WLV-605 is located on the Oakland waterfront, at the far eastern end of the
Port of Oakland just west of the
Oakland Ferry Terminal. The ship has a welded steel hull long, with a beam of and a hold depth of . She is register at 400 gross tons. Above-deck features include a steel deckhouse, a breakwater fore, and two steel masts on which its lights are mounted. She also historically carried a fog signal and bell, both operated by hand. WLV-605 was laid down as WAL-605 in 1949 at the Rice Brothers shipyard in East
Boothbay Harbor, Maine. She was launched on March 4, 1950, just sixteen days after
Columbia, and was delivered, fully fitted, to the Coast Guard on February 11, 1951. She began service at the lightstation "Overfalls" at the entrance to
Delaware Bay, serving until 1960, when the station was discontinued. She then sailed to the west coast, where she served at
Blunts Reef off
Cape Mendocino until 1969. During this time, Coast Guard lightvessels were redesignated, and she was redesignated WLV-605. She was then given the name "Relief", assigned duty to relieve other lightships on the Pacific coast. She was retired from service in 1975 and decommissioned the following year. After several unsuccessful attempts to convert her to a museum ship, she was acquired in 1986 by the
United States Lighthouse Society, which now maintains the vessel in Oakland. ==See also==