The vessel's namesake, Arthur Marvin Anderson, was director of U.S. Steel, a member of its finance committee and vice chairman of J.P. Morgan & Co. at the time.

During the Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, she was operating in close company with SS Edmund Fitzgerald and reported her loss to the United States Coast Guard.

She is unique among the three Great Lakes Fleet steamships in that she has a softer midsection that prohibits loading as much cargo as the others; roughly 1500 tons less.

[1][3] In February 2015 Arthur M. Anderson became stuck and stranded in several feet of ice in Lake Erie near Conneaut Harbor, Ohio.

[4][5] Arthur M. Anderson was freed from the ice on February 21, 2015, after five days with the help of the Canadian Coast Guard vessel CCGS Griffon.