My impression of the navy is that they live on boats out to sea for months at a time and then get like 3 weeks ashore before repeating. So do sailors just not have a land life? Is nobody in the navy allowed to own pets? Where does your mail go? What about a family life?
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Some sailors have families and live in either base housing or in houses off post. Not all sailors are attached to ships, either.
Depends on the ship, and who they’re sailing with. Different Navies have different schedules, but generally your assumed timeline is incorrect. It sounds more like you’re thinking of port calls, which are stopping in foreign ports for a few days for foreign relations, or taking on supplies.
The US Navy will deploy ships for 6-12 months, but then be in port for about a year or two. Ships need repairs and upkeep after being out at sea. It’s part of why the numbers of ships make sense if the goal is to keep a continuous presence. There are also shore tours where they just work on land doing jobs like instructor or maintenance. There’s also time spent learning other skills on shore.
Merchant sailors probably actually have more time out at sea due to their economic incentive to stay working so they can continue being paid.
So yes, they own houses, pets, and have families. Mail is just like anyone else who travels and moves around a lot. Some of it can be sent to the ship, some just sent to parents houses or some other permanent mailing address. Actually owning the same house for a long period of time is less common since the military moves people around a lot, but they can just sell the old one and buy a new one where they go.
18 USC is giving you the correct answer. For example, I spent 4 years attached to an aircraft carrier. My first year I was at sea for 276 days, but I spent the rest of the three remaining years mostly in port. When I’m done with my current ship I’ll have done about a year at sea total, spread out over hree years.
When not attached to a ship, it’s like working a normal job mostly. My sea duty/shore duty rotation is 3 years sea duty/4 years shore duty.
14 year Air Force vet here. Serious follow up question: So, usually younger, first term enlisted are mandated to live in on base dormitories in the Army and Air Force. Do younger Navy enlisted still live on the ship when it is in port (sorry for the terminology), in other words, is the ship used as a, “barracks,” when tied to the dock? Or, do they then reside in dormitories that are on land at Bremerton, Norfolk, San Diego, etc when not at sea?
Former Navy sailor. My first two years were spent on land (boot – primary training – specialized training) living in barracks.
Once junior sailors reach the fleet they generally live on board their ships, unless their job is shore based where they’ll live in on-base barracks. Exceptions can be made for these junior sailors if they’re already married or have dependants, then they can receive a housing allowance and live off-base.
A single sailor w/o dependants of certain rank/years of service and isn’t a dirtbag, they can then be eligible for a housing allowance to live off-base as well. It should be noted that most states with a military presence have laws in which apartment owners have to cut the lease (w/o penalties) if a service member is being deployed, this generally is for single service members as well.
If a sailor lives off base, their life is essentially like everyone else’s. Family, pets, free time, etc. Unless, they’re called in or have to stand duty. When a ship is not deployed, sailors generally hold normal-esque working hours. When you’re off you’re off, regardless if you live on board, on base, or off base.
As for mail, every ship has it’s own mailing address, every building on base has it’s own mailing address, if you live off base you also have that address. When I was stationed on a aircraft carrier, there’s enough people (~5000) we essentially had our own functioning US post office on board, operated by sailors of course.
Depends on the ship.
I was on maritime college for a while and most ships did two months on one month off, and in some higher cases. Two weeks on two weeks off.
So yeah you’d definitely still own a home.
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