Talk:United States Merchant Marine/Archive 1

message: This archive was created as per Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page.  With the exception of grouping some comments together and making slight modifications to section headers, I believe it's a faithful representation of the state of the prior talk page. Haus42 13:35, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: This archive

message: I learned a bit about the US Merchant Marine writing this article. I discovered that a Merchant Marine is a member of the US Merchant Marine and that the term Merchant Marine is frequently and incorrectly used to identify both the organization and a member (or worker) of said organization. Also, it's Merchant Marine not Merchant marine. vudu 08:04, 29 Aug 2003 (UTC)
thread_title:  Initial comments 

message: So far I have been the primary author of the Life at Sea section. Little by little, based upon feedback, I have upgraded the content from what originally was described as "docu-drama." Subsequent re-writes still earned me a Wikipedia "Tone" template warning that the tone was not appropriate for an encylopedia. But I am making progress! Now the latest comments merely reference the text as "overly sympathetic." At least no one disputes the facts as I write them. Life at sea: Isolated? Check. Occupational hazards? Check. Bemoaning? I don't think so.
My own critque is that the Life at Sea text narrative is weighted towards the difficulties of life at sea. So far the account does not include much about the upside of living a life at sea, such as travel, nature, teamwork, adventure, and more. Rakasta1, or others, care to join in to add balance to the text?
Fishdecoy 00:54, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree. Oldfarm 18:48, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Life at sea is no breeze. Pesco and Oldfarm, how about joining me as content editors for Life at Sea? For instance, storms at sea is a valid topic but the text is lacking informational content. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics for the year 2001 lists more than 200 sinkings in waters around the world (apparently U.S. flagged vessels). Another database notes the cause of sinkings and minutes or hours till sinking from the casualty.Marine Statistics
Fishdecoy 01:02, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Are there any editors interested in contributing content related to job/careers for U.S. mariners? For instance, the Jones Act is a major factor, as is the Department of Defense's Military Sealift Command's employment of civilian mariners, which has helped compensate for the scarcity of traditional seafaring jobs in recent decades as the size of the U.S. merchant fleet has declined.[User:Fishdecoy|Fishdecoy]] 16:21, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Looks good but I have a few comments.  1) What you wrote above is more of an employment conditions section rathe than life at sea section.  While the currenlty written section is overly sympathetic, it does have some interesting information in it. 2) rather than completely replace that section, you may want to think of removing the employment items into an employment section that has what you wrote  3) licensing deserves its own section or a subsection under employment conditions.  Currently it is also the second paragraph of the "Operations" section.  Maybe you can merge what you wrote about licensing with the information in that paragraph and create a new section out of it. --- Skapur 14:42, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

text: Since this section was general in nature, i.e. it refers as much to a Filipino sailor as it does an American, I think it should be in the article that comes up when someone types "Merchant Marine" or "Merchant Navy" in the search box.  That said, I popped it into the Merchant Marine page.  Please feel free to revert if you disagree.  Haus42 05:02, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Life at Sea section 

message: The service should never be referred to as the Merchant Marine"s".
I'm not sure what it typo and what id ment to be said, but it doesn't really stand alone very well.  Perhaps if it is cleaned up and explained it can go back in. Carptrash 14:37, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  I just moved this from the article 

message: There is a missing person from the list of Noted U.S. Merchant Mariners: Paul Teutul, Sr., who is the well-known host of American Chopper. He is cited as being a merchant marine in the POW/MIA Bike episodes, mentioning it in passing during one of the episodes. Jaerune 09:17, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Good catch, I added him. Haus42 13:32, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Paul Teutul

message: The article begins The United States Merchant Marine comprise the merchant ships that are used to transport ... ".  But there is nothing in the about the number of ships that are in the program today (or, for that matter, any sense of the history of the service since WWII).  Are there still ANY U.S.-flagged merchant ships?  Heavily subsidized?  Cost?  And why no mention of the National Defense Reserve Fleet?  John Broughton  |  Talk 01:07, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Depending on how you count, there are a couple of hundred private Jones Act vessels and government owned Sealift Fleet.  Cargo that moves from American port A to American port B (think Alaska, Hawaii, for example) has to go on an American-flagged ship. Haus42 05:07, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

text: I added a section titled "Today's Fleet" with some fleet statistics and subsections on NDRF and MSC.  I think there should be a subsection on private owners/operators but haven't found the statistics yet. Haus42 17:29, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Current Merchant Marine?