page_title: United States Merchant Marine
section_title: State maritime academies
hierarchical_section_title: United States Merchant Marine / Training / Officers / Licensed (Unlimited Tonnage) / State maritime academies
caption_attribution_description: English: Lake Charles, LA, 10-09-05 -- The Texas Clipper II, a 200 bed Texas A and M traing ship, docks at the Port of Lake Charles to be used as FEMA housing for City and county government employees who are homeless because of Hurricane Rita. Due to the severe housing shortage, FEMA provides housing for local government workers displaced by Hurricane Rita who are needed to keep local government running. MARVIN NAUMAN/FEMA photo
context_page_description: The United States Merchant Marine refers to either United States civilian mariners, or to U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine primarily transports cargo and passengers during peacetime; in times of war, the Merchant Marine can be an auxiliary to the United States Navy, and can be called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military. Merchant Marine officers may also be commissioned as military officers by the Department of Defense. This is commonly achieved by commissioning unlimited tonnage Merchant Marine officers as Strategic Sealift Officers in the United States Navy Reserve.
  Merchant mariners move cargo and passengers between nations and within the United States, and operate and maintain deep-sea merchant ships, tugboats, towboats, ferries, dredges, excursion vessels, charter boats and other waterborne craft on the oceans, the Great Lakes, rivers, canals, harbors, and other waterways.
context_section_description: Like the Federal USMMA, the following six state maritime academies offer the same training and licensing opportunities for future United States Merchant Marine officers, with varying USCG-approved programs. Each academy operates their own training ship, which are owned by the U.S. Government and loaned to the academy. These ships act as training laboratories during the academic year, and are sailed on by the cadets during training cruises for months at a time. One example of a training ship is USTS Golden Bear, at the California Maritime Academy. 
  California Maritime Academy
  Maine Maritime Academy
  Massachusetts Maritime Academy
  State University of New York Maritime College
  Texas A&M Maritime Academy
  The Great Lakes Maritime Academy
  Unlike midshipmen from the USMMA, students at any of the state maritime academies are not automatically appointed as members of the Navy Reserve or any branch of the armed forces, nor are they guaranteed commissions as military officers.
  Merchant mariner license program cadets at any of the state maritime academies may apply for commission as a Strategic Sealift Officers in the Navy Reserve and are eligible to receive a $8,000 annual student incentive payment from MARAD. They must however, apply for and be accepted to a simultaneous-membership military service program consisting of both appointment as a midshipman in the Navy Reserve and reserve enlisted status. After receiving the student incentive payments for 2 years, uniformed service obligations commence upon either graduation or dismissal for any reason from the program. Graduates must comply with their state maritime academy enrollment agreements, and subsequent employment limitations, if any. Women were barred from all U.S. maritime academies until 1974, when the USMMA, State University of New York Maritime College, and the California Maritime Academy first admitted women cadets.
caption: TS Texas Clipper II (1999-2005), training ship for the Texas A&M Maritime Academy
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