MARAD Activates the Training Ship Empire State for Federal Service

The training ship Empire State has been activated by the United States Maritime Administration for temporary federal service, in a call-up disclosed by the State University of New York's Maritime College on Friday afternoon.

Neither the details nor the nature of the deployment were announced. The college has been told to expect a notional mission duration of approximately 170 days, commencing around 1 September.

Rear Admiral John A. Okon, president of the Maritime College, set out the position in a statement, saying he had received a decision memorandum from Maritime Administrator Stephen M. Carmel outlining the activation and that the obligation over the following week was to prepare the vessel for federal use. He acknowledged the disruption to the student body, including the roughly 400 newly arrived cadets who had moved aboard for their indoctrination as the academic year got under way.

The timing is awkward. The ship returned to campus on 16 July after a two-month training cruise with more than 600 students, faculty and crew, a voyage that ran from Charleston across to Malaga and Southampton, back to New York Harbor for the Sail 250 celebration and then up the Hudson to Albany. The new cadets arrived on campus on 12 August and moved on board the week after.

Delivered in 2023, Empire State was the first of a new generation of training ship newbuildings designed from the outset to support government missions, with a dual role in humanitarian support anticipated. She normally accommodates about 600 people and can be fitted out for approximately 1,000, and carries a full hospital.

This is the first activation of any of the National Security Multi-Mission Vessels. Sister ships have entered service in Massachusetts and Maine, the fourth was due to leave Philadelphia on 31 August on delivery to Texas A&M Maritime in Galveston, and the last of the class is still under construction for delivery to California in 2027.