United States Merchant Marine
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The United States Merchant Marine is a fleet of ships that is used to transport both imports and exports during peace time and serves as an auxiliary to the United States Navy during times of war, delivering both troops and supplies. The merchant marine is civilian (except in times of war, when they are considered military personnel) governed under the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. A merchant mariner is a seafarer or mariner in the United States Merchant Marine.
The United States Merchant Marine's first role in war took place in 1775 when a group of Maine mariners boarded an unarmed schooner and captured the British warship HMS Margaretta. The Continental Congress and the various colonies issued Letters of Marque to privately owned, armed merchant ships known as privateers, which were outfitted as warships to prey on enemy merchant ships. They interrupted the British supply chain all along the eastern seaboard of the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean and the Merchant Marine's role in war began. This predates both the United States Coast Guard (1790) and the United States Navy (1797).
Since the First World War and World War II, many Merchant Marine officers have also held commissions in the United States Naval Reserve. Graduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy are commissioned into the USNR by default if they do not choose to be commissioned in another service of the armed forces. A special badge, known as the Naval Reserve Merchant Marine Badge, has existed since the early 1940s to recognize such Merchant Marine personnel who are called to active duty in the Navy.
Merchant marine officers are usually trained at a maritime academy. These include the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York and six state maritime academies: Maine Maritime Academy in Castine; Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzard's Bay; State University of New York Maritime College in the Bronx, Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston, California Maritime Academy in Vallejo and the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, Michigan. It is becoming increasingly difficult for unlicensed mariners to become "hawsepipers" and earn their merchant marine license due to increased requirements for formal training. To do so, a mariner must have sufficient sea time in a qualified rating and complete specified testing and training, such as that required by STCW.
Famous members of the U.S. Merchant Marine have included Jim Thorpe, Raymond Bailey, James Garner, Clint Walker and Woody Guthrie.
The American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial in San Pedro, California, honors merchant mariners who have died in service of their country. The Navy-Marine Memorial in Washington, D.C. honors those who died during World War I.
The personnel of the Merchant Marine are men and women with the United States Coast Guard licenses of: Master, Chief Mate, Second Mate, and Third Mate in the deck department, and the Chief Engineer, First Assistant, Second Assistant, and Third Assistant Engineers in the engineering department. Other crewmembers may have certification as a Boatswain, Able Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, Oiler, Wiper, Tankerman, Motorman, Machinist, Electrician, or Refrigeration Engineer. All are employed by the carrier or ship operator, as employees of the transportation or utility company ashore.