The Presque Isle was the second thousand-footer to arrive to the Great Lakes fleet, making her maiden voyage in December, 1973. She shares with the first ship of the class - the Stewart J. Cort, the distinction of being "different" not only from the vessels which have been built following them, as well as from each other. The Presque is actually two vessels - a self-unloading "barge" which is 974'6" long by 104'7" at the beam, and a tug boat which is 144'4" by 54'. The barge's bow section was built in Bay City, MI and towed to Erie, PA to be joined with the cargo section. The tug was built by Halter Marine, New Orleans, LA and sailed through the St Lawrence Seaway to join the barge in Erie. The two vessels when joined total 1,000 ft loa. The resulting vessel is defined by the Coast Guard as a TBA/barge (TBA = Articulated Tug Boat).

The combination cost her owners (Litton Ind., Los Angeles, CA) only 38 Million. An additional expected savings in operating costs have not been achieved, however. The Coast Guard ruled that, because the Tug was not deemed "seaworthy" by herself, the number of crew could not be reduced and she carries a full complement of 27. The Presque Isle's power plant consists of 2 Mirrlees Blackstone 16 cylinder Diesels driving 2 propellers (total hp - 14,840)