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y Lieutenant Steven A. Katcher, U. S. Navy
HaWn"1® Peacetime, there seems to be tine ThU^^1 °f the U. S. Merchant Ma- sea.jan 6 ^avy ’s role of defending the °bscurf^t u°L.°Ur merchant shipping is peaCet: behtnd the headlines and our
Were n ^ aaval missions. Even if this U, § ° tae case< the current state of the the U industry leaves little for
t0 defend.
of 0UrC ^as been said about the decline front IJlercfrant fleet. The reasons range Unions . ran8ulation by maritime labor busines ° ,economic benefits of doing Whatever ,^Uh foreign-flag carriers, defense ^*e reason> the U. S. national becai. Posture will continue to suffer
The s'tuat*on-
shins :®rca,est danger is not the lack of Pt»- 0Ur National Defense Reserve and Ready Reserve Force *n the quantity and quality of and able-bodied seamen needed
Nao*an navy
to sail them. Most are confident that, in time of war or national emergency, the United States can shift its shipbuilding industry into high gear, scraping together at least enough ships to meet its basic needs.
Most of our Merchant Marine officers are trained through programs at the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, and at six state-run maritime academies in California, Texas, Maine, New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan. The Maritime Administration (MarAd), under the auspices of the Department of Transportation, operates the Merchant Marine Academy and provides financial support and training ships for the state academies.
These academies award four-year degrees. The cadets receive their U. S. Coast Guard licenses as Merchant Marine officers (third mates or third assistant
engineers) upon passing the Coast Guard examination. During their college careers, the cadets spend three-month summer periods sailing on a training ship or shipping out with a commercial shipping company.
All of this adds up to quality and experience, nurtured over a relatively short period of time. In peacetime, four years is nothing. The maritime industry can easily survive under the yearly infusion of new Merchant Marine officers. In fact, the industry does not have room for many of the new graduates.
It almost takes an act of God to get into a maritime union. One must be bom into the union or wait for a member to die before a slot may open up. And then there is a long waiting list for that slot. To give a couple of examples, the number of shipboard jobs on U. S.-flag ships dropped by 40% during the 1970s, and the average age of a union member is more than 50 years old.
In time of war or national emergency, that four-year training period can be long—maybe too long. The Department of Defense, specifically the Department of the Navy, takes over control of U. S. merchant shipping during such times. A national draft will not provide for the manning of the increased number of ships. Naval personnel will not man these ships. The Navy will be hard-pressed to ensure the manning quantity and quality of its own warships. The academies’ output will most likely be increased and sped up, but will it be enough? And what will be the trade-off of quality?
In the past, the U. S. Navy has relied heavily on officers and men trained in the Merchant Marine as a major manpower reserve. In World War I, licensed Merchant Marine officers joined the Naval Auxiliary Service of the Naval Reserve. Their contribution to the various transportation services employed at the time accounted for 60% of the supplies and for two million soldiers that were sent to the war effort.
The Merchant Marine convoys of the World Wars carried the troops and supplies that tipped the balance for the Allies—but the casualty rates for the crews of this “unknown reserve” were proportionally higher than the U. S. Navy’s.
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IRS1 October 1984
145
During World War II, qualified officers in the Merchant Marine joined the Naval Reserve. They manned more than 1,700 U. S.-flag ships as part of the U. S. Navy. Merchant mariner causalties resulting from hostilities proportionally exceeded those suffered by U. S. Navy personnel. Because of their exceptional services and sacrifice, the U. S. Government paid out special bonuses to them for their contribution to the war effort.
These bonuses were continued during the Korean War and Vietnam War, when the Merchant Marine accounted for 80% and 65%, respectively, of the cargoes shipped to these war zones. Although our merchant force has declined markedly since these conflicts, there is still a great need for the men and the ships. That need appears to be even more acute today. Short of all-out war, we will most likely have to depend solely on our own shipping. Military Sealift Command (MSC) estimates that about 350 cargo ships would be needed for a deployment to
Commissions in the Naval Reserve still do not seem to be a high priority ticket for most Merchant Marine cadets, who imagine that military affiliations will mean saluting and swabbing rather than sailing their licenses.
Southwest Asia.
As pointed out by Admiral James L. Holloway III, speaking on the national crisis of our military sealift capability:
“Forty of our 42 allies are overseas. The United States has four Army divisions in Germany and two divisions in the Western Pacific. In time of war these allies and our own overseas forces are going to have to be reinforced and resupplied. Ninety-five percent of this movement will be by sea .... It requires more than 100,000 tons of cargo to deploy a single mechanized division. That division when overseas will need more than 1,000 tons per day to sustain it .... One modem container ship, for example, can deliver the equivalent cargo of 150 C-5 aircraft and there are only 75 C-5 aircraft in our active inventory.”
import almost 70 raw materials which are considered critical for the U. S. industrial and defense needs. A healthy maritime industry is vital to our national defense.
In 1979, Secretary of the Navy W. Graham Claytor, Jr. announced the expansion of a program designed to increase mutual support and interface between the Merchant Marine and the U. S. Navy. On 1 March of that year, the new
Merchant Marine Reserve/U. S. Na'. Reserve (MMR/USNR) program beca® effective. ^
This program provides commission5 the Naval Reserve for qualified Merely Marine officers, either graduates of 0 of the seven academies or other ehg1 officers. These officers receive dir commissions and appointments into program. Upon commissioning, they most often given either the design3 1625 (deck) or 1675 (engineering)- T*1® designators ensure that the officers in reserve program will compete for pr° . tion among themselves and not agal regular naval officers.
As part of this program, Merctl ^ Marine officers who are either asho^ on board U. S. merchant ships will ceive specialized naval training- ,£ training exposure to the operation ot ^ Navy usually begins with the cadets^ the maritime academies. Every licen'i? option cadet is required to take eoursf* naval science as part of his curricu Public Law 96-453—15 Octn ; 1980, amending the Merchant Act of 1936, provides the guideline5 ^ maritime education and training 1 XIII). It states, in part:
. . the Secretary of the Nav>'^ cooperation with the Assistant S® tary of Commerce for Maritime fairs and the head of each State 111 ^, time academy, shall assure that training of future merchant m , officers at the United States Mef® ,, Marine Academy and at the maritime academies includes P^( grams for naval science training10 j, operation of merchant marine veS J as a naval and military auxiliary that naval officer training pr°? ^ for the training of future office^ 3( sofar as possible, be maintain®^, designated maritime academies sistent with United States Navy 5 dards and needs.”
The naval science training is adm1 ^ tered by the Chief of Naval Edu®3^, and Training (CNET). On-site traintfj, provided by departments of nava (l- ence, performing on a basis sim* that of a Naval Reserve Officer Tra' ^ Corps (NROTC) unit. In addition % struction responsibilities, these d®P^ ments also serve as a liaison be -{j. CNET and the individual academy. When a cadet is ready to gradual^ naval science departments will ,£. commissions in the MMR/USNR 1 >r lected cadets and then process the p work necessary to carry it out. sjgi1
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Merchant w Pro8ram. Specifically, the serve r Manne Indiv'dual Ready Re- handie°thUp (CNAVRES Code 325) will quirem 6 tra'n'ng and active duty re-
SeMS °f the officer.
°n at leneW reserve °ff'cer now embarks Navy u? a s‘x_year partnership with the Weeks f*S resPonsibilities include two his me!' , active duty Per year, sailing on out of q ant ''censc at least four months and suh'6^ C°nSeCUtive two-year period, filing mitt'n8 an annual report on his ?Tam ;,HCtlVit'eS t0 the CNAVRES pro- f°r at i min'strator. Active duty service offiCe fast three years wil1 also fulfill an bas theS °. §at*on. 'n addition, a cadet si°n jn°P,tlon °f applying for a commis- PorCec°ast Guard, Army, Air vice, 0r ,arine Cotps, U. S. Health Ser- National Oceanographic and ThPw}C Administration (NOAA). ontin„:_^^'"^NR program provides a
C°ntinuin " program pruviues a
chant M ®.source °f well-qualified Mer- Pr°fessi anne officers whose naval and gram ^ development within the pro-
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Mercha .3 reserve pool of experienced called ,n Marine officers who can be Ita uPon when needed.
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Oierch- snon notice, an increase c°tnroi u.u1 ^iPP'ng under the Navy’s "vine
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8r0Winl W^’.cpl brings us to the topic of rtl°ving Pa'ns' While this program is s°lid n...Us 'n the right direction toward a 'here lona' defense, it is still evolving. rr*tscon^re .'oopholes, weak links, and \^anCeptions-
aCademi ° Ple yoong people entering the r?'atioiu.tl ^?ve ''die or no idea of the title:
.dtf'lj lucat1" lining!', vai 5 , ni<; fraif^
thi
nship between the Merchant Ma-
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, * ^lvvccn me iviercnani ivia- 'eir uce Navy. They are eager to earn nse> get big bucks with a union
contract, and see the world. The mere mention of a commission in the armed forces paralyzes many of them with fear, doubt, and mistrust. They imagine that they will end up saluting and swabbing rather than sailing their licenses.
The naval science departments are striving to erase these misconceptions. Cadets receive briefings and lectures about the program throughout their four years. However, the commission does not seem to be high on the priority list for most cadets, and they pay little attention to it before their senior year when the decision must be made. At most of the academies, only those cadets receiving a monetary subsidy from MarAd are required to take the commission.
Another fear keeping potential volunteers away is the state of the maritime industry. Many balk at signing up for a six-year obligation of having to sail their license and work in an industry which has little work to offer. They fear the consequences of not being able to meet their obligations even after an honest effort to do so.
CNAVRES has done much to ease these fears. They conditionally accept sailing time on foreign-flag ships in addition to U. S.-flag ships. They also will grant waivers of the sailing time requirement if positive proof of attempts to gain employment are produced. In addition, shore-side maritime jobs in certain categories are acceptable.
Despite the increased efforts to better inform cadets and Merchant Marine officers of the benefits of the MMR/USNR program and increased flexibility in administering the program, problems still exist. Many reserve officers in the program do not comply with the requirements for one reason or another.
During the past year, CNAVRES updated and cleared its files of the deadweight, and several thousand non-com- pliants were given early honorable discharges. The Navy basically would find little benefit in enforcing the require-
ments. The time, money, and effort expended in tracking down all of the wayward mariners could hardly be justified. First of all, the Navy expended a relatively small amount of money in acquiring these officers. Any subsidies paid them were provided by MarAd, not the Navy. By their non-compliance, they did not cost anything for training and active duty. The basic costs incurred are from entrance physicals and from the paperwork processing.
Second, forcing them into active duty would be counterproductive. The Navy has plenty of fine young people to choose from to fill their officer ranks, and forcing uninterested, unmotivated merchant officers into active duty would achieve little. Allowing someone with obligations to slip away scot-free may be a bitter pill to swallow for some, but common sense dictates it because of the situation.
Those involved with the MMR/USNR program can be proud of their efforts. The need is there, the basic program is in place, and it continues to move toward increased quality and efficiency. No one can deny the importance of a strong Merchant Marine. No one can deny the need for a mutually supportive relationship between the Navy and the Merchant Marine, and no one can deny the need for a strong reserve of qualified, experienced mariners.
The Merchant Marine Reserve/U. S. Naval Reserve program will continue to grow and improve. It has many fine young officers serving in its ranks, and many more will come aboard in the future. This can only bode well for the maritime industry, the Navy, and the United States.
Lieutenant Katcher was graduated from the U. S Naval Academy. He served in the USS Preble (DDG-46). He is currently the officer in charge of the Department of Naval Science at the Texas Maritime Academy, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Texas, and is working on his graduate degree at the School of Management and Business, University of Houston.
^ Warfare CO-OPeration
,yCon
mander R. Bell, U. S. Coast Guard, and Commander R. Abel, U. S. Naval Reserve
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Jc'al Navy wdh 88 augmenting C°st-effec!nesweeP'ng craft possible? Is it ,llese ui,"‘!VC' bhe surprising answer to yes—and it could hap-
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equipment costs is the craft of opportunity program (COOP). This program will use requisitioned commercial fishing vessels equipped to conduct trawler minesweeping and minehunting operations from 22 U. S. ports in wartime. In peacetime, the Naval Reservists, who will man the COOP, will operate from 22 trainers preparing for mine countermeasure (MCM) operations and performing route
surveys in their port locations.
The COOP concept, or a variation of it, has been employed quite successfully in the past. During World War II, the British employed more than 700 civilian craft for minesweeping and the United States more than 200. More recently, during the Falklands Conflict, the British used ships taken up from trade (STUFT) to perform minesweeping.
ertie “ today is productivity en- an : nt' One vehicle through which
can
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lncreasi
'cantly
°c<*d
•tgs /
;e our effectiveness without increasing personnel or
October 1984
147