The U.S.T.S. Texas Clipper is a 473 ft. decommissioned Texas Maritime Academy ship that served students and sea cadets at Texas A&M University at Galveston from 1965 to 1996. She has spent many days at sea and students have spent countless hours on her decks and in her cabins.
The Texas Clipper was originally commissioned as the U.S.S. Queens in 1944, a troop transport ship that served her country well in World War II. She ferried fresh troops into battle and shuttled the wounded from Iwo Jima. She was also part of the American occupation at Sasebo, Japan. She was decommissioned in 1946. From 1946 to 1958, she was commissioned the S.S. Excambion and served as one of the post-war aces from American Export Lines. As a cruise liner, she sailed to ports throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
During the summer of 2007, the Texas Clipper will find her final place seventeen miles east of the South Padre Island jetties in 134 feet of water with the wheel house and cabins in 50 to 70 feet of water. This will become the largest fish attracting device in Texas. (Actual sinking date is pending due to last minute permit delays and preparations.)
Barnacles, corals, sponges, clams, bryozoans, and hydroids will soon take their station on her surfaces and fish and mobile invertebrates such as rock crab will come to feast on the bounty she attracts. |
