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USCGC Lilac

Manhattan, US

USCGC Lilac

USCGC Lilac (WAGL/WLM-227) is a former Coast Guard buoy tender which is now a museum ship located in New York City. Lilac is America's only surviving steam-powered buoy tender, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lilac was built in 1933 at the Pusey and Jones Shipyard in Wilmi

ngton, Delaware for the United States Lighthouse Service. She spent her entire working career in Delaware Bay, the Delaware River, and surrounding waters. She became part of the United States Coast Guard when the Lighthouse Service was abolished in 1939. Her primary missions with both agencies included maintaining lighthouses, buoys, and other aids to navigation, and search and rescue. She was decommissioned in 1972, the last steam-engine propelled ship in the Coast Guard fleet. She passed through several private owners after her government service, until 2004 when she came into the possession of the Lilac Preservation Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the historic ship.

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