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Launched in 1919 and now a floating museum, the Steamship Valley Camp is the most intact iron ore and coal Great Lakes freighter from its time period. It is 550 feet long and could transport up to 12,000 tons of cargo. It sailed for fifty years until 1967 when it was finally retired. In all, the Valley Camp covered three million miles and transported 16 million miles. Visitors are allowed to explore every part of the ship. There are also artifacts, paintings, shipwreck items, models and other objects on display inside. Maybe the most striking items on display are the two lifeboats recovered from the Edmund Fitzgerald, which sunk in November, 1975. Given its good condition and the fact that it is one of the few Great Lakes freighters of its era left, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is also a Michigan State Historic Site.  

Steamship Valley Camp

With more than 3,000 miles of coastline, Michigan has an impressive maritime heritage. Several cities along the lakeshore host museum ships that are open to the public for tours, in season.  Among them are a WWII-era submarine, an LST, a Coast Guard icebreaker, a Vietnam-era destroyer, and a lake freighter.

Michigan Ship Museum Heritage Trail

Though her keel was laid down on 4 November 1940, more than a year before the United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was bombed by Imperial Japanese forces, the Gato-class attack submarine Silversides (SS-236) was not commissioned until 15 December 1941--a week after war was declared. Her shakedown cruise off the California coast took her to Pearl Harbor the following April, sailing into a harbor still recuperating from the devastation of 7 December.Her first war patrol took her straight to the Japanese Home Islands, and from 1942-1945, over the course of fourteen total patrols, USS Silversides went on to sink more than 23 Japanese warships, the third-highest confirmed total for any Allied submarine of the war. &nbsp;&nbsp;The submarine received 12 Battle Stars for her wartime service (for meritorious participation in battle or damage suffered).Only one casualty was suffered in the course of her combat service--a crewman killed by machine gun fire on her first war patrol, as Silversides attempted to sink a Japanese gunboat with her three-inch deck gun. In another harrowing moment from her fourth patrol, the sub took damage from a Japanese bomber in December 1942 that locked Silversides’ diving planes in full dive position; the crew barely managed to level the vessel’s descent before reaching crush depth.Decommissioned after the war, Silversides was used by the US Navy Reserve in Chicago as a training sub until 1969, when she was decommissioned. As she was being decommissioned her successor, the Sturgeon-class USS Silversides (SSN-679) was under construction in Connecticut. Soon rescued by the Combined Great Lakes Navy Association and kept behind the Chicago Armory, the original SS-236 was later put on display at Navy Pier in 1979 while undergoing constant restoration. Silversides was moved to Muskegon in 1987.In 1993, the USCGC McLane joined the Silversides outside the museum. Named for the tenth U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, the McLane is a 125-foot-long Coast Guard cutter built in 1927. Early duties included chasing down rum-runners violating Prohibition-era laws forbidding the sale of alcohol in the United States. During World War II, the McLane was rearmed and assigned patrols along the Alaskan coast--where in July 1942, the vessel hunted down and destroyed a Japanese submarine, making her the only US Coast Guard Cutter to ever sink a submarine. Decommissioned the same year as Silversides, she was used for several decades by a Sea Scout group in Chicago before joining the USS Silversides Museum. The present museum offers tours of both vessels, as well as overnight stays for groups aboard the Silversides. Science and technology courses in underwater robotics are also offered.

Preserving the history of the third-most successful Allied submarine of World War II, the USS Silversides Submarine Museum (formerly the Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum) is located on Muskegon Channel connecting Muskegon Lake to Lake Michigan.  A two-story museum contains extensive information about the U.S. Navy’s role during World War II, but the highlights of the establishment are two preserved vessels: USS Silversides (SS-236), first of two submarines to bear the “Silversides” name, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter McLane--the only Coast Guard cutter to ever sink an enemy submarine. The museum has been maintained at its present location since 1987, though Silversides herself has served as a museum ship since the 1970s.

USS Silversides Submarine Museum

The LST 393 is one of
only two LSTs that still exist in the world. (The LST 325 is located in
Evansville, IN, and it is fully operational.) LST stands for Landing Ship Tank, although it was sometimes jokingly referred to as Large Slow Target. During WWII, LSTs
were used by the US Navy for transporting tanks and other assault vehicles as well as troops, casualties,
and prisoners of war. It is 328 feet long and could carry cargo payloads of almost 2000 tons. 1 The LST 393 was launched on November 11, 1942. The ship participated in three
invasions in Europe, at Sicily, Salerno, and Omaha Beach at Normandy. It made
75 voyages to foreign shores, including 30 to the beaches of Normandy.2
It was there on the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, and the museum still has
the flag that was flown that day. The LST 393 was later reassigned to the US's operations in the Pacific and painted tropical green camo, but the war ended before it could leave for Japan.3 After the end of the war, the LST became a
merchant ship renamed the MV Highway 16. It carried cars across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee until 1973. A group of dedicated military history buffs raised the funds to have the ship moved back to Muskegon and extensively renovated. Today the LST 393 is a museum with numerous events and programs, including a D-Day Commemoration Ceremony and a Veterans' Job Fair. In the summer, movies are shown on a projector on the deck to the public.

The LST 393 is a transport ship that was used during WWII by the US Navy. Although over 1000 LSTs were built, the 393 is only one of two still in existence. Launched in 1942, it participated in three invasions in Europe, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy. It was later used as a commercial ship to transport cars and passengers across Lake Michigan. Today it is preserved as a museum dedicated to veterans and telling the history of WWII. 

USS LST 393 Veterans Museum

Known as the "Queen of the Great Lakes," the icebreaker ship, the Mackinaw, was built in Toledo, Ohio in 1944 to help keep shipping in the Great Lakes open during the winter. The need for iron ore, limestone and coal (the ingredients need to produce steel) was very during World War II. The vessel was commissioned in 1941, just over a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor. However construction delays prevented its completion until 1944. It was in operation for 62 years, finally decommissioned in 2006. It has been a floating museum ever since. One of the museum's highlights is the overnight program, where young people can sleep on board to get a hands on experience about how the ship functioned and what life was like on board.

Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum

The USS Edson was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer of the United Stated Navy. This class of destroyer was the most built type of surface warship in U.S. Navy history. &nbsp;Using lessons learned from WWII, the Edson was an adept anti-submarine and screening escort vessel.1&nbsp;The&nbsp;USS Edson was built in 1958, and it&nbsp;was the last of its class to be retired. Edson was built by Bath Iron Work in Maine, although her home port was Long Beach, California where she first served in the Pacific. During the early years of the US intervention in&nbsp;Vietnam, the&nbsp;USS&nbsp;Edson operated off the coast of Vietnam and the Taiwan Strait. The ship was present for the&nbsp;Gulf of Tonkin Incident, an alleged attack on the USS Maddox&nbsp;that President Johnson&nbsp;and Congress cited in defense of their plans to escalate American involvement in Southeast Asia. The Edson received her first of three Navy Unit Commendations for service in the incident.2 The Gulf of Tonkin incident led Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which granted President Johnson the ability to intervene with military action in any country in Southeast Asia that may fall to communism. Details of&nbsp;the incident and subsequent actions by the hawkish Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and President Johnson are still disputed to this day. It is certain that their decisions led to one of the longest and most costly conflicts in U.S. military history.3 The Edson spent ten years running gun line duty off the coast of Vietnam. The ship received its second and third Navy Unit Commendations for its role in the evacuations of Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Saigon, Cambodia. All told the Edson spent around 30 years as a member of the Pacific Fleet and ran training missions until it was decommissioned in 1988.

Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum was established by residents of Bay City who hoped to bring a historic naval vessel to their community's waterfront. The organization succeeded, securing the USS Edson in 2013. The USS Edson was a vital member of the Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War and other conflicts in the U.S. fight against communism in Asia. The organization offers tours of the Edson and also maintains responsibility for maintaining the vessel. 



USS Edson and the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum

Lightship No. 103 is known by her last official designation, Huron. Her keel was laid under government contract in 1918 at the Consolidated Shipbuilding Company in Morris Heights, New York. She was designed and built to withstand the wave conditions on the Great Lakes and was launched on May 1, 1920. Her earlier designations were Relief, Grays Reef, North Manitou, and Lake Huron.Lightships were used as aids to navigation and were generally stationed in places where conditions made the construction of a permanent lighthouse structure impractical. The first lightships were used on the Great Lakes in the 1830s. Lightships were equipped with a beacon, and in some instances, with a fog signal. Huron was originally built with a steam engine and was later converted to diesel power.The report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses described Lightship No. 103 as follows in 1921:[begin quote]LIGHT VESSEL“ No . 103 . ” — Purpose. Light Vessel No. 103 was completed at New York and proceeded to Milwaukee , Wis., in the twelfth district , where it has been assigned as a relief vessel .Structure . — The vessel is 96 feet 5 inches over all, with a molded beam of 24 feet and a displacement of 310 tons when floating at a mean draft of 9 feet in fresh water. The entire vessel is built of steel. A steel pilot house and gas - tank room is located on the upper deck; one steel tubular lantern mast surmounted by a gallery and rail with a lens lantern secured on top of the masthead.Illuminating apparatus . —The signal light contained within the lens lantern consists of an acetylene gas burner operated by a flashing device, gas being supplied by a battery of tanks containing compressed acetylene gas and secured in the tank room on the upper deck .Fog - signal apparatus . — This apparatus consists of a 10-inch steam whistle located on and above the top of the smokestack on the forward side. The characteristic blasts are operated by a specially designed steam driven gear, which is controlled by a clockwork mechanism.Machinery . — The vessel is propelled by a fore-and-aft two-cylinder steam engine of 175 horsepower, with cylinders 12 inches diameter, each with a common stroke of 14 inches, making 145 revolutions per minute, driving a right-hand cast-iron propeller 5 feet 9 inches diameter, with a pitch of 7 feet 4 inches. Steam is furnished by a two-furnace boiler of the Scotch type, using coal for fuel. The vessel is fitted through out with all sanitary plumbing, fixtures, and drainage system.Quarters . The complement of the vessel is four officers and five men. The officers' and crew's quarters, galley, mess rooms, pantries, lamp room, and bathrooms are located on the main deck. The oil room, provision, and other storerooms, and the galley coal bunker are located on the lower deck forward,Painting . - The hull is red except for one-third of the vessel's length amidship which is white, with RELIEF in large Black letters on each side.Cost .-- This light vessel was constructed under the act of June 12 , 1917, which appropriated $150,000. The vessel was built at Morris Heights, N.Y., at the contract price of $147,428. The construction commenced June 5, 1918, and the vessel was delivered to the Government on December 22, 1920. [end quote]In 1935, Huron was assigned to Corsica Shoals, six miles north of Port Huron, where she remained for the rest of her career. Huron's anchor was raised for the final time on August 20, 1970, and she was decommissioned at Detroit on August 25, 1970. She was moved to Port Huron's Pine Grove Park in 1972 and dedicated as a historical exhibit in 1974. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

The Huron Lightship is a retired lightship that is now operated as a historical museum under the auspices of the Port Huron Museums. The Huron was the last operating lightship on the Great Lakes, and had served more than fifty years when she was retired in 1970. After she was decommissioned, the lightship was permanently moored at Pine Grove Park in Port Huron. The Huron was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1989.

Michigan Ship Museum Heritage Trail

Steamship Valley Camp

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