bedford and prepare them for jobs in industry (building and maintaining 1920s triple expansion marine engines?). The sad part of this is that local towns are forced to pay millions of dollars of support for the vocational high school where this was supposedly going to be done. This kind of judgement in selecting projects really makes you wonder about the intelligence of the people running the education system. Parts of the engine reportedly disappeared while it was awaiting rebuilding, the project was never completed, and it was finally trucked away. Local reports said what was left of it was still in pieces at that time.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)