Golden Bear (ship)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Maury.

Golden Bear (ship)

The third T.S. Golden Bear docked alongside the then–California Maritime Academy on February 17, 2007
History
United States
Name	Maury
Port of registry	Naval Vessel Register
Ordered	June 28, 1985
Builder	Bethlehem Steel
Cost	US$65,000,000
Laid down	July 29, 1986
Launched	September 4, 1987
Commissioned	March 31, 1989
Out of service	September 1994, laid up in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet
Renamed	Golden Bear upon transfer to then–California Maritime Academy (CMA); previously named USNS Maury
Fate	Transferred to MARAD in 1994
United States
Name	Golden Bear
Namesake	California golden bear
Owner	United States Maritime Administration
Operator	California State Univ. Maritime Academy
Reinstated	May 4, 1996 as TS Golden Bear
Homeport	Vallejo, California
Identification	IMO number: 8834407 MMSI number: 367978000 Callsign: WDL2000
Status	Active
Notes	The former USNS Maury is the 3rd ship to bear the name Golden Bear, and the 4th training ship of the CSUMA
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	T-AGS
Type	Training
Tonnage	10,939 long tons (11,115 t)
Displacement	9,319 long tons (9,469 t) light 15,821 long tons (16,075 t) full
Length	499 ft 10 in (152.35 m)
Beam	72 ft (22 m)
Height	151 ft (46 m)
Draft	30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
Propulsion	R5-V16 twin diesels, 17,000 shp (12,677 kW), single five-blade propeller, 18 ft 7 1⁄2 in (5.68 m) diameter
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range	17,820 miles (28,680,000 m)
Capacity	288

The TS Golden Bear is the training ship of the California State University Maritime Academy (CSUMA), a campus of the California State University. The first training ship of the then–California Nautical School was known as the Training Ship California State, then as the T.S. Golden State. Since then, there have been three ships to bear the name T.S. Golden Bear.

The current Training Ship Golden Bear was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) from the US Navy in 1994. She was converted for use by the then–California Maritime Academy and transferred there in 1996. Her sister ship, the TS State of Maine (formerly USNS Tanner) currently resides as the training ship of Maine Maritime Academy.

TS Golden State

TS Golden State at Washington Navy Yard, April 7, 1932

Main article: USS Henry County (IX-34)

The first training ship of the California Maritime Academy was the T.S. Golden State. Originally planned to be named the SS Lake Fellowship, after construction, the ship was launched on October 18, 1919. After completion, she was commissioned in November 1920 as the SS Henry County. In the mid-1920s, the SS Henry County was placed out of service in the James River Reserve Fleet.

The Navy purchased the ship in 1930 and transferred it to the then-named California Nautical School. Commissioned as the C.T.S. California State on January 23, 1931, the cadets who lived aboard quickly gave her the nickname "Iron Mother." In December 1941, the ship was renamed the T.S. Golden State. She sailed on 12 major ocean cruises, including one around the world in 1933. She was also in service when the California Nautical School became the California Maritime Academy.

After being decommissioned on August 12, 1946, she was placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, California. In 1948, she was sold into private trade, and was operated under various names including Isle of Patmos and Santa Rosa until she was scrapped in Brazil in August 1962.

First TS Golden Bear

TS Golden Bear at the California Maritime Academy

Main article: USS Mellena (AKA-32)

On September 25, 1944, the keel was laid for the USS Mellena, the twelfth of the Artemis-class attack cargo ship, at the Walsh-Kaiser Company Shipyard in Providence, Rhode Island. She was hull #1893. After construction, she was launched on December 11, 1944, and commissioned as the USS Mellena (AKA-32) on January 10, 1945.

After serving the Navy in the Western Pacific during World War II, she was decommissioned on June 11, 1946, at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Immediately after her decommissioning, she was transferred to the CMA and commissioned as the Training Ship Golden Bear on September 7, 1946.

After serving as the T.S. Golden Bear, and sailing on 24 major ocean cruises, the first Golden Bear was decommissioned on May 14, 1971, and then sold for scrap.

Second TS Golden Bear

TS Golden Bear II

Main article: USS Crescent City (APA-21)

Originally named the SS Delorleans, the ship was contracted on December 16, 1938, by Maritime Commission as a Type C3 ship hull #49. The keel was laid May 8, 1939, by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point Maryland, where she was launched on February 17, 1940, and delivered to Delta Lines on August 23, 1940.

This was the third of a series of six ships designed by the Mississippi Shipping Company, as a modification of the standard C3 design, to carry both passengers and cargo between New Orleans and Buenos Aires on the so-called "Coffee Run". Twenty six staterooms accommodated 67 passengers on the shelter deck.

The US Government requisitioned the SS Delorleans on June 3, 1941. The Navy assumed control on June 9, 1941, and stripped the ship to prepare her for war duty, and she was commissioned on October 10, 1941, as the USS Crescent City. After involvement in almost all the major campaigns in the Western Pacific during World War II, the USS Crescent City was redesignated as APA-21 in 1943. Before being decommissioned in San Francisco on April 30, 1948, she earned a Navy Unit Commendation and 10 battle stars for her service in WWII.

The ship was transferred to CMA in May 1971, for conversion to a training ship. She was commissioned in June 1971 as the T.S. Golden Bear, then sailed on 28 major ocean cruises, over 24 years. The "Golden Bear II" was decommissioned in 1995 and placed in the reserve fleet.

In 1999, the City of Oakland, California purchased the ship and renamed it "Artship" as part of a failed art colony project. She was sold for scrap in 2004, but dismantling was halted because of high PCB levels and because she was considered too historic. Thereafter, she was privately owned and plans were put in place to convert her into a culinary school and maritime museum. She had been laid up at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California since 2004 pending these plans.

On November 7, 2011, she was publicly auctioned and sold to Esco Marine, Inc. She was renamed Pacific Star and she departed Mare Island for scrapping at Brownsville, Texas on January 15, 2012.

Third TS Golden Bear

Passing under the Golden Gate Bridge on the way out of San Francisco Bay

On July 29, 1986, the keel was laid for hull #4667, ordered under a MARAD contract for the Navy, at Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. After launching on September 4, 1987, she was delivered to the Navy on March 31, 1989, and entered service as the USNS Maury (T-AGS-39). At the time, the USNS Maury was the fastest and largest oceanographic ship in the United States fleet. She also featured a number of advanced oceanographic tools and technologies, including a "multi-beam, wide-angle precision sonar for continuous charting of a broad strip of ocean floor under the ship's track." In addition, the main engines, two Enterprise R5 V-16 diesel engines, were mounted on "rafts", isolated from the hull by rubber cushions, similar in nature to the acoustic isolation aboard nuclear submarines.

The USNS Maury was placed "out of service" in September 1994, and laid up in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in California. On October 1, 1994, she was stricken from the Navy rolls and transferred to MARAD under agreement that she would be transferred to CMA after retrofitting. After conversion of the living spaces aboard, she was transferred to California Maritime Academy on May 4, 1996 and rechristened as the TS Golden Bear. Since that time, the ship has almost continuously undergone substantial repairs, remodeling and improvements, including periodic drydock inspections and overhauls. In early 2009, additional staterooms were installed, along with a supplemental MSD (Marine Sewage Device), and both the ship's gym and library were renovated. Current construction projects include an enclosed simulation laboratory for navigation training atop the 04 deck and refurbishment of the cadet living quarters on the 01 and 02 decks.

Sister ship

The sister ship of the USNS Maury, the USNS Tanner, was transferred to the Maine Maritime Academy after a similar conversion, where it is now known as the TS State of Maine.

Commanding officers

The current Commanding Officer of the Training Ship is a commissioned as a Captain in the United States Maritime Service. Ten alumni have returned to serve in this position including one alumni of Massachusetts Maritime Academy

List of Commanding Officers of the Training Ship

Assumed command	Relieved	Name	Rank/Service	Notes
May 11, 1930	February 14, 1934	Emil Topp	LCDR, USN (ret.)
February 15, 1934	June 30, 1937	Richard C. Dwyer
July 1, 1937	June 30, 1940	Neil E. Nichols	CAPT, USN (ret.)
July 1, 1940	October 1, 1941	Claude B. Mayo	CAPT, USN (ret.)
October 1, 1941	February 1, 1942	Bennett M. Dodson	CAPT, USN (ret.)	XO
February 1, 1942	1943	Hugh Severin	LCDR, USNR	XO
1944	May 6, 1945	Edwin C. Miller	LCDR, USNR	1LT
May 7, 1945	May 31, 1946	Lester Martin	CDR, USNR
June 1, 1946	August 9, 1957	Ralph M. G. Swany	CAPT, USNR (ret.)	'33-D CMA Graduate
September 12, 1957	October 11, 1957	Raymond G. Russell	LCDR, USNR	'34-D CMA Graduate; never sailed as CO
October 14, 1957	April 15, 1958	John W. Anderson
May 29, 1958	March 17, 1960	Edward A. Turpin	CDR, USNR	Died at sea
June 6, 1960	October 1, 1971	Carl G. Bowman	CAPT, USCG (ret.)
October 1, 1971	November 30, 1976	William H. Aguilar		‘34-D CMA Graduate
January 3, 1977	August 31, 1982	William D. Craig	CAPT, USN (ret.)
September 1, 1982	September 18, 1992	John M. Keever	CAPT, USMS	‘70-D CMA Graduate
March 1993	July 1993	Justin D. Johnson	CAPT, ARCO Marine	‘76-D CMA Graduate; for cruise only
October 15, 1993	October 17, 1993	Dick Crane	CAPT, Matson, Inc.	'59-D CMA Graduate; for mini-cruise only
April 1994	July 1994	Bruce P. Butterfield	CAPT, MSC	'70-D CMA Graduate; for cruise only
March 15, 1995	January 15, 1996	Peter G. Bonebakker		'68-D CMA Graduate
January 16, 1996	April 21, 2008	John M. Keever	CDRE, USMS	'70-D CMA Graduate
April 21, 2008	August 22, 2018	Harry Bolton	COMMO, USMS	'78-D CMA Graduate
August 22, 2018	September 2022	Sam Pecota
September 2022	Present	Samaro Bannister-Schneider	MSC	'00-D CMA Graduate

See also

• California State University Maritime Academy