What's The Career Track For A Warship's Skipper

[Fred Broca]

How does one end being the captain on an aircraft carrier or another warship? What would his MOS be? Could a SeAL end up being the skipper on a carrier? Just curious.

[ThunderDan19]

Perhaps, but you'd probably have to start out at the Naval Academy though and wouldn't actually spend too much time in the field as a SEAL officer. So, it'd be unlikely that an "active" SEAL operator (typically NCOs) would then go on to OCS and take that path. But I don't know of a reason why it absolutely couldn't.

[oddball]

i know a couple of seals were in charge of jsoc. there rank was captain though i believe. there is no reason a ncom cant go to annapolis. i would think the highest he would get in his career before retiring would be the rank of rear admiral.

[YT74]

Originally Posted by oddball

rear admiral.

Makes me laugh every time, Navy, hah.

[Paul]

A navy Captain is the equivalent of a full bird colonel. Just to remind every one.

For a noncom to go to Annapolis would be rare because military academy's have stringent social and age rules before entering an academy. You can't be married nor can you have children. You also have to be under 23.

There aren't many seals making their careers at 23.

You have to come into the service as an officer to be able to make captain (0-6) before your 20 years are up. The selection rate for flag officer is 1% of those chosen (essentially, 1% of 1%) and the rank can only be approved by congress. On top of that making flag officer is nearly 100% politics.

Essentially to become a vessel commander you need to work yourself up the chain. You supervise a few people in your department underneath a department commander. After this then you move to a larger department, and then eventually you'll command the entire department itself. This is probably after two to three moves across different duty stations.

From there you'll move to a larger, more important department command, and eventually become commander of two or more sections, generally known as executive officers, or vice commander. After serving with distinction in these fields you'll be reviewed to serve as the commander or a smaller vessel, and hopefully work yourself up the chain of importance. This usually requires knowing someone in a key place, or having a laundry lit of achievements and combat experience. After all these trials, 20-30 years of experience, and probably 7-10 (at least) duty stations you'll be in charge of your own carrier.

This carrier will probably be part of a task force. You need to be an admiral of some caliber to become a task force commander, and then you move onto whatever the equivalent of majcoms in the navy would be.

Combat pilots are given the up and up on everything and being a ring knocker helps immensely. Particularly in the air force where enlisted personnel are looked down upon and the divides between officer and enlisted people run very deep.

[YT74]

Best officers I ever served under were enlisted first. You couldn't get away with anything however, they knew all the tricks.

[midgettem1]

Paul pretty much summed everything up, but I'll add this, being sort-of-a ring-knocker (Citadel) myself, and having my father in the Navy: pilots have the most opportunity for advancement both within and outside of their field; there are more than a few Captains and Admirals coming from the Air Wing. SEALs (and I'm speaking of the Officer variety), have a very limited career track, and are unlikely to see a rank above Commander (O-5, or Lt Colonel equivalent), unless they switch fields at some point this is. The reason for this is mostly due to politics within the Navy, and partially for the nature of the SEAL community. They don't like to leave it. I have friends that are both SEALs and Naval Aviators, and the Aviators always seem to advance more quickly in rank and billet than the SEAL operators. Hope that helps!

[Paul]

If you spend most of your time in the field, doing the dirty work you never get to know anyone. You never have an opportunity to play the politics game. Becoming an o-6 and especially a flag officer takes a lot of political handshaking to get noticed. Especially when you want to become a commander of anything.

Ring Knockers and pilots get the glory because they are high profile people that also have the benefit of being able to tally combat experience. It really is the sweetest path one can take.

[Cold Slither]

My uncle Jim enlisted and became a career Navy man. He's a Commander and is going through whatever the review process is for Captain.

They have a name for guys that enlist and work their way up to Officer levels... Mustang I think.

[midgettem1]

Mustang is the correct term for prior enlisted crossing over to "the dark side". It used to be unusual, but with many kids seeking college money through the reserves and national guard, it's becoming more and more prevalent, more so in the Army and Marine Corps than other services.