The U.S. Maritime Administration (Marad) on Friday took delivery of the training ship Lone Star State, the fourth of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV) being built by Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Philadelphia, for the nation's state maritime academies.
The ship will be homeported at Texas A&M Maritime Academy in Galveston, Texas, where it will serve as the academy's primary training platform. It is scheduled to be repositioned to Galveston in November for an arrival ceremony and formal handover, with cadets and faculty embarking on the vessel's first Sea Term in April 2027.
The 524'5"x88'7" Lone Star State has a scantling draft of 24'7" and a deadweight of 8,487 metric tons. It has berthing for 760 people and a service speed of 18 knots.
Each NSMV is built with a full training bridge, multiple instructional spaces, and berthing for up to 600 cadets. The ships also carry hospital facilities, a helicopter pad, roll-on/roll-off and container capacity, and can accommodate up to 1,000 people during humanitarian assistance or disaster relief missions.
"The delivery of Lone Star State to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy marks another major milestone for the NSMV program," said Jeff Dixon, president of TOTE Services. "The Lone Star State will do more than train the next generation of mariners - it will stand ready to answer the call from natural disasters to humanitarian relief needs. The success of the NSMV program and the VCM model behind it proves that government and industry can deliver complex ships on time, on budget, and without compromising quality. This is what the future of U.S. shipbuilding looks like."
TOTE Services LLC, Jacksonville, Fla., is the program's vessel construction manager (VCM), a role that covers design, construction, delivery and warranty work. The company says the approach — defining requirements up front, limiting changes and streamlining government oversight — cuts acquisition costs by at least 50% versus traditional government shipbuilding contracts.
Marad awarded TOTE the VCM contract in May 2019, making the NSMV program the first federally sponsored shipbuilding effort to use the model, which places shipyard selection and oversight with a commercial contractor rather than the government. TOTE has elsewhere put the per-vessel savings at roughly 70% below the original government estimate.
"Delivering the Lone Star State is a proud achievement for our shipbuilders, whose skill and dedication brought this important vessel to completion," said David Kim, CEO of Hanwha Philly Shipyard. "We are honored to see it begin its service at Texas A&M Maritime Academy, where it will help prepare the next generation of mariners and support our nation when called upon."
Maritime Administrator Stephen M. Carmel called the ship "more than just a training platform," adding that it is "an example of our investment in our maritime workforce and our unwavering commitment to maintaining American maritime dominance for generations to come."
Marad has said the NSMV program is intended to address a shortage of licensed officers available to crew government and commercial sealift ships. State maritime academies produce more than half of the new U.S. merchant marine officers each year.
Congress appropriated $325 million for the Texas ship in December 2020. Its keel was laid in December 2023, and it was launched in January 2025, with delivery initially targeted for late that year; the shipyard had sought schedule relief on the later hulls, citing workforce and supply chain constraints. Texas A&M has been training aboard the 1967-built Kennedy, transferred from Massachusetts Maritime Academy as an interim ship.
The first three NSMVs — Empire State, Patriot State, and State of Maine — were delivered to SUNY Maritime College in September 2023, Massachusetts Maritime Academy in September 2024, and Maine Maritime Academy in March 2026. The fifth and final ship, Golden State, is expected to reach Cal Poly Maritime Academy in Vallejo, Calif., in 2027, replacing the 1989-built Golden Bear, which completed its last training cruise in July.
South Korea-based Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Systems acquired the former Philly Shipyard from Norway's Aker ASA in December 2024. State of Maine was the yard's first major delivery under Hanwha ownership.
