List of ships named Nantucket explained

A number of ships have been named Nantucket, after the island off the Massachusetts coast, including the following:

Naval vessels

• , a Passaic-class coastal monitor that served in the Union during the American Civil War, and sold in 1900
• , built in 1876 as USS Ranger and served as Nantucket from 1918 to 1942, as a gunboat and then a survey/school ship
• , an 1899-built coastal passenger steamer taken up in 1917, but found unsuitable for naval service and returned to her owner^[1]
• , a Freedom-class littoral combat ship commissioned in 2024

Ferry service

• The Steamship Authority's ferry to Nantucket island has been operated by many vessels, including:
  • Nantucket (steamboat), a sidewheel steam ferry in service 1886 to 1910
  • Nantucket, the former Nobska (steamship), in service 1928 to 1956
  • SS Nantucket (1956), in service 1957 to 1974, then renamed Naushon
  • MV Nantucket, in service since 1974

Lightships

• Lightship Nantucket was a lightship station marking the shoals south of the island and on which at least 11 individual lightships took station between 1854 and 1983, including:
  • LV-58 (1894–1896)
  • LV-85 (1907–1923), under US Navy control 1917–1919
  • LV-117 (1930–1934)
  • LV-112 (for periods during 1936–1975), now preserved in Boston, Massachusetts
  • WLV-613 (1967–1983)
  • WLV-612 (1975–1983) (alternated with WLV-613 in final years)

Other ships

• Nantucket (1837), a whaling ship, wrecked in 1859
• Nantucket Clipper, a 1984-built cruise ship, later trading as Spirit of Nantucket
• , an Island-class patrol boat launched in 1987, and reported transferred to Ukraine in 2018^[2]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Nantucket II (Light Ship) . DANFS . Naval History and Heritage Command, US Navy . August 7, 2023 . August 12, 2015.
2. Web site: Ukraine to receive two former U.S. Coast Guard Island-class cutters . navaltoday.com . April 3, 2018 . July 12, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180614045641/https://navaltoday.com/2018/04/03/ukraine-to-receive-two-former-us-coast-guard-island-class-cutters/ . June 14, 2018 . live .