MARAD Activates Training Ship Empire State for Federal Service
The first call-up of a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel is set to run for about 170 days
The State University of New York's Maritime College told its community on Friday that the training ship Empire State has been activated by the Maritime Administration for temporary federal service. Neither the destination nor the nature of the deployment has been announced.
Rear Admiral John A. Okon, president of the Maritime College, said he had received a decision memorandum from Maritime Administrator Stephen M. Carmel outlining that MARAD would be activating Empire State for temporary federal service commencing approximately September 1, 2026. There is still much that we do not know, he said, but over the next week the college's obligation is to prepare the vessel for federal use. MARAD has indicated a notional mission duration of about 170 days.
Okon acknowledged the disruption to the academic programme. What we do know is that we will face whatever comes next together, he said, adding that attention was being paid to the pressure on the student body, including the roughly 400 Mariners Under Guidance who had only recently arrived to begin indoctrination. The new class moved aboard the vessel last week and the academic year was getting under way.
Empire State was delivered to SUNY in 2023 as the first of a new generation of training ships built to support government missions, with a humanitarian role anticipated from the outset. She normally accommodates about 600 people, can be fitted out for around 1,000, and carries a full hospital. Cadet certification aboard the ship follows the STCW framework.
The ship returned to campus on July 16 after a two-month training cruise with more than 600 students, faculty and crew. She had sailed on May 12 for Charleston, then crossed to Malaga and Southampton before returning to New York Harbor for the Sail 250 celebration and making a rare passage up the Hudson to Albany.
This is the first activation of any of the National Security Multi-Mission Vessels. Sisterships are already in service in Massachusetts and Maine, the fourth ship, Lone Star State, was due to leave Philadelphia on August 31 for delivery to Texas A&M Maritime in Galveston, and the final vessel is under construction for delivery to California in 2027.
