The U.S.S. Queens was built during World War II, and commissoned in December of 1944. She was an Attack Transport, carrying cargo and many troops home from the Pacific at the end of the war.

The U.S.S. Queens was converted to a civilian passenger ship after the war and renamed the S.S. Excambion.

In the middle of the 1960's she was renamed the U.S.T.S. Texas Clipper and used in training merchant mariners.

She departed Galveston, Texas during the summer of 1994, for Uruguay, Curacau, Guadalupe, and Puerto Rico, for her final cruise before returning to Galveston.

Her specifications were 7,970 tons; 473 feet long; 66 feet wide; 8,000 horsepower; maximum speed: 16.5 knots.

The Texas Clipper was sunk on November 17, 2007, 17 nautical miles Northeast of South Padre Island, Texas, to serve as an artificial reef.