On February 7, 1898, BIW delivered Light Vessel #71, a copper sheathed, steel framed light ship that was eventually stationed off Diamond Shoal in North Carolina. In World War I, the ship rescued the survivors of a cargo ship that had been attacked by a German U-boat. When LV-71 radioed ships in the area to warn them, the U-boat returned. It let the lightship crew and those they had rescued escape in a lifeboat, then sank LV-71 – the only U.S. lightship sunk by enemy action. Her remains, 12 miles from shore, are on the National Register of Historic Places.
