SS Spartan is a railroad car ferry on Lake Michigan owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) from 1952 through 1979.
The C&O fully absorbed the Pere Marquette Railway in 1947, inheriting the car ferry service already established in Ludington.
Hull 369, which would become the Spartan began construction in late 1950 by the Christy Corporation of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
She was launched on 4 January 1952 without fanfare; the Badger was being built at the same time, and the owners preferred a double-christening ceremony.
In 1992, Ludington resident Charles Conrad formed Lake Michigan Carferry Service and acquired all three ships.
Due to the rarity of her coal-burning Skinner Unaflow steam engines that she and the Badger share, the Spartan has been used frequently as a parts ship to keep her twin running.
[5] In late 2021, Lake Michigan Carferry General Manager Sara Spore said that they had engineers conduct a survey of the Spartan in order to see what they can do with her, if anything.