Display of maritime traffic provided by AIS. Only vessels equipped with AIS are displayed, which excludes most fishing boats, pleasure craft, inland navigation and vessels less than 300 tons. Location: Dover Straits/English Channel. Author: fr:User:Pline

The March 2020 issue of US Naval Institute Proceedings magazine has an article suggesting that,

“…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.”

Interestingly the article talks about Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy (RAN), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps, and U.S. Army mariner training, but it doesn’t discuss U.S. Coast Guard officer training, even though it does discuss NOAA 19-week Basic Officer Training Class (BOTC) at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

I have been away too long to speak knowledgably about our current deck officer training. I’m pretty sure it has become more formalized since my own experience. Hopefully we meet the standards we expect of other mariners.