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LIGHTHOUSES AND LIGHT STRUCTURES - 14243_167
MARITIME BUOYAGE SYSTEM - 14243_169

Signalman 1 & C - Aviation theories and other practices
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thus, the principal purpose of a light structure is to increase the height of a light above sea level. NOTE Remember that a light placed at a great elevation is more frequently obscured by clouds, mist, and fog than one near sea level. A lighthouse may also contain fog signaling and radio beacon equipment. In lighthouses still staffed by keepers, the lighthouse may also contain their quarters, or the operating personnel may be housed in separate buildings grouped around the tower. Such a group of buildings is called a light station. Many lights formerly operated by keepers are now automatic. Secondary, minor, and automatic lights are located in structures of various types. Those structures range from towers that resemble those of important seacoast lighthouses to such objects as a small cluster of piles supporting a battery box and lens. Solid colors, bands, stripes, and other patterns are applied to lighthouses and light structures to make them easier to identify. Lighthouses and light structures may also be painted in contrasting colors and various patterns to their background. (See fig. 9-9.) Minor structures sometimes are painted red or black, like channel buoys, to indicate the side of the channel on which they are located. LIGHTSHIPS A lightship is a floating lighthouse located where conditions make it impossible or impractical to build a permanent structure. Lightships in U.S. waters are painted red on the hull, with the name of the station in large white letters on either side. Other parts of the lightship that are painted include the following: superstructure is white; mast, ventilators, lantern galleries, and stacks are buff. The lights, fog signals, and radio beacon signals on lightships are given various characteristics for purposes of identification. Like lighthouses, lightships are described briefly on the charts and in detail in Light Lists. A lightship under way or off station hoists the international code signal “LO.” This indicates that the lightship is not in the correct position. The lightship Figure 9-9.—Various patterns of typical lighthouses. must then observe the requirements of the Rules of the Road for a vessel of that class. At night when anchored on station, a lightship shows only its beacon light and a less brilliant light on the forestay to indicate the heading. When a regular lightship goes in for overhaul or repairs, the lightship's place is taken by a relief lightship whose lights and signals have, as nearly as possible, the same characteristics as the ship she replaces. Relief lightships are distinguished by the word RELIEF painted in white on either side. SECTOR LIGHTS Sectors of red glass are placed in the lanterns of certain lighthouses to indicate danger bearings, within which a ship will be in danger of running onto rocks, shoals, or some other hazard. The arcs over which the red light shows are the danger sectors whose bearings appear on the chart. Although the light is red within the danger bearings, its other characteristics remain the same. 9-10







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