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Coast Guard Rating · Support

BM Boatswain's Mate

Current service use not established

This code is listed in the directory. Inclusion alone does not confirm current service use.

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Overview

Boatswain's Mates perform deck maintenance, operate small boats, support navigation and law enforcement, maintain aids to navigation, and supervise ship or station personnel. They operate hoists, cranes, and winches, stand security, navigation, or communications watches, and handle, use, and stow ropes and cables.

Core Skills

  • Maritime search and rescue oversight
  • Maritime law enforcement mission oversight
  • Vessel navigation and operational safety

Civilian Career Paths

Career associations are editorial assessments of the cited evidence, not an official crosswalk unless the evidence explicitly says so. O*NET supplies civilian occupation information, not proof of a military match. Related experience does not confer civilian qualifications. Tasks and tools below describe civilian work, not military training.

Motorboat Operators

Operating small boats, maintaining navigational safety, and overseeing search and rescue transfer directly to civilian motorboat operations.

How to prepare: Compare your boat-handling experience with a local operator's vessel types and arrange familiarization on its navigation equipment.

What the civilian work involves
  • Operate engine throttles and steering mechanisms to guide boats on desired courses.
  • Direct safety operations in emergency situations.
  • Maintain desired courses, using compasses or electronic navigational aids.
Civilian tools and software (examples)
  • Global positioning system GPS software
  • Radar software

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

Responsibility for Coast Guard vessel navigation, safety, and deck operations aligns with civilian vessel navigation and operating duties.

How to prepare: Request a Coast Guard evaluation of your documented military sea service to identify the appropriate officer endorsement, route, and vessel limits.

What the civilian work involves
  • Direct courses and speeds of ships, based on specialized knowledge of local winds, weather, water depths, tides, currents, and hazards.
  • Prevent ships under navigational control from engaging in unsafe operations.
  • Consult maps, charts, weather reports, or navigation equipment to determine and direct ship movements.

Sailors and Marine Oilers

Leading deck work and maintaining vessel navigation and safety provide a direct foundation for the deck side of this occupation.

How to prepare: Target deck-department openings and compare their mooring and lookout duties with your documented vessel assignments.

What the civilian work involves
  • Handle lines to moor vessels to wharfs, to tie up vessels to other vessels, or to rig towing lines.
  • Stand watch in ships' bows or bridge wings to look for obstructions in a ship's path or to locate navigational aids, such as buoys or lighthouses.

Training & Development

Choose credentials for your target role. COOL funding markers describe program listings, not a guarantee of eligibility or funding.

Getting Started

  • USCG Merchant Mariner Credential

    Obtain the rating or officer endorsement appropriate to the intended civilian vessel position; the MMC authorizes only endorsed capacities and permitted lower or general capacities.

    Eligibility and preparation: Meet the requirements for each endorsement sought, including any required sea service; hold or have applied for a TWIC; satisfy applicable medical, vision, hearing, and physical standards; and provide a qualifying drug test or exemption.

    For: Motorboat Operators, Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels, Sailors and Marine Oilers

Notes & Sources

  • Military sea-service credit requires an official sea-service transcript or assignment history, not a DD-214, plus vessel particulars, routes, underway time, and assigned duties. The Coast Guard determines equivalence and endorsement limits; normally 60 percent of time onboard counts as equivalent underway service.
Evidence for this guidance (6 documents)
  1. USCG authority snapshot: BM Boatswain's Mate

    [1] data/authority/coast_guard-codes.json entry BM (COOL USCG MOC Feed (uscg.json) + Go Coast Guard - Enlisted Careers (gocoastguard.com)); fetched 2026-07-25

    Supports: Maritime search and rescue oversight, Maritime law enforcement mission oversight, Vessel navigation and operational safety, Motorboat Operators (O*NET 53-5022.00), Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels (O*NET 53-5021.00), Sailors and Marine Oilers (O*NET 53-5011.00)

  2. O*NET: Motorboat Operators

    [2] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Motorboat Operators (O*NET 53-5022.00)

  3. O*NET: Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

    [3] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels (O*NET 53-5021.00)

  4. USCG: 46 CFR 10.232 military sea-service evidence and credit

    [4] Paragraphs (a) and (d)(1), official eCFR snapshot September 21, 2026; retrieved September 24

    Supports: Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels (O*NET 53-5021.00)

  5. O*NET: Sailors and Marine Oilers

    [5] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Sailors and Marine Oilers (O*NET 53-5011.00)

  6. eCFR: 46 CFR part 10 - Merchant Mariner Credential issuance requirements

    [6] 46 CFR 10.201, 10.209 and 10.225; official eCFR XML API as of 22 September 2026

    Supports: USCG Merchant Mariner Credential

Defense contractor jobs for BM

Descriptions may be summarized for clarity. Verify all information with your branch career counselor or official military documentation before making career decisions.

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