T/S State of Michigan

An impressive new addition to the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, and to the Traverse City, MIchigan waterfront, arrived in August 2002. Following a letter of request received recently from Michigan Governor John Engler, the Maritime Academy took delivery of the 225-foot former Navy submarine surveillance ship Persistent.

The vessel is relatively new, having been built in 1986 as part of a series of 18 Stalwart-class T-AGOS vessels designed to tow highly sensitive sonar arrays for the tracking of Soviet submarines. As the Soviet threat diminished in the 1990's, the Navy decided to decommission the T-AGOS fleet, and in 1998 Persistent and sister ship Vindicator were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard for primary use in drug interdiction.

While under Coast Guard ownership, Persistent was overhauled and repowered, but eventually deemed too slow for offshore drug policing and made available to other government agencies. Working through the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Maritime Academy negotiated the transfer of the vessel to its new harbor facility in Traverse City.The Training Ship supplements the other training vessels utilized throughout the year and allows cadets to put into practice the theroy and skill sets taught in the classrooms and labs of the Academy.

Persistent underwent maintenance in a New York dry dock before departing for the Great Lakes via the Seaway in August 2002. The Great Lakes Maritime Academy renamed the ship State of Michigan, and now uses her for both a daily lab enviroment and underway operations. Cadets take great pride in the State of Michigan and value the sea time underway prior to their commercial sea projects.

State of Michigan at the Maritime Academy Pier
With the New Maritime Academy Building In the Background