Ship Engineers
Plant-control duties supervising engineering watchstanders during departures, anchoring, and underway replenishment transfer directly to civilian ship propulsion operations.
How to prepare: Gather an official sea-service transcript or assignment history, with vessel characteristics, routes, propulsion power, underway time, and duties, for Coast Guard evaluation against the appropriate engine-officer endorsement checklist; a DD-214 alone is not acceptable sea-service evidence. Entry requires the applicable MMC and endorsements, generally a TWIC, and satisfaction of Coast Guard experience, citizenship, medical, drug-testing, training, and professional-competence requirements, with STCW requirements for open-ocean service.
What the civilian work involves
- Monitor engine, machinery, or equipment indicators when vessels are underway, and report abnormalities to appropriate shipboard staff.
- Monitor and test operations of engines or other equipment so that malfunctions and their causes can be identified.
- Start engines to propel ships, and regulate engines and power transmissions to control speeds of ships, according to directions from captains or bridge computers.