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Lightship 112 WWII Examination Ship

If I’ve built this model once, I’ve built it a dozen times over the years. The Pyro Model Company offered this ship in 1956 and considering it’s age, the kit makes up a nice accurate model of America’s most famous lightship, the NANTUCKET shoals light vessel. A few years back I decided to build another Nantucket but with a different approach. In WWII all lightships in the US were withdrawn (with a few exceptions like the Buzzards Bay) from stations and many were “repurposed” as patrol boats. With their tub-like appearance and slow top speeds (8 knots) the lightships went from anti submarine craft to examination ship. In this role they would patrol a busy harbors entrance and challenge incoming ships by coded radio and lighted signals to identify it’s true intent and destination.

In WWII the LS-112 lost its peace time red paint and was equipped with a 4” deck gun and water cooled 50cal guns. The portholes were plated over, surface radar and a powerful radio transmitter was installed. Stripped of it’s traditional beacon lights, the ship’s 2000 lb mushroom anchors were put ashore and were replaced with a standard naval anchor.

In building my model I tried to reflect all the wartime modifications the ship carried. I also scratch built a new motor surfboat, power boat, and added boat booms as well as a gun platform back aft. Compare this with my “typical” red hull version photo and you’ll see this old kit has a lot of build possibilities.

Model Shipwrights would like to thank Mike Maynard for providing a feature of his Lightship 112 "NANTUCKET" WWII Examination Ship.