The term “confused seas” describes a highly disturbed sea surface with irregular and unpredictable wave travel. For governments, industry, and people, COVID-19, unprecedented since the 1918 influenza pandemic, is synonymous with navigating confusion. For mariner at-sea training, it presents a daunting challenge.
Modern training for licensed mariners benefits from simulators and classroom training at maritime academies, but hands-on at-sea training for a minimum of 360 days is irreplaceable. Just as no one would fly with a pilot who had never trained in the air and soloed, no ship operator would entrust a merchant vessel carrying passengers or cargoes to a third mate or third engineer not trained on board a ship at sea. It is unthinkable.
Congress Funds Training Ship for Texas A&M
Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. December 22, 2020
A digital mockup depicting the new NSMV docked at Texas A&M University at Galveston (Image: MARAD)
Congress on Monday approved $390 million to fund construction of a fourth National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV). The state-of-the-art ship will be assigned to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University at Galveston, serving as a training platform for future merchant mariners and offer a critical disaster resource in the Gulf Coast.
Scheduled for delivery in 2025, the new NSMV for Texas A&M is the fourth in a series of five ships to replace the aging and outdated fleet of training vessels currently used by state maritime academies. Philly Shipyard holds the exclusive contract for the new purpose-built ships and recently laid the keel for the series first vessel for the State University of New York Maritime Academy. Massachusetts Maritime Academy and