I don’t get it, are they the military or are they not? Aren’t the ships privately owned? Can you not be a ship captain without going to the Merchant Marine Academy?
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They’re not military, they crew civilian ships, some owned by the government. However since they were taking fire during wartime, they were granted veterans’ status. Any weapons aboard the ships during WW1 and WW2 were the responsibility of Navy sailors assigned to crew weapons (the Naval Armed Guard).
There are several paths to becoming a licensed merchant mariner (third mate) and working up the officer ranks to captain. One does involve the US Merchant Marine Academy and another involves the state maritime academies (there’s like 6 of them).
You can absolutely become a merchant marine. Check out Seafarers International Union.
It is basically Job Corp.
Mariners are contractors for public and government sailing jobs.
A Hawsepiper is someone who works his way up from the bottom to the top.
Demanding work. Good money
It’s just the term for people who work on a nation’s merchant ships.
Because of the need for these same people to man military support and transport ships, the role of sea transport in wartime, and the cultural legacy of WW2 it takes on a very military character in the US.
But you can get your license with little ceremony from community college and go work on a more blue-collar kind of ship like a Great Lakes freighter or a tugboat or a domestic tanker or in offshore oil or wind industry and never give that stuff a thought.
Think of it basically that commercial ships registered with the United States as their home are part of the United States Merchant Marine, as well as United States citizens who work on board ships.
Theoretically, they can be mobilized to move cargo for the Navy, but that hasn’t happened in a long enough time that everyone who was involved is either retired or dead. It’s also not realistic. Because of a few factors such as the Jones Act (which also is responsible for a large portion of the high cost of living in Alaska, Hawaii, and the territories), there aren’t many US-flagged ships anymore. Most either are owned by the Navy (see MSC below) or are for territorial waters, Great Lakes, or Gulf of Mexico. There are not as many Americans who work on board ships as there used to be, as well, since international shipping loves to hire Filipinos.
There is the Military Sealift Command. This is a fleet of Jones Act-compliant civilian-crewed ships that the Navy owns. These aren’t warships. Often, the only uniformed military person on board is a Navy supply officer with a government credit card who’s there to buy stuff that the ship will bring to an aircraft carrier or something like this.
In order to be a ship’s officer, you need a license and you need to start as a third mate or third assistant engineer before working your way up with experience and further qualifications to first mate/first assistant engineer and then to captain (or sometimes called master) or chief engineer. Deck officers and engine officers have totally separate career tracks. The typical way to become an officer is through an academy: the federal government operates the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and there are a few state ones, three part of the Texas A&M, State University of New York, California State University systems, as well as independent ones (still state schools) in Michigan, Maine, and Massachusetts. At these schools, you spend a few years getting the sea training, practical training, and classroom training to be either a mate or an officer, mixed in with coursework leading to a bachelor’s degree. Some of them have programs for people who already have a bachelor’s degree. If the Navy pays for your degree (everyone at the Merchant Marine Academy, some people at the others), you’re expected to spend five years working at MSC or a few other places, as well as five years on the Navy Reserve. The Merchant Marine Academy also gives the option of commissioning active-duty military equivalent to one of the big academies like West Point, usually commissioning into the Navy but they commission a few guys into other services every year as well.
Generally, approximately one third of the Merchant Marine Academy goes into shipping after they graduate, one third goes into active-duty military, and one third works shoreside as engineers at shipyards, defense contractors, and other things that the Navy considers acceptable shoreside jobs to fulfill the obligation from the Navy paying your degree. One niche career field that has a lot of USMMA guys is admiralty law: people go to law school, graduate, and work specifically in the law pertaining to ships and cargo.
It’s possible to become a ship’s officer without going to an academy, but the classroom requirements are more than they used to be and the degree from an academy (usually something like logistics or supply chain management, often called “maritime transportation,” for deck officers, something like engineering or engineering technology for engine officers) can open a lot of doors shoreside that you couldn’t get without a degree, so an academy is generally the best option for most people.
They’re civilian not military, but they’re governed and operated under a military structure overseen by the Coast Guard. The Officer command and Enlisted ratings on a merchant marine ship basically translate 1:1 so in times of war the Merchant Marine can be quickly pulled in as an Auxiliary of the Navy.
e.g. the merchant marine delivered large amounts of cargo and fuel during both Iraq wars.
The merchant marine is governed by the US department of transportation’s MARAD division. They license and monitor all US flagged cargo vessels. It’s not a part of the military in any way, and is not controlled by the department of defense. However, the federal government can commandeer any and all vessels needed during a time of war. More details here: https://www.maritime.dot.gov/about-us
Just think of the ‘The Merchant Marine’ as a fancy word for ‘The Shipping Industry’.
All the trucks in America taken as a whole is the trucking industry. There isn’t a command structure, no one is the General of all American trucks, there are bid trucking companies and little trucking companies. People who work in the trucking industry are called truckers, and they need a license to operate their trucks on the roads. Many trucking companies have contracts with the government for various things, including subsidies and other programs.
All the cargo ships in America taken as a whole is the Merchant Marine. There isn’t a command structure, no one is the Admiral of the Merchant Marine, it’s not one organization. There are big shipping companies and little shipping companies. People who work in the Merchant Marine area called Mariners (NOT Marines). They need a license (issued by the Coast Guard) to operate their ships. Many shipping companies have contracts with the government for various things, including subsidies, cargo preference, and other programs.
The Merchant Marine Academy is paid for by the federal government, and was established during WWII to train a workforce for the war effort, it still exists to support the military industrial complex. You can be a ship captain without going there. You can go to many other schools with a licensing program (SUNY, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Maine Maritime Academy, California Maritime Academy, Texas A&M and others) or sail in an unlicensed position and work your way up.
TLDR: STOP CALLING PEOPLE WHO WORK IN THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY MARINES. They are called Mariners, like the Seattle baseball team.
Just to add on – they’re not military, but the USN does have the Military Sealift Command (MSC), mostly support, research, and supply ships, that are crewed by civilian mariners. The CIVMARS are US government employees but are not in the military (though a lot of them are former Navy). The Navy also has a cadre of officers who are licensed merchant mariners, called Strategic Sealift Officers.
The US merchant fleet – ships that are actually registered in the US – is astonishingly small. US regulations require a lot of safety and inspection rules to be followed that other countries don’t, and by law the majority of the crew (I forget the percentage but it’s basically all) have to be US citizens. Other countries don’t care so much, so the countries with the biggest merchant fleets, at least on paper, are places like Liberia, Panama, and the Bahamas.
Someone once explained the Merchant Marine *world* to me like this:
The Earth is 70% covered in oceans; and more than 95% of that are considered “international waters.” What that really means is that no nation/sovernty holds jurisdiction over those areas. They are the last “uncivilized” places on the planet.
Since we are a global comunity, businesses need commerce to travel across these lawless expanses. And just like settlers expanding away from their home, that means not only do they need to know how to do their jobs to support their team (sic. crew), they need to know how to protect themselves and take care of themselves. When something bad happens, *there likely won’t be any emergency help available.* So unlike in a typical business, they all need to learn how to keep the ship alive no matter what. Otherwise they’ll all die, and no individual wants that for themselves, really.
Most boats & ships are insured; there are several famous ones all around the world. And the policies are quite lucrative: Sailors often live sending their earnings back to their families. If no one’s on a boat earning, the family starves. So historically, the payouts when there is an accident is quite substantial. Because of that, these insurers ***need*** to know that every meaningful precaution is taken. Is the boat in safe conditions to operate? Are they operating in hostile waters? If there is an incident, what is the crew’s capability to mitigate? What is the captain’s ability to manage a crew in a crisis? The list goes on…
Generally speaking, ***YES***, you can become a captain of a merchant marine vessel without going to school. And the proof is that this is how most pirates operate! They know they’re doing illegal things, so they want to keep away from prying eyes as much as possible. So, kidnapping victims may find themselves “learning on the job” in the middle of the ocean. Some folks “fall into it”. And others desparate enough to become a pirate find their way to sign up and learn as they go.
But the difference between those sort of sailors and ones with schooling is the difference between a mafia enforcer versus someone working for Blackwater Security. You get access to better training from schooling, better equipment & tools, and a community that is well-supported by their home nations.
*Source*: I used to be a surface-to-surface warfare subject matter expert for the U.S. Navy. You can’t learn how to protect your forces if you don’t know who all is in the field and how they operate.
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