Texas A&M Maritime Academy

Fair Winds And Following Seas To TS Kennedy

TS Kennedy during Summer Sea Term 2025

On Tuesday, September 16, the Texas A&M Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University at Galveston bid farewell to the training ship (TS) Kennedy, which has served the academy since 2023.

TS Kennedy expanded the academy’s ability to commission officers to the Navy and to provide highly trained civilian U.S. Coast Guard-licensed officers to serve on oceangoing and inland waterway vessels. 

With the nation’s workforce of skilled mariners aging and retiring, educating and training merchant mariners is critical to meeting the needs of citizens. TS Kennedy has played a vital role in educating future maritime professionals since 2003. 

The ship wasn’t always a training vessel, however. Originally built as SS Velma Lykes, a breakbulk cargo ship, it was completed and launched out of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1967. It served under the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company for nearly 20 years until its acquisition by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) in 1985. 

The ship soon became SS Cape Bon, serving in MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force to support the rapid worldwide deployment of U.S. military forces. SS Cape Bon was activated for Operation Desert Storm and completed several tours during the Gulf War. 

In 2001, the conversion to a training ship began, and in 2003 the ship was christened as TS Enterprise, then renamed TS Kennedy in January 2009 to honor the Kennedy family. The retrofitted classrooms, labs and berthings turned the 540-foot ship into a floating campus for more than two decades, first at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and then, starting in 2023, at Texas A&M Maritime Academy. 

While in service as a training ship, TS Kennedy was deployed several times to assist in hurricane relief efforts, including to Texas after Hurricane Harvey, where it delivered critical supplies before being redirected to support Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Most recently, TS Kennedy returned from what has been dubbed the “Final Summer of Steam,” in reference to the last sea term with a steam powered ship. 

“TS Kennedy made a huge impact in our educational and training abilities for the maritime academy and it is a sad day to see this beautiful ship head off to retirement,” said Col. Michael E. Fossum ’80 (Ret.) USAFR, vice president of Texas A&M University, chief operating officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston and superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy. “We are grateful for the ship’s service to the university, and the nearly 60 years of total service to our merchant marine, national security and the future of the maritime industry.” 

MARAD’s repossession of TS Kennedy paves the way for the academy’s new ship, TS Lone Star State, to be delivered in late 2026. The new ship, the fourth in a series of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV), will be a state-of-the-art, purpose-built training and disaster response ship. 

This morning, cadets lined up to salute TS Kennedy as the ship left the campus.