T-AGS 39 Maury - Training Ship Conversions
In September 1994, USNS Maury was transferred to the California Maritime Academy [CMA] by the Navy as a replacement training ship for The California Maritime Academy. After a $6+ million makeover by the Maritime Administration, she became the training vessel she is today. The Training Ship Bear (TSGB) is Cal Maritime's fourth training ship and the third ship to hold the name the Golden Bear.
The Calfiornia Maritime Academy's previous training ship, TS Golden Bear [II], was built in 1940 in Sparrows Point, MD. In August 1999 the Maritime Administration (MARAD) determined that the ARTSHIP Foundation (a nonprofit corporation) was qualified to accept the SS GOLDEN BEAR for use as a multi-cultural center for the arts. The ARTSHIP Foundation intended to create the multi-cultural center to inform the public of the history of the maritime industry, the merchant marine and the United States Navy. In addition, it intended to encourage individuals to explore and share their diverse cultural backgrounds. The GOLDEN BEAR will be docked permanently at a wharf alongside Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. MARAD's permission was required pursuant to Section 3605 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-85), dated November 18, 1997.
TS Golden Bear, the training ship of the California Maritime Academy [Cal Maritime], was U.S. Navy's former survey ship Maury T (AGS-39). Registered in Vallejo, California, this ship gives comprehensive training of ship operation for those interest in working in civilian or naval ships. The California Maritime Academy operates two training voyages per year. Each voyage lasts two months and prepares CMA students for responsbilities in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Since CMA joined the California State University system this unique resource has become available to other students as well. CSUMB has built its Study at Sea program on this collaborative effort.
The TSGB (Official Number CG021994) has a lightship displacement of 9,319 tons and a displacement of 15,928 tons at maximum operating draft. Gross registered tonnage is 10,930. At 499 feet, 10 inches long and 72 feet wide (molded beam), the TSGB has a maximum operating draft of 30 feet, 6 inches. With 5,400 square feet of deck space, including a helicopter deck, she is capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots. The vessel has 503 separate compartments, and measures 151 feet from keel to mast top. Each of her two anchors weighs approximately 10,008 pounds, and each is attached with 900 feet of chain.
The USNS Tanner [TAGS-40] was built for the Navy as a fast Oceanographic Research Vessel by Bethlehem Steel Corporation at its Sparrows Point yard in Maryland in 1990. The vessel was the second oceanographic research ship to bear the name of Zero Luther "Tanner" a noted Oceanographer and inventor of a patented sounding machine.
The vessel experienced an engine casualty in 1993 and was laid up by the Navy and ownership transferred to the Maritime Administration. She lay idle in the James River Reserve Fleet until 1996 when she began a conversion process which removed her underwater sonar domes and equipment. The two original engines were removed and a new "one of a kind" power plant was installed, making her into a sophisticated high tech teaching platform for her mission of training men and women for careers as licensed officers in the Merchant Marine. The vessel was modified to increase the accommodations from 108 to 302 persons. New lifesaving equipment and upgrades to existing equipment were accomplished as well as enhancements to the habitability requirements of the vessel. She was delivered to Maine Maritime Academy on 6 June 1997 and sailed on her maiden training cruise the following week.
In November 2019 the U.S. Senate advanced a funding bill authored by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine that includes $300 million for the ship. Collins said a new ship would be “capable of meeting the demands of the rigorous instruction students receive.”
