Surface Warfare Officer training
By adopting International Maritime Organization and Coast Guard training standards and curriculum followed by merchant mariners, the Navy could ensure its surface warfare officers have the navigation and seamanship knowledge they need to operate safely and effectively.
Shutterstock (Denys Yelmanov)

Surface Warfare Should Adopt Commercial Training Standards

By Lieutenant Commander Joseph Schwartzstein, U.S. Navy Reserve
March 2020
Proceedings
Comments

The surface warfare community is suffering from an insufficient knowledge base in seamanship, shiphandling, and navigation. To move forward, the Navy needs to revamp its training regime. One way to do that is to align training with International Maritime Organization (IMO)/U.S. Coast Guard training and certifications for merchant mariners. Coast Guard/IMO–approved officer in charge of a navigational watch and management-level training would give surface warfare officers the fundamentals in navigation and seamanship they need to run a ship more effectively.

Premium Member-Only Content

Don't miss out. Become a member of the Naval Institute today.

Join Today
Surface Warfare Officer training

Joseph Schwartzstein

Lieutenant Commander Schwartzstein serves in the Naval Reserve Strategic Sealift Officer Program and is a member of the Harbor Pilot Detachment. Currently a Maryland pilot, he spent four years on active duty in the Army as a warrant officer sailing on Army watercraft and sailed for ten years in the Merchant Marine as both chief mate and first assistant engineer. He currently holds a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariners Credential as Master Any Gross Tons Oceans, First Assistant Engineer of Steam, Motor and Gas Turbine Vessels Any Horsepower, and a First Class Pilot’s License for the Chesapeake Bay, C&D Canal, and Potomac River and its tributaries. A 1996 dual license graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he holds a bachelor of science in marine transportation and marine engineering and a master of science in marine transportation and engineering management from California State University Maritime Academy.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Related Articles

Merchant mariners whose ships would carry defense cargoes during a contingency must have the training to operate in a contested environment.

Bring Back the National Sealift Training Program

By Captain Joseph Schwartzstein, U.S. Merchant Marine, and Commander Christopher Anderson, U.S. Navy (Retired)
July 2020
Today’s mariners must have the tools to keep the ever-decreasing number of sealift vessels afloat and continue the flow of logistics when called on.
LTJG Lindsey Westfall looks through binoculars on the bridge aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) as the ship pulls into Salalah, Oman.

Recent Improvements to SWO Training Are Not Enough

By Midshipman Paul Kenney, U.S. Navy
February 2019
Many improvements have been made to surface warfare officer training since the tragic 2017 ship collisions, but they haven't gone far enough, especially for prospective surface warfare officers who are ...

Quicklinks