CASTINE – The Maine Maritime Academy training ship State of Maine will travel to New Orleans this week to provide emergency housing in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The U.S. Maritime Administration, or MARAD, which owns the training ship, activated the State of Maine and the TS Empire State, the training vessel for the Maritime College of State University of New York, to respond to the crisis in and around New Orleans.

Academy officials were notified Saturday of the emergency activation, according to MMA President Leonard Tyler. Tyler said the ship will not be in New Orleans itself but near a refinery outside the city.

“We’ll be providing housing for refinery workers who will be working to get the refineries up and running,” Tyler said Sunday.

No MMA students will accompany the ship south, he said, but the ship’s professional crew of 10, including Capt. Larry Wade, will sail with the vessel.

“We’re part of the ship’s crew 12 months a year whatever happens to the ship,” Wade said Sunday from his office on board. “Part of that includes deploying with the ship. Normal deployment is just once a year on the [training] cruise. But anytime the ship goes, we have to be ready to go.”

The State of Maine is a federally owned vessel on permanent loan to the academy for training purposes. The former naval oceanographic research vessel USNS Tanner was launched in 1990 and turned over to MMA in 1997. The 500-foot vessel has accommodations for up to 302 people.

Once in New Orleans, the ship is expected to house about 200 oil refinery workers.

At this time of year, the ship generally undergoes maintenance and repairs with students working with the professional crew as part of the college program.

“The crew is working now to get that equipment back together,” Wade said.

Although no students will be traveling with the ship, some of the upper-class student leaders who have worked with the professional crew on the ship before will work as volunteers to help prepare the vessel for the trip, Wade said.

The crew also has to evaluate what needs to be ordered for the deployment, Wade said. That normally is done over a three- to four-month period in preparation for the annual cruise.

Because of the conditions in the New Orleans area, he said, the crew will need to bring specific supplies including more disinfectant, hand sterilizers and cleaning supplies than normal.

“All those workers are going to be working onshore and then coming back to the ship,” Wade said. “We need to be prepared for that.

“We’re looking at all aspects of this, from materials to security,” he said.

Wade said he expects to be ready to leave Castine on the afternoon tide at about 3 p.m. Thursday, but departure plans are not yet final. MARAD has contracted with Interocean American Shipping to supply additional crew members to supplement the ship’s permanent crew. The ship is expected to sail with about 45 crew members on board.

At least two of those supplemental officers are MMA graduates, Wade said. “So they’ll already know the ship,” he said.

The college’s dining services team, contracted through Sodexho Campus Services, will provision the ship before departure, and one food service manager will accompany the ship during its deployment.

The ship will stop in Boston to pick up fuel and then will make the five-day passage to New Orleans. Wade said he was not sure when the vessel would pick up the refinery workers and stops might be scheduled in Florida. Wade also said he was not sure of the final destination.

“Five of the eight refineries in the area are down,” he said. “One is in Mississippi. We’ll be going to one of the other four, but I’m not sure where it’s located.”

He expects to arrive at the Mississippi River by Sept. 16.

The departure of the State of Maine will disrupt housing and academic plans at the academy, Tyler said Sunday. The academy regularly houses first-year students seeking a Merchant Marine license on board the vessel, in order to familiarize them with the ship before they take their first training cruise.

Academy officials have met over the weekend, to develop contingency plans, Tyler said. The ship now houses 69 first-year students, and staff members have been working on consolidation measures to ensure that those students have adequate housing.

“We’re still a few beds short, but we can pretty well take care of everybody in the dorms,” Tyler said. “As of this morning, a plan was already put into action which we feel will cause the least impact on our students while meeting this challenging yet very necessary need for assistance. Any inconvenience to our students and staff pales in comparison to the human suffering and nationwide ramification of this disaster. We’re happy to do our part, no matter how small.”

Some members of the ship’s professional crew also serve as adjunct professors, and the ship itself also is used as a training platform for some courses. The academy can use onshore labs and equipment temporarily, and Tyler said the vessel should be back before the end of the semester so that students can get the hands-on experience they need.

MARAD estimated the State of Maine will be deployed for 60 days, although Tyler acknowledged that could change. He anticipated that the ship will be back in Castine in time for the annual training cruise which usually starts after graduation in May.