Originally launched in 1985 as the USNS Persistent the T/S State of Michigan was commissioned as a Stalwart class Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship She was built as an ocean submarine surveillance vessel to tow highly sensitive sonar arrays to track Soviet submarines during the Cold War. In 1998, the USNS Persistent and her sister ship, the USNS Vindicator were transferred to the United States Coast Guard to be used in drug regulation. Even after overhauls to the USNS Persistent, she was determined to be too slow to keep up with the drug policing and became available to other government agencies.
In August 2002, the vessel, whose name was changed to the T/S State of Michigan by the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, departed for the Great Lakes by way of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The training ship is now used as a daily laboratory environment and is also used underway allowing cadets to put into practice the theory and skills they have learned prior to their commercial sea projects
Ship specifications
Length: 224 ft.
Beam: 43 ft.
Draft: 15 ft.
Speed: 11 knots
( Info from Wikipedia)
