USCGC Ida Lewis (WLM 551)

Pier 2 Road
Naval Station Newport
Telephone: 401-841-6948
Webpage: www.uscg.mil/d1/cgcidalewis

The Coast Guard Cutter Ida Lewis is a 175-foot “Keeper Class” coastal buoy tender. She was commissioned April 12, 1997, and is the first of 14 ships of her class named in honor of famous lighthouse keepers from the U.S. Lighthouse Service, which became part of the Coast Guard in 1939. Ida Lewis was named for Idawalley Zorada Lewis, one of a number of women lighthouse keepers in the Lighthouse Service. Her father, Capt. Hosea Lewis, was appointed the keeper of Lime Rock Light, near Newport, Rhode Island. After Capt. Lewis had a stroke, responsibilities fell to Ida and her mother. Ida made her first rescue at the age of 16, and went on to carry out as many as 24 documented rescues. After her death, the Lime Rock Lighthouse was renamed Ida Lewis Lighthouse, the only such honor ever given to a lighthouse keeper.