in the Persian Gulf. It was retired and given to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, then assigned to TAMUG under an agreement that it can be activated by MARAD at any time. During the fall of 2005, the Sirius served in New Orleans for Katrina relief, from September 10 until November 29 and at Lake Charles, LA for Rita relief until March 2. Because of its extended relief effort, Sirius was unable to undergo a refit in 2006 to adapt its new role as a training vessel and comply with U.S. Coast Guard safety standards. Because Sirius had not undergone a refit, it could not be formally commissioned as the USTS Texas Clipper nor could it be used for summer training cruises. This is forcing the university to look to the other state maritime academies (California Maritime Academy from 2006–present) to help fulfill the summer cruise requirements until the work on the Sirius was completed. In the winter of 2009, the US Coast Guard ruled that Sirius was unfit for training and was prepared for decommissioning while the school looked for a new training ship. On June 25, 2009, Sirius was returned to the U.S. Maritime Administration. In 2009, the academy acquired SS Cape Gibson. The academy trained on this ship while it was docked at the campus but was again unable to sail on her until a refit was done. In 2012, the vessel was towed to the government's navy reserve fleet near Beaumont and replaced with the TS General Rudder. The academy's own General Rudder was the first vessel since 2005 on which it was able complete summer training cruises. The limited size of the vessel (64 personal), however, means a good majority of the cadets still sail with other maritime academies. R/V Trident: The research vessel is a 70-ft catamaran that serves the maritime academy as an underway terrestrial, engineering, and electronic navigation lab. She also serves other majors at TAMUG for underwater research and exploration. Ranger is a 25.5-ft push boat built to scale. The vessel is used for tug and tow classes, using TAMUG 100 & 200 barges that are also built to scale to simulate liquid cargo barges. The academy has a small boat basin with various other small boats, such as jet-drive fast-rescue boats, motor lifeboats, outboard motor boats, and twin-screw vessels used for ship handling, engineering, and general seamanship training.