USTS Kennedy anchored in Mayaguez Bay, Puerto Rico (2022)
History
United States
Name	USTS Kennedy
Namesake	Kennedy Family
Owner	U.S. Maritime Administration
Operator	Texas A&M University at Galveston
Port of registry	Buzzards Bay
Builder	Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, Louisiana
Cost	$10.5 Million
Yard number	1069
Way number	182
Laid down	1964
Launched	1967
In service	1967
Renamed	SS Velma Lykes, SS Cape Bon, TS Enterprise, TS Kennedy
Reclassified	2001
Refit	2001
Homeport	Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
Identification	IMO number: 6621662 MMSI number: 338919000 Callsign: KVMU
Fate	Training Vessel Texas A&M University at Galveston
Status	Ready Reserve Fleet, Training Vessel
General characteristics
Type	Training Ship/Troopship
Displacement	18,549 long tons (18,847 t)
Length	540 ft (160 m)
Beam	76 ft (23 m)
Height	119 ft 0 in (36.27 m) from keel to radar mast
Draft	28'6"
Depth	42'6"
Decks	8
Installed power	2 x GE ATI Turbine 750kW, ABB Wartsila Diesel 1.3MW, Caterpillar 3406 365bhp
Propulsion	2 × Marine D Type 600 PSI Foster Wheeler Boilers, De Laval steam turbine, single screw, 15,500 horsepower
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range	10,000 nautical miles
Complement	710
Crew	43
Time to activate	3 days
Aircraft carried	None
Aviation facilities	Helicopter pad (winch only)

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.

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

The SS Cape Bon was acquired by the Maritime Administration on 26 June 1985, and was placed in reserve at Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA, as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. In September 1985, she was renamed SS Cape Bon (AK-5059).^[1] She served the US Government for over 20 years including several tours to the Persian Gulf as part of the First Gulf War.

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.^[2]

The TS Kennedy made 23 training cruises with the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The ship carried thousands of cadets during her service, calling in many Caribbean Island ports as well as multiple making multiple Panama Canal transits.

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.^[3][4]

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 ^[5][6]