American Merchant Marine Museum News

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point (USMMA) will celebrate 75 years since initial dedication in 1943, at homecoming this weekend. Events scheduled include a 75th anniversary dinner, the season’s first home football game for the 2-0 Mariners, a parade by the Regiment of Midshipmen, and the ceremony of Beating Retreat.“We are pleased to welcome alumni classes, families and friends for a jam-packed homecoming weekend at USMMA, especially the 75th anniversary events,” said George Rhynedance…

The history of marine safety is soaked in water and written in blood. “I think that most people will tell you that changes in marine safety are almost exclusively disaster-driven,” agrees Dr. Josh Smith, a professor at Kings Point and interim director of the American Merchant Marine Museum. It hasn’t always been that way. Actually, it’s been worse. Despite some efforts early on to exert some control over shipping practices, going to sea has been accepted as a risky undertaking as long as man has floated vessels.

The design and construction of WWII Liberty cargo ships revolutionized shipbuilding by overhauling the blueprint process and standardizing on commonality of parts, welding, pre-fabrication and assembly line construction. Give me Liberty, or give me death!” a rallying cry of the Revolutionary War, got a second act in World War II. “Built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” Roosevelt promised the no-frills Liberties would form a “bridge of ships” across the Atlantic. And they did. An exaggeration perhaps, but in truth, the Liberty wasn’t much to write home about.

On May 22, 2013 starting at 12:00 p.m., the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy will honor National Maritime Day with a brief ceremony at Barney Square followed by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) tree dedication in memory of Margaret Corbin, a role model for equality in military service. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy was the first federal academy to admit women in 1974, two years before any of the other service academies, and actively supports equality in military service. Following the tree dedication, the American Merchant Marine Museum will host a new exhibit from the Seamen’s Church Institute entitled: Sermons to Sea-Land: TheSeamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, along with items from its own collection.

Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao extolled the importance of the maritime industry to America's security and economy in an address to the United States Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Foundation on Wednesday evening in New York. "When the history of this era is written, the U.S. Merchant Marine will be remembered as a key part of the effort to defend our homeland," said Chao. "More than 8,000 brave merchant mariners crew auxiliary vessels for the United States Navy to support our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Merchant mariners also make America's economy stronger as they transport our nation's energy supplies, goods and passengers," Chao continued.

United States Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and Sean Connaughton, the new U. S. Maritime Administrator, will be guest speakers at the United States Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Foundation dinner in New York on Wednesday, September 27 honoring America's Deep-Sea Domestic fleet. The gala dinner will benefit the American Merchant Marine Museum located on the Academy's campus in Kings Point, Long Island. Secretary Chao, whose career has spanned international transportation issues on many levels, will be the keynote speaker and Mr. Connaughton, a 1983 graduate of the Academy who also served in the U. S. Coast Guard, will give a special address at his first New York-area public engagement.