The First Step Toward SWO Qualification

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Vi°n, U.S. Navy, student at Armed Forces Staff College and former academic director of Surface Warfare Officer Basic Course, Newport

In the past, the major portion of a surface line officer’s initial training ^was accomplished on board ship. Soon ^after commissioning, an officer re­ported to his first sea assignment to Begin a “learning while doing” indoc­trination and training process from ^which he eventually emerged a func­tional division and watch officer. Al­though there are very positive advan­ces to actual shipboard training, the time lost and attention required to achieve total shipboard officer effec­tiveness, in addition to the officer’s Sequent inability to perform confi­dently in a relatively unfamiliar envi­ronment, pointed up the need for ad­ditional training prior to an initial sea assignment. Advanced department head and prospective executive and commanding officer training had existed for some time, but there was ⁿ° such equivalent training for the di­vision officer. The impetus for the es- rablishment of a basic surface line offi­^cer school was founded on the needs f°r training specialized in the basics of surface ship officer management and svatch assignment duties.

As early as 1965, a task force on Personnel retention recommended to rhe Secretary of the Navy that a sur­face combatant school be established ^t0 better prepare newly commissioned officers for their first shipboard duty. As a result of significant budgetary ^c°nstraints, however, the establish­ment of a surface line officer pilot course didn’t come about until Sep­tember 1970. The Surface Warfare Of­ficer School (SWOS) began at Newport 'Gth a first class of 24 students. The course had a maximum capacity of 48 students and stressed a practical train- ^lng approach to enhance the officer’s confidence and abilities in adapting quickly to shipboard life and respon­sibilities. Initially, only new surface iine ensigns with orders to destroyer-

type ships or smaller were selected to attend this school. The two primary areas of instruction within the six- week curriculum dealt with the duties of the surface line division and watch officer. A ship simulator training de­vice consisting of a bridge, combat in­formation center, and main control mock-up was employed for many of the practical watchstanding training problems. Prospective surface line students reported from all officer pro­curement programs with the largest portion of the student population ini­tially reporting from Officer Candi­date School.

By the end of 1972, nearly 500 graduates has been sent to the fleet from SWOS. More important, signifi­cantly better prepared first-term line officers, more confident in the per­formance of their duties, were being provided to surface ships. A revised curriculum, based on fleet feedback, was submitted and approved by the Chief of Naval Technical Training in March 1973- It was becoming appar­ent that SWOS-educated officers were having a positive effect on the fleet, but they still represented only a small percentage of the total officers going to surface ships.

In the fall of 1973, CinCPacFlt/ CinCLantFlt Instruction 1412.1 was promulgated delineating the require­ments for surface warfare officer (SWO) (1110) qualification. Based on CNO approval of a recommendation by an OpNav Surface Warfare Officer Study Group, SWOS training was to be ex­panded and a totally new curriculum developed. The expanded course, when implemented, would provide training in knowledge and perform­ance areas based on the job task re­quirements of the surface warfare offi­cer. The fundamental premise for the expanded curriculum was to continue to provide skill reinforcement and added confidence for the officer in his first shipboard assignment. However, with the firm establishment of a sur­face warfare community and the SWO/ 1110 designator, there had developed an extended outlook toward well- defined and functional supportive training. This training combined with billet specialty training (main propul­sion assistant, communications officer, etc.) would greatly enhance the ability of a career-motivated officer to com­plete his first tour at sea, qualify as an 1110, and be prepared to attend the surface warfare department head course.

Training sites were selected at Newport, Rhode Island, and Coronado, California.

The first 100-student, expanded, 15-week course convened at Newport in June 1974 and at SWOS Coronado three months later. In addition, a training appraisal program was insti­tuted to solicit evaluations of training results from surface ship commanding officers and from past graduates of the school.

One of the prime concerns of the Surface Warfare Officer Study Group, based on realistic fleet requirements, was to improve the overall professional qualification of surface warfare offi­cers. Accordingly, it was planned that all prospective 1110s would ultimately attend the expanded SWOS course. Be­cause of increasing fleet equipment sophistication, emphasis on fleet ma­terial readiness, and reduced underway training time, an accelerated expan­sion plan was implemented to provide the training capability to meet an an­nual SWOS training rate of 1,275 stu­dents by the end of fiscal year 1975.

During this same time frame, studies also were begun investigating use of the existing personnel qualifica­tion standards (PQS) system as a method of standardizing qualification

for the new SWO designation.

In the fall of 1974, a PQS develop­ment group was convened to formu­late the preliminary SWO PQS using the SWOS expanded basic course task analysis as a foundation from which to construct the fleet SWO officer re­quirements for qualification.

Another major event from the rec­ommendations of the SWO Study Group and a study of centralized man­agement of training for surface warfare resulted in the CNO’s decision to re­designate the Naval Destroyer School as Surface Warfare Officers School Command (SWOSC) with a mission “. . . to provide the naval surface warfare forces, through a system of functional training, with officers pro­fessionally qualified to serve as effec­tive naval leaders of surface ships with the ultimate goal of command at sea. . . .” In addition, the SWOS courses at Newport and Coronado were transferred to SWOSC when the new command was established on 1 January 1975. The result was a cen­tralizing of the SWO training under one command, approval and publica­tion in April 1975 of the SWO PQS, and a rapid expansion of the capacity for the SWOS basic course. When completion of the new SWO PQS be­came one of the specific requirements for qualification and designation as a surface warfare officer, the SWOS basic course revised and aligned all its cur­riculum documents. The SWO PQS then became, in essence, the content base of the course. This revised course was taught to the first 125-student class at Newport in July 1975.

Since this first class, the training appraisal feedback provided from more than 2,600 graduates to the fleet has produced two major curriculum revi­sions establishing the basic course in a functional training support role for the surface warfare community. The pres­ent basic course receives all newly commissioned prospective surface war­fare officers prior to their first fleet as­signments. In fact, the basic course is the required first step toward ultimate shipboard qualification as a designated SWO. Supporting this qualification, this 16-week course addresses the majority of the SWO PQS in those areas where the actual shipboard environ­ment or specific shipboard system is not required. The SWO PQS formulated the requisite knowledge (theory), the associated component equipment in­terrelationships (systems), and the per­

formance requirements (watch sta­tions) for the SWO qualification. There are five separate sections covering divi­sion officer, engineering, officer of the deck in port, officer of the deck under way/combat information center watch officer, and warfare. Using a building block approach, the basic course ad­dresses 26 unit areas of instructional presentations from the basic theory in the classroom to the more advanced system and performance learning transfer within the ship-simulating trainers. Subject area coverage encom­passes the fundamentals of the broad spectrum comprising the surface war­fare officer requirements within com­bat systems, division officer manage­ment, and engineering/damage con­trol. As a functional course, emphasis is placed on the correct procedures di­rectly associated with the responsible job of a surface warfare division and watch officer. The nature of this sub­ject material is not necessarily dif­ficult, but the tempo of subject matter presentations and requirements to as­similate information from the class­room into a performance testing envi­ronment present a challenging learn­ing situation for all students. The test­ing and evaluation program concen­trates on the individual student’s capability to achieve specific tasks to an acceptable standard of performance as expressed within the 265 major learning objectives of the course. Sig­nificant training and evaluation of the SWO watchstanding requirements are stressed by using several different trainers, such as the AN/SPS-T3 SWOS ship simulators, tactical trainers, underway training craft, shiphandling tank, and other “hands-on" training laboratories. Additional trainers are employed for engineering equipment laboratories, damage control “but­tercup” drills, inspection trainers for material and Planned Maintenance System inspections, and the actual sur­face ships when available. An exten­sive automated data processing- supported testing program provides another measure of a student’s com­prehension and retention. This is ac­complished by the administration of a unit area examination directly upon completion of each instructional unit and a series of three separate final

laminations which cover different ^umts as the course progresses. Course standards are established to assure a high rate of achievement for each sepa- tate unit area. This testing program Permits identification of specific SWO ^PQS items accomplished by each stu­dent. Upon successful completion of the course, a graduate certification re­port is sent to the prospective surface Warfare officer and the commanding officer of his first ship. This report numerically lists those SWO PQS items achieved or certified by the graduate through the SWOS testing program in­cluding both objective and “hands-on” Performance tests. Certification at the SWosc basic course requires consider­able student effort and is indicative of ^a degree of preparedness based on the ^sWo pqs requirements when the graduate reports on board his ship. However, final qualification remains ^w,th the ship’s commanding officer based on observed performance on board the actual ship.

An equally significant result of SWO basic training involves the degree to ^which the graduate will become read- dy employable and effective on board ^che ship within his first SWO assign­ments. To assess this and other aspects °f course effectiveness a refined train- |ⁿg appraisal program is used. Part of ^{lt: ls} done by an internal evaluation Process within the school itself. The external portion of the program pro­vides for continuing course content improvement to meet the needs of the fleet and depends on a very close in­teraction between the fleet and the school. The 70% return rate of com­manding officer and graduate appraisal forms over the past three years indi­cates the continuing interest the fleet maintains in surface warfare officer training. The appraisal trend appears to be of general satisfaction with the overall SWO basic course training plan. However, as an increasing number of graduates move to the fleet under the qualification standards of the SWO PQS, a confident and knowl­edgeable ensign—once an exceptional individual—will become the general rule, and a more critical eye will be turned toward the training appraisal. The aggregate results of the training appraisal program are coordinated by the school staff, translated to specific curriculum revision recommendations, and forwarded to higher authority for approval. In the past, training apprais­al results have provided significant input for two major approved cur­riculum revisions and with the pro­cessed results of the last fiscal year ap­praisal information, a third recom­mended revision is being constructed.

More precise refinements are planned in the not too distant future with the installation of a revised SWO

PQS which has been in development for the past two years. This revision builds upon the April 1975 publica­tion to more clearly define the task qualifications throughout all areas. The Chief of Naval Operations has promulgated transition guidelines to preclude disruption of ongoing SWO qualification procedures. The SWOSC basic course will align to the revised SWO PQS requirements commencing with classes convening 5 June 1978. Officers who will commence their SWO qualification after this date will use the revised PQS.

The implementation of the Surface Warfare Officers School Command basic course has established a new di­mension in the practical learning achievements for newly commissioned officers based upon realistic and stand­ardized performance requirements. Tomorrow’s surface warfare leaders are acquiring their fundamental skills today through a progression of sys­tematic and functional training. As basic course graduates return to SWOSC to attend the intermediate de­partment head course and prospective executive and commanding officer courses, they will be building on a firmer foundation than have their predecessors. The building begins for the Navy’s future surface leaders with the first step after commissioning— the surface warfare officer basic course.