lightship (redirected from lightships)

lightship, moored vessel bearing lights and other signal devices to guide ships and warn of hazards to navigation. Lightships are generally stationed at points where a lighthouse cannot be erected; they are given distinctive features (e.g., high bows, special coloring) so as to be readily distinguishable from other vessels, and they have strong hulls, able to withstand consistent pressures. The first lightship in the United States was posted in 1820 (in the Elizabeth River, near Norfolk, Va.). Afterward, for a time, lightships proliferated; but their number has steadily decreased since the end of World War I. They are costly to staff and maintain, and various engineering developments, such as the construction of large radio buoys, have helped to reduce the need for them. Shortly before World War II all U.S. lightships were placed under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard.

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LightShip

An early family of client/server tools for analyzing data from multidimensional databases from Pilot Software, Cambridge, MA (www.pilotsw.com), a pioneer in the OLAP database field. LightShip included tools for financial modeling, budgeting and consolidation of large databases. It provided Windows-based point-and-click reporting, a full programming language for advanced users, and support for all the popular databases.

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lightship

a ship equipped as a lighthouse and moored where a fixed structure would prove impracticable

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lightship [′līt‚ship]

(navigation)

A distinctively marked vessel anchored or moored at a charted point, to serve as an aid to navigation.