SS Arthur M. Anderson

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Career (US)

Name:	SS Arthur M. Anderson
Namesake:	Arthur Marvin Anderson
Operator:	Great Lakes Fleet, Inc.
Builder:	American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio
Yard number:	868
Launched:	February 16,1952
Acquired:	August 1952
Status:	In service
General characteristics
Class and type:	AAA class of lake freighter
Tonnage:	12,341 gross tonnage [1]
Length:	647 ft (197 m) (as built) 749.4 ft (228.4 m) feet (2007)
Beam:	70.2 ft (21.4 m)
Draft:	31.3 ft (9.5 m)
Capacity:	9,372 net tonnage

The SS Arthur M. Anderson is a cargo boat of the laker type. It is famous for being the last boat to be in contact with the SS Edmund Fitzgerald (before it sank 10 November 1975). The Anderson was also the first rescue boat on the scene in a vain effort to look for Fitzgerald survivors (there were none).

[edit] History

The SS Arthur M. Anderson came out of the drydock of the American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio in 1952. She had a length of 647 feet, 70 foot beam, a 36 foot depth, and a gross tonnage of roughly 20,000 tons. She was second of eight of the AAA class of lake freighters; the others being, in order, the SS Philip R. Clarke, SS Cason J. Callaway, SS Reserve, SS J.L. Mauthe, SS Armco, SS Edward B. Greene, and the SS William Clay Ford. She, along with the SS Philip R. Clarke and SS Cason J. Callaway, was built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Division of U.S. Steel.The Anderson's sea-trials commenced on August 7, 1952, and loaded her first cargo at the Two Harbors dock on August 12th. She received several upgrades in her life including a new 120 foot mid-section which added about 6,000 tons to her gross tonnage. In 1981 she received a self unloading boom which increased her usefulness.