Don't mean to hijack the post, but does anybody know how or if they take into account time spent on watch as either Conning Officer and or OOD on Navy ships? Thanks.
Not sure if this has changed since I did it back in the last century....
You need a Transcript of Sea Service. I got mine from BUPERS back in 1989. It will list on an official form all the periods you were assigned to sea duty. You submit that with an explanation of what your duties were on each vessel (I submitted copies of redacted Fitness Reports), as part of your application for a Merchant Marine License. It will be reviewed at the Regional Examination Center and you will be notified how many days they will credit you with (it is a percentage of time assigned to the vessel), and what license(s) you are eligible to sit for.
Again, not sure how the rules may have changed. If you graduated from either the Merchant Marine Academy, or the Naval Academy, you are eligible to sit for a License as Third Mate - simply based on graduation. If you went to a real school (as I did - North Carolina State University), then you need THREE YEARS (1080 days) to sit for Third Mate. Each subsequent upgrade requires an additional 360 days credit.
I never had an OUPV - started with an Inspected License as Operator of Small Passenger Vessels, Auxiliary Sail, in 1985. I needed 540 days credit to get that license, based on my own vessel experience. In 1989, I submitted my Transcript of Sea Service and all the supporting paperwork. I was given credit for 2,080 days watchstanding on U.S. Navy ships (yes, I spent a LOT of time at sea) - just 80 days short of an original Unlimited Master's License. I sat for Chief Mate, Oceans, Unlimited (four days of exams), and a month later sat for Master, Oceans, 1600-Tons.
Good luck to you, and to cbdaddy as he starts his OUPV studies.
Brian
Master, Oceans, Steam, Motor or Sail, 1600-Tons
Chief Mate, Oceans, Unlimited Tonnage.
Radar Observer