TS Kennedy

USTS Kennedy (T-AK-5059), callsign KVMU, IMO number 6621662, is a former commercial freighter and a current training vessel of the United States Maritime Service.

USTS Kennedy (in 2005 as the USTS Enterprise)
History
United States
NameUSTS Kennedy
NamesakeKennedy Family
OwnerU.S. Maritime Administration
OperatorTexas A&M University at Galveston
Port of registryBuzzards Bay
BuilderAvondale Shipyards, New Orleans, Louisiana
Cost$10.5 Million
Yard number1069
Way number182
Laid down1964
Launched1967
In service1967
RenamedSS Velma Lykes, SS Cape Bon, TS Enterprise, TS Kennedy
Reclassified2001
Refit2001
HomeportBuzzards Bay, Massachusetts
Identification
FateTraining Vessel Texas A&M University at Galveston
StatusReady Reserve Fleet, Training Vessel
General characteristics
TypeTraining Ship/Troopship
Displacement18,549 long tons (18,847 t)
Length540 ft (160 m)
Beam76 ft (23 m)
Height119 ft 0 in (36.27 m) from keel to radar mast
Draft28'6"
Depth42'6"
Decks8
Installed power2 x GE ATI Turbine 750kW, ABB Wartsila Diesel 1.3MW, Caterpillar 3406 365bhp
Propulsion2 × Marine D Type 600 PSI Foster Wheeler Boilers, De Laval steam turbine, single screw, 15,500 horsepower
Speed21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range10,000 nautical miles
Complement710
Crew43
Time to activate3 days
Aircraft carriedNone
Aviation facilitiesHelicopter pad (winch only)

Construction and early years

United States Training Ship Kennedy was laid down in 1964 as Velma Lykes, a Maritime Administration (MARAD) break bulk cargo freighter type (C4-S-66a) hull under Maritime Administration contract (MA 182) at Avondale Industries, New Orleans, LA. She was delivered to Lykes Brothers Steamship Company in 1966. She was known as Velma Lykes until the vessel was reacquired by MARAD and she was renamed Cape Bon.

Government service

Kennedy in New York in 2022

She served the US Government for over 20 years including several tours to the Persian Gulf as part of the First Gulf War before she was laid up in reserve at Suisun Bay, Benicia, CA as part of the Maritime Administrations National Defense Reserve Fleet.

In 2001, Cape Bon was moved to Buzzards Bay, MA for preparation to replace Patriot State as the Training Ship for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. She was converted to be a training ship at Bender Ship Repair in Mobile, Alabama, being delivered and christened Enterprise, after the school's original training ship USS Enterprise, on National Maritime Day 2003. She was renamed Kennedy in January 2009 in honor of the Kennedy Family.[1]

TS Kennedy was transferred to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy on the Galveston Campus of Texas A&M University in 2023 and departed Galveston for a 60-day cadet training at sea semester on June 7, 2023.[2][3]

Relief work

Kennedy was deployed to New York Harbor in support of Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in 2012 and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017. Its mission was to house first responders and FEMA SCF personnel [4][5]

References

  1. "Maritime Academy to rename its ship The Kennedy". Boston.com. Boston Globe. November 1, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
  2. Blenkey, Nick (April 27, 2023). "Texas A&M Maritime Academy welcomes training ship TS Kennedy". Marine Log. Simmons-Boardman Publishing. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  3. "Texas A&M Maritime Academy Prepares Next Generation of Maritime Professionals". Ocean News and Technology (ON&T). Technology Systems Corporation. June 2, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  4. "Mass. Maritime ship, T.S. Kennedy, is being deployed to New York to help with Hurricane Sandy relief". 7 News WHDH.com. Associated Press. August 10, 2008. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
  5. Corey Kilgannon (2012-12-11). "After Storm Work, a Night's Rest on Water". New York Times. Bronx, New York. p. A30. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Two other ships that were brought to the New York area to house workers, the S.S. Wright and the T.S. Kennedy, are anchored off Staten Island. All three ships provided sleeping space for about 1,200, but that number has decreased in recent weeks as the immediate response has ebbed, said Mike Byrne, 58, the coordinating officer in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency response in New York.
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