USTS Texas Clipper
Attack Transport / Training Ship · United States · Lost 2007 · Texas & the Western Gulf
A WWII attack transport turned transatlantic liner turned Texas A&M training ship, now a 473-foot reef off South Padre Island.
The Vessel and Her Loss
Launched in 1944 as USS Queens, an attack transport that served in the Pacific and was present for the Iwo Jima landings, the vessel later sailed the Atlantic as the passenger liner SS Excambion. From 1965 to 1994 she trained Texas A&M University at Galveston sea cadets as USTS Texas Clipper. After nearly a decade of negotiation, she was sunk in 2007 as Texas's largest artificial reef project.
Vessel
- 1944
- Not established
- Not established
- Steel
- 473 ft
- Not established
- Not established
- Steam turbine, single screw
- Texas A&M University at Galveston (as training ship); previously U.S. Navy and American Export Lines
Loss
- November 17, 2007
- Intentional sinking
- About 17 nautical miles off South Padre Island, Gulf of Mexico
- Gulf of Mexico
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Managed as a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department artificial reef
Position
- 26.190° N 96.861° W
- Surveyed position
- South Padre Island, Texas
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reported the reefed ship's bow position (lat 26°11'24.32" N, lon 96°51'41.16" W) after the November 2007 sinking off South Padre Island.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Well documented (92/100)
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Sinking date, remediation history, dimensions.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Former names and service history.
Problems face new artificial reef, Port Arthur News (citing TPWD)
wreck position
TPWD, The USTS Texas Clipper: A New Artificial Reef
wreck position
