Lightship 605 - now called Relief - is one of six all-welded lightships constructed for the U.S. Coast Guard. She served for 25 years as a floating lighthouse and communications platform. Her first duty station was as Overfalls lightship station off Delaware. In 1959, she was transferred to the Blunts (reef) station off Cape Mendocino, California. In 1969, she became Relief, relieving all West Coast lightships when they left station for overhaul. She was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1975, and given to the City of Olympia, Washington.

Relief was purchased from the City of Olympia by Mr. Alan Hosking of Woodside, California in 1979. He donated her to the U.S. Lighthouse Society in December 1986.

In February of 1987, Society volunteers sailed the ship under her own power from Half Moon Bay back to Oakland and docked her at the Ninth Avenue Terminal in the Oakland Estuary. She remained at that location for a period of 15 years, undergoing maintenance and restoration to her 1951 appearance.

The ship was designated listed as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior in 1990. She was opened to the public as a floating museum in October 2002.

In 2012, the lightship was transferred to The Anchor Program, an Oakland-based maritime nonprofit that will use the vessel as a floating classroom. Volunteers with the U.S. Lighthouse Society continue to open the vessel for public tours.

Bow

Main Deck

Flying Bridge

Fantail

Wheelhouse

Machinery Casing

Bosun's Locker

Anchor Windlass Room

Chain Locker

Crew's Head

Crew's Berthing

Crew's Berthing

First Class Berthing

Reefers

Machine Shop

Crew's Mess

Radio Room

Galley

Recreation Room

Machinery Casing

Ward Room

Captain's Cabin

Steering Gear

B-1 Engine Room (Center)

B-1 Engine Room (Port)

B-1 Engine Room (Starboard)

B-2 Engine Room (Starboard)

B-2 Engine Room (Port)