Qualifying Sea service time as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States

[MarinersSchool]

Sea service as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States will be accepted as qualifying experience for an original, raise of grade, or increase in scope of all licenses. In most cases, military sea service will have been performed upon ocean waters; however, inland service, as may be the case on smaller vessels, will be credited in the same manner as conventional evaluations. Normally, 60 percent of the total time on board is considered equivalent underway service; however, the periods of operation of each vessel may be evaluated separately.
__________________
Captain Bob Figular
President, Mariners School

 

[MarinersSchool]

Service in deck ratings on military vessels such as seaman apprentice, seaman, boatswain's mate, quartermaster, or radarman are considered deck service for licensing purposes.

Service in other ratings may be considered if the applicant establishes that his or her duties required a watch standing presence on or about the bridge of a vessel. Service in engineer ratings on military vessels such as fireman apprentice, fireman, engineman, machinists, mate, machinery technician or boiler tender are considered engineer service for licensing purposes. There are also other ratings such as electrician, hull technician, or damage controlman which may be credited when the applicant establishes that his or her duties required watch standing duties in an operating engine room.
__________________
Captain Bob Figular
President, Mariners School

 

[MarinersSchool]

In addition to underway service, members of the Armed Forces may obtain creditable service for periods of assignment to vessels at times other than underway, such as in port, at anchor, or in training. Normally, a 25% factor is applied to these time periods. This experience can be equated with general shipboard familiarity, training, ship's business, and other related duties.
__________________
Captain Bob Figular
President, Mariners School

 

[MarinersSchool]

Sea service obtained on submarines is creditable, as if it were surface vessel service, for deck and engineer licenses. For application to deck licenses, submarine service may be creditable if at least 25 percent of all service submitted for the license was obtained on surface vessels (e.g. If four years' total service were submitted for an original license, at least one year must have been obtained on surface craft in order for the submarine service to be eligible for evaluation).
__________________
Captain Bob Figular
President, Mariners School

 

[MarinersSchool]

Service gained in a civilian capacity as commanding officer, master, mate, engineer, or pilot, etc., of any vessel owned and operated by the United States, in any service, in which a license as master, mate, engineer, or pilot was not required at the time of such service, is evaluated by the OCMI and forwarded to the Commandant for a determination of equivalence.
__________________
Captain Bob Figular
President, Mariners School

 

[MarinersSchool]

The applicant must submit an official transcript of sea service as verification of the service claimed when the application is submitted.

The applicant form can be found at MarinersLearningSystem.com by going to the Assist Me tab select the USCG Policies and Guidelines Link and open Military Sea Service PDF file. You can download and print this file
__________________
Captain Bob Figular
President, Mariners School

 

[airbornediver1]

So 4 years sea service in the Navy may count? I got out of the Navy 16 years ago. Can any of that time possibly still count?

 

[rjack321]

So 4 years sea service in the Navy may count? I got out of the Navy 16 years ago. Can any of that time possibly still count?

Yes for initial issuance there's no expiry date on sea time. The bulk of mine was about 10yrs old when I got my first license. I would suggest that at least some of your sea time be within the past year - not sure if that's a requirement or not but it looks better and it helps with discretionary judgements on the part of the examiner.

 

[MarinersSchool]

The Coast Guard will require that 90 days of your Sea Service time be done within the past three years... The Coast Guard calls this recency.

 

[deepwater]

I submitted the request transcript of sea service verification when I first retired and it took almost a year to get it back.