Evening star., 1946-02-24
Merchant Marine Cadet
Training Aid to Defense
New Four.Yea Course to Provide Young, Well
Qualified Officers and Pool of Reserves
for Wartime Navy
BY William J. Wheafley.

time nation of the world is to be placed
in the hands of an efficient corps of
young merchant marine officers, trained
by the Government to carry the Ma
tons foreign commerce in American
flag bottoms over the sea lanes of the
world.
The United States Merchant Marine
Cadet Corps, under the pressure of war,
already has turned out, under forced
draft system, 7,083 officers, as of June,
1945, and plans have been formulated
by the War Shipping Administration
for continuing the schools to insure that
the merchant ships shall have a con-
tinuous supply of well-trained young
men, who like the sea. The program
now calls for full four-year course for
the students fortunate enough to be
selected for the training, which in the
future will culninate in the award of
degrees of bachelor of science.
Upon graduation, these young men
will be comparable to graduates of the
service academies, and they will provide
the Nation with well-trained reservoir
OF officers for service in the Navy in time
OF war. For, in addition to the instruc-
tion they will receive in the operation of
merchant ships while at sea, as we'll as
the method of handling the business af-
fairs of seaborne commerce, they re-
ceive training and instruction in naval
science and tactics. Upon completion
OF the course they receive their licenses
as deck or engineering officers as well as
commission in the Naval Reserve. AS
a matter of fact, unless the candidates
for appointment agree to accept COM
missions in the Naval Reserve, they are
not selected to take the course
Officers Formerly From Ranks.
1n>the past, the merchant marine has
received its officer personnel largely
from the ranks, man being permitted
to take his tests for officer papers after
serving three years at sea. They went
either on deck or in the engineroom
depending upon where their practical
training had been, and for the most
part of the deck and engineroom groups
on ship were separate entities, often
not understanding the problems of the
other, and caring less There was one
other source of officer supply, the State
nautical schools, which usually had a
tWo-year course for young residents
of the particular States which main
tained these schools, with some assist
ance from the Federal Government.
Some few students were admitted at
very high cost from outside the State
concerned.
But the United States Merchant Ma
rine Cadet Corps is open to all young
men, desiring to follow the sea as a
career, who have Is high school credits
and who can win in the competitive ex-
animation and Naval Reserve physical
examination. They are selected, with
in the quota of vacancies each year at
the Junior cadet schools, strictly on the
basis of the results of these competitive
tests. However, during the war, thou
sands OF young men were appointed
without competitive examination, be-
cause Of the service needs, if they had
high school diploma.
Under the system now being formu-
lated those who will be required to take
the full four-year course will be allowed
to select the type of duty in which they
would perfer to serve, that is, either in
the engineroom or on deck However,
in order to familiarize themselves with
all the problems each group must take
some work in the field of the other;
that is, the men selecting engineering,
will be required to take course in navi-
cation, loading, ship handling, ETC., and
the deck men will take period of en-
gineering, so that when they come out
they will have a more rounded out sea
education than has been provided mer-
chant marine officers in the past.
Two Preliminary Schools.
The education of these young men is
divided Tito three phases, under the
system which now is being placed in
effect. Upon appointment, they will be
assigned to the cadet schools, of which
there are two, one at Pass Christian,
Miss, about rs miles east of New Or
leans, on the Gulf Coast, and the other
at San Mateo, Calf. Here, the fresh
men or fourth classmen spend from
September to June, getting their basic
training and indoctrination. Upon COM
pleton OF this phase, they are sent to
sea for one year upon the most modern
ships available, after which they 90
to the academy which is located at
Kings Point, N. Y, at the western end
of Long Island Sound, as second and
first classmen.
During their tour of duty at sea.
these young men get all the privileges
OF officers, and have private quarters in
the officers section aboard ship. They
are under the constant surveillance of
the ships officers and perform the duties
IN the parts OF the ships which they
have selected for their ultimate sea
careers. However, during this period of
sea duty they are required to follow
rigid course of study, and their work is
checked by educational inspectors who
board the ship each time it touches a
United States port.
They are transferred several times
during this year of sea duty, in order
to familiarize them with the various
types Of ships, and the gear on them.
This is particularly important for the
engineering men, who learn the practi-
cal operation of the various types of
propulsion and auxiliary machinery,
such as steam, high and low pressure;
steam turbine and electric drive, as well
as Diesel.
Ship Operation Intricate.
Like the ships of the Navy. the ships