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In the press

press related articles on LV72
 

 ITV Wales did a short 4 minute article on LV72 in 1997.  does anyone recall watching it?

 

Sky TV  also did an article on her during the 50 year anniversary of D-Day.

 

does anyone recall watching the articles and have  recording of the tranmission?

LV72 incident at Immingham dry docks 1953

 

Here is the story of the event.

"Exceptionally high tides at the end of January 1953 flooded Immingham Graving Dock.

The Swedish ship S.S.HEDJA (ex Grodno ON139340 ) remained afloat. The Trinity House light vessel VARNE filled and turned over, and the Associated Humber Lines S.S.HEBBLE lifted off the dock bottom before rolling over to smash it's superstructure on the dockside.

The Hebble was salvaged by removing some of the superstructure and welding two 25ft steel towers to the then vertical deck. Water was admitted to the dock in early March as two railway locomotives began to pull on the towers and within hours the vessel had been righted.

After a complete refit the ship was back in service on its owner's Goole -Antwerp service by September, finally being withdrawn inMay 1959"

The above is from "Shipping on the Humber, the South Bank" by Mike Taylor

service records show us that

LV72 VARNE was at

Inningham (Humber Graving Dock)

16.11.1952-11.9.1953 for D.D&R

(D.D&R  = dry docking & repair)

World Lighthouse Society 2nd quarter 2008 Newsletter
(not factually correct)

 

British Light Vessel News Juno Light Vessel for sale.

Trinity House light vessel LV72 though nearly fifty years old during World War 2  has a distinguished was service. on the 10th of June she was placed on the approaches to Juno beach to mark the safe approach to the D-Day landing beach through the mine fields. As the allies advanced the light vessel moved with them to mark cleared approaches forst of the port of Le Harve and then at the entrance to the River Seine. After the war was over, following a major refit she returned like al GI's to her previous civilian life. For her it was to return to pre-war stations at Smiths Knoll and Varne before completing her service at the English & Welsh Grounds in the upper Bristol Channel.From here in 1972 when she was sixty nine years old she was finally laid up at the Trinity House depot in Swansea, South Wales. Sold out of service the following year she made the short voyage up the River Neath to lie along side thier steel scrap wharf awaiitng breakup. Luckilly that was not to be, as the scrap yards owner thought that the old ship and all her history was worth saving. Plans were made that the she was to be taken back to Swansea and made a focal point of the new marina being constructed, earning her keep as a floating nightclub. Sadly this was not to be and she stayed alongside the scrapping wharf slowly deterioraiting.Now the original owner has died and his successors are hoping that the ship can be sold to someone who would be able to restore her to her former glory and that she could act as a living monument to the light vessel crews lost during the war.John Crown and company at Sunderland built light vessel no 72 for Trinity house in 1903. She has an iron hull and when built was fitted with a catoptric lens system with oil burners, In 1948 she was electricfied, fitted with Ruston -Hornsby generators.asy.

above image

this cutting was sent kindly sent by a member of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers which appeared in their "Lamp" magazine a few years ago, which show LV72 sat in the Dry Dock at Immingham during 1952

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