United States Merchant Marine Academy

About the United States Merchant Marine Academy

A glimpse at a map of the United States shows us that we are a maritime nation. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean; to the west, the Pacific; off our southern border, the Gulf of Mexico; in the north, the Great Lakes; and crisscrossing our states, great rivers like the Mississippi and other inland waterways.

Every hour of every day, ships of all types ply the waters in and around our nation. They leave our ports laden with U.S. goods bound for foreign markets, or arrive in our harbors with merchandise and materials for American consumers.

There are tankers traveling along the west coast with raw petroleum for our refineries; Great Lakes vessels loaded with iron ore, coal or other minerals for America's industry; huge containerships in Eastern ports, their box-like containers filled with manufactured goods; general cargo ships in the Gulf unloading pallets of coffee and crates of fruit; tugboats pushing and pulling barges carrying the Midwest's grain.

These kinds of vessels, owned by U.S. companies, registered and operated under the American flag, comprise the U.S. merchant marine. This fleet of highly productive ships is a major part of our system of commerce, helping guarantee our access to foreign markets for sale of our manufactured goods.

Moreover, in time of war or national emergency, the U.S. merchant marine becomes vital to national security as a "fourth arm of defense." Our merchant ships bear the brunt of delivering military supplies overseas to our forces and allies. The stark lessons of twentieth century conflict prove that a strong merchant marine is an essential part of American seapower.

The nation's economic and security needs met by the U.S. merchant marine are compelling. Today, the United States imports approximately 85 percent of some 77 strategic commodities critical to America's industry and defense. Although we, as a nation, account for only six percent of the world population, we purchase nearly a third of the world's output of raw materials. Ninetynine percent of these materials are transported by merchant vessels.

A ship at sea does not operate in a vacuum. It depends on a framework of shoreside activities for its operations. This industry includes companies which own and manage the vessels; ports and terminals where cargo is handled; yards for ship repair; services like marine insurance underwriters, ship chartering firms, admiralty lawyers, engineering and research companies; and increasingly today, intermodal systems of trucks and railroads to distribute goods around the country.

But the most important element in a productive merchant fleet and a strong transportation industry is people - men and women who are intelligent, dedicated, well-educated and competent.

The purpose of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is to ensure that such people are available to the nation as shipboard officers and as leaders in the transportation field who will meet the challenges of the present and the future.

The Academy represents Federal involvement in maritime training that is more than a century old. Since the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, the U.S. Government has initiated various programs to train its citizens for service in the merchant marine. The United States Merchant Marine Academy, dedicated in 1943, represents the realization of these efforts.

Between 1874 and 1936, diverse Federal legislation supported maritime training through schoolships, internships at sea and other methods. A disastrous fire in 1934 aboard the passenger ship MORRO CASTLE, in which 134 lives were lost, convinced the U.S. Congress that direct Federal involvement in efficient and standardized training was needed.

Congress passed the landmark Merchant Marine Act in 1936, and two years later, the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps was established. The first training was given at temporary facilities until the Academy's permanent site in Kings Point, N. Y. was acquired in early 1942. Construction of the Academy began immediately, and 15 months later the task was virtually completed. The Academy was dedicated on September 30, 1943, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who noted that "the Academy serves the Merchant Marine as West Point serves the Army and Annapolis the Navy."

World War II required the Academy to forego normal operation and devote all of its resources toward meeting the emergency need for merchant marine officers. Enrollment rose to 2,700, and the planned course of instruction was reduced in length form four years to 24 months. Not-withstanding the war, shipboard training continued to be an integral part of the Academy curriculum, and midshipmen served at sea in combat zones the world over. One hundred and forty-two midshipmen gave their lives in service to their country, and many others survived torpedos and aerial attacks. By war's end, the Academy had graduated 6,634 officers.

World War II proved that the Academy could successfully meet the needs of a nation in conflict. As the war drew to a close, plans were made to convert the Academy's wartime curriculum to a four-year, college level program to meet the peacetime requirements of the merchant marine. In August 1945, such a course was instituted.

The Academy has since grown in stature and has become one of the world's foremost institutions in the field of maritime education. Authorization for awarding the degree of bachelor of science to graduates was granted by Congress in 1949; the Academy was fully accredited as a degree-granting institution that same year; it was made a permanent institution by an Act of Congress in 1956.

The Academy's national value was again recognized as it accelerated graduating classes during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, and for its involvement in such programs as training officers of the first U.S. nuclear powered merchant ship, the SAVANNAH.

Admission requirements were amended in 1974 and the Academy became the first federal service academy to enroll women students, two years ahead of Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard.

During the Persian Gulf conflict in early 1991, and for many months prior to the war, both Academy graduates and midshipmen played key roles in the massive sealift of military supplies to the Middle East. Midshipmen training at sea also participated in the humanitarian sealift to Somalia in Operation Restore Hope.

While the Academy's curriculum has changed dramatically since 1943 to reflect the technological advances of America's merchant marine, the institution has maintained its unswerving commitment to quality education and excellence among its midshipmen.

For more information about the history of the Merchant Marine please visit the American Merchant Marine Museum located on campus.

Mission
The American Merchant Museum serves as a repository for the USMMA's extensive and valuable collection of marine art, ship models and nautical artifacts. The Museum's mission is to educate and inform visitors about the American merchant marine in a learning center for the regiment and public at large, to promote public interest in and understanding of our nation's merchant marine and to collect, preserve and exhibit historic items that represent our nation's rich seafaring heritage. The Museum employs imaginative exhibitions and displays to illustrate what the American merchant marine is and who its leaders are.

• Feb 11

  

   

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