Sea Year
Travel the World. Get Paid. Earn Your License.
Sea Year is the hallmark of a USMMA education — a paid training experience aboard U.S. vessels visiting ports across the globe.
Sea Year is the hallmark of a USMMA education — a paid training experience aboard U.S. vessels visiting ports across the globe.
Sea Year is a component of the USMMA education where midshipmen serve aboard U.S.-flagged merchant vessels, applying their classroom training to real-world maritime operations. You'll stand watches, maintain engineering systems, and navigate some of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet.
This is not a vacation — it's an intensive professional training experience. You'll earn your U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential sea time while getting paid. By the time you graduate, you'll have more real-world experience than graduates of any other engineering program in the country.
Midshipmen have visited ports on every continent. Here are just some of the destinations our cadets have reached during Sea Year:
As a wrestler, your Sea Year is structured so you never miss a season. Sea time is split into two separate periods during your time at USMMA, ensuring you're at the Academy for all four wrestling seasons.
While at sea, wrestlers maintain their conditioning through shipboard workouts. Many midshipmen find creative ways to stay in wrestling shape — working with resistance bands, running on deck, and using the ship's gym. The physical demands of shipboard life — climbing ladders, hauling lines, standing watch — also build a different kind of toughness.
The United States Merchant Marine is the fleet of U.S.-flagged civilian commercial vessels that carries our nation's imports and exports and is available as a naval auxiliary in time of war. Merchant mariners are the professional sailors who operate these vessels.
The Merchant Marine is not a branch of the military — it's a civilian maritime profession. However, USMMA graduates receive a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve and can choose to serve on active duty in any branch of the armed forces.
Think of it this way: 90% of the world's trade moves by sea. Merchant mariners are the engineers and officers who make that happen. It's a career that combines adventure, engineering expertise, leadership, and some of the highest salaries in any profession.
During Sea Year, midshipmen serve on a variety of U.S.-flagged commercial vessels:
Some of these vessels are among the largest ships in the world — over 1,000 feet long with engines producing more than 100,000 horsepower. You'll be responsible for keeping them running.
See where a USMMA career leads, or start your application today.