USTS TEXAS CLIPPER

Last updated June 2009

USTS Texas Clipper served as a merchant marine training vessel with the Texas Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University at Galveston for 30 years beginning in 1965. Her name is reflective of clipper ship's of old, both designed with a characteristic rounded stern.

USTS TEXAS CLIPPER, Port of Miami, 31 July 1992

The Texas Clipper was built in Sparrows Point, Maryland by Bethlehem Steel Corporation for the U.S. Merchant Marine Commission. She was destined to be a Texas ship from the beginning. Her hull was laid down on March 2, 1944, the 108th anniversary of Texas Independence Day. She was commissioned by the Navy as the Queens (APA-103) in December 1944, a troop transport ship with a rich naval history who served her country well in World War II. She ferried fresh troops into battle and cared for and shuttled the wounded from Iwo Jima. She was also part of the American occupation at Sasebo, Japan before being decommissioned in 1946.

From 1948 to 1958, she was commissioned the SS Excambion (II) and served as one of the post-war four aces for American Export Lines. The original Four Aces were luxurious ocean liners that routinely crossed that Atlantic and visited Mediterranean ports of call. They were converted to troop transports when the U.S. entered World War II and three of them were sunk in battle. Three troop transports, including the Texas Clipper as the Excambion, were converted to cruise liners and again sailed to Mediterranean ports. To learn more about the U.S.S. Excambion.

The USTS. Texas Clipper was commissioned as the first Texas Maritime Training Academy ship and served sea cadets at Texas A&M University at Galveston from 1965 to 1996. She spent summers at sea and provided an ocean-going campus for about 200 students at a time. They learned the workings of a ship, studied the world's oceans and broadened their horizons beyond the normal constraints of a classroom.

In 1965, the federal government lent Excambion to the 3-year-old Texas Maritime Academy (forerunner of Texas A & M University of Galveston) to train cadets as officers for the American merchant marine. Towed from the Hudson River to Galveston, where it arrived on May 16. The ship was renamed Texas Clipper.

On June 15, 1965, under the command of Captain Bennett M. Dodson (USN-retired), Texas Clipper departed on its maiden voyage to Northern Europe with about 120 cadets. The ship's itinerary changed each year to ports in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Mediterranean. It carried a complement of up to 250 officers, faculty members, crew and cadets. One of its more popular programs was the onboard prep-cadet summer school at sea: freshmen enrolled in two college courses, stood watches, and helped maintain the ship.

Finally, after 30 consecutive summer training cruises, the sailing days of the 50-year-old ship were over. On August 4, 1994, under the command of Captain Peter Jaime Bourgeois, Texas Clipper completed its final training cruise. For the next two years, it was used as a dockside dormitory for Seaborne Conservation Corps, an educational and job training program for at-risk high school students.

In May 1996, the ship added a roman numeral to its name when its successor Texas Clipper II arrived on campus. Texas Clipper I was towed to reserve moorings in Beaumont, Texas, where it stayed for ten years. In November 2007 it was sunk 17 miles off the southern coast of Texas as an artificial reef.

USTS TEXAS CLIPPER

USTS TEXAS CLIPPER, Port of Miami, 31 July 1992

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