TS Kennedy expands the Texas A&M Maritime Academy’s skill to offer extremely educated {and professional} U.S. Coast Guard-licensed deck and engine officers
The Texas A&M Maritime Academy on the Galveston Campus of Texas A&M University is about to obtain a model new National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) coaching ship in 2025. Meantime, the academy has acquired a not-quite-so-new coaching ship. That ship, the TS Kennedy, is a 540-foot vessel that may improve year-round coaching for cadets in ship navigation and marine engineering programs, upkeep, security and safety.
Underscoring the necessity for the brand new NSMVs, like the remainder of the MARAD coaching ship fleet, the TS Kennedy is getting on in years. It was accomplished and launched at Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans in 1967 and delivered to Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. that yr as SS Velma Lykes for Far East operations.
Nonetheless, the 56 yr previous vessel’s arrival on the Galveston campus could be very welcome.
“We have dreamed of having this capacity for over a decade and are extremely grateful to the Department of Transportation, MARAD, university administration and elected officials for helping us get here,” stated Col. Michael E. Fossum, vp of Texas A&M University, chief working officer of the Galveston Campus and superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy. “A large training ship that accommodates our entire maritime academy will allow us to meet industry demand for highly skilled mariners and maritime professionals and support the blue economy on the Gulf Coast.”
State maritime academy coaching ships are federally owned vessels operated by the six state maritime academies to serve cadet-training functions. Successful legislative efforts in Washington, D.C. secured the switch of the TS Kennedy from Massachusetts Maritime Academy this yr, with the brand new, state-of-the-art NSMV, Lone Star State, arriving in 2025. These ships have 12 occasions the capability of the maritime academy’s former coaching ship, the TS General Rudder. While ship-sharing agreements with different state maritime academies have been in place for a number of years, the campus has not been assigned a coaching ship that will totally accommodate mariner coaching wants for the previous 18 years.
The bigger TS Kennedy expands the Texas A&M Maritime Academy’s skill to offer extremely educated {and professional} U.S. Coast Guard-licensed deck and engine officers to serve on oceangoing and inland waterway vessels and fee officers to the Navy.
“Over 90% of everything you eat, wear or use travels through our nation’s ports and inland waterways,” stated Fossum. “Our programs educate and train the next generation of mariners and maritime professionals to ensure our state and nation’s economic prosperity and security remains strong.”
Each summer season, cadets embark on a summer season sea time period onboard the ship to obtain at-sea coaching that always takes them to worldwide areas. This yr, cadets will sail from Galveston to Curacao, Georgia, Puerto Rico and Louisiana earlier than returning to campus in August.
