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7 - Steam in the Civil War Era(Part 3)
Another Enterprise for the Merchant MarinesIn May 2003, some 110 years after commissioning its first USS Enterprise training vessel, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy commissioned its ninth permanently-assigned training ship -- the second to be named Enterprise. This Enterprise started life in 1967 as a general cargo ship of the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company. She was constructed near New Orleans, Louisiana and originally was named "Velma Lykes" after the wife of the oldest of the Lykes brothers. At the time of her construction, the Velma Lykes sported many advances in maritime technology, including automated startup and shutdown of her turbo-generators, advanced bridge controls and data logging systems, hydraulic hatch covers, and a bow thruster for more precise steering. With its six cargo holds, the Velma Lykes routinely carried cargo from ports in the Gulf of Mexico to the Far East. During the Vietnam War, she carried military cargo to South Vietnam. In 1985, the Velma Lykes and four sister ships became part of the United States' Ready Reserve Fleet, a fleet of government-owned merchant ships available for military transport purposes. At that time, she was renamed the Cape Bon after the northern-most point in Africa, on the coast of Tunisia. In 1991, the Cape Bon and 75 other Ready Reserve Fleet vessels were activated for service during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.
Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, the Maritime Academy's existing training ship, the Patriot State was found to be unseaworthy and retired. Subsequently, in October 1999, President Bill Clinton authorized $25 million to be used to convert the Cape Bon into a training ship suitable for the Academy's permanent use. In January 2001, the ship was towed to Mobile, Alabama, where the extensive conversion work would be performed. Two of the ship's six cargo holds were maintained for transport purposes, and the other four were converted and outfitted for cadet berthing, laundry facilities, classrooms and labs, and necessary machinery and supply rooms. New superstructures were constructed fore and aft of the existing deck house, and these were outfitted as crew and cadet berthing, galley and mess halls, offices, sick bay, library, and computer lab. The ship was also outfitted with six 76-person enclosed lifeboats and two rescue boats plus a helicopter hover deck at aft. The newly renovated ship was delivered to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in April 2003 and commissioned as the Training Ship (TS) Enterprise on May 22, 2003. The Enterprise embarked on her maiden training cruise in January 2004 with 464 cadets and some 40 crew aboard.
The Enterprise continues to be assigned as a troop ship of the Ready Reserve Fleet, and is maintained in 10-day readiness status should the need for military service arise. During her 2007 winter cruise, the Enterprise visited the port of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, where her crew and cadets had the opportunity to relax for a few days before returning to her homeport at Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: More information on the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the Training Ship Enterprise can be found at: www.maritime.edu and weh.maritime.edu/campus/tse.]
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1996-2008 Arnold E.
van Beverhoudt, Jr.
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