United States Merchant Marine Academy is a federal service academy that educates and graduates licensed Merchant Marine officers of exemplary character who serve America’s marine transportation and defense needs in peace and war. With 95 percent of the world's products transported over water, these leaders are vital to the effective operation of our merchant fleet for both commercial and military transport during war and peace. Academy graduates abide by the motto “Acta Non Verba" - deeds not words, and are leaders that exemplify the concept of service above self.
Known for its rigorous academic program, USMMA requires more credit hours for a baccalaureate degree than any other Federal service academy. This challenging coursework is augmented by the Academy’s Sea year experience, which affords midshipmen the opportunity to acquire hands-on, real-world experiences aboard working commercial vessels sailing to ports around the world. Midshipmen who master this demanding curriculum earn a unique combination of credentials:
For this reason, Academy graduates are highly sought after as officers in the military and the merchant marine. This merchant fleet of efficient and productive commercial ships owned by U.S. companies and registered and operated under the American flag, forms an essential part of our domestic and international transportation system. U.S. Merchant Marine graduates play a key role in this industry, which is vital to America’s economy and continued prosperity.
All graduates have a service obligation upon graduation that provides the most career options offered by any of the federal academy.
In time of war or national emergency, the U.S. Merchant Marine becomes vital to national security as a "fourth arm of defense." Our merchant ships bear the brunt of delivering military troops, supplies and equipment overseas to our forces and allies operating as an auxiliary unit to the Navy. The stark lessons of the twenty first century conflicts again prove that a strong merchant marine is an essential part of American security and sea power.
The nation's economic and security needs met by the U.S. Merchant Marine are compelling. Today, the United States imports approximately 85 percent of some 77 strategic commodities critical to America's industry and defense. Although we, as a nation, account for only six percent of the world population, we purchase nearly a third of the world's output of raw materials. Ninety-nine percent of these materials are transported by merchant vessels.
But the most important element in a productive merchant fleet and a strong transportation industry is people - men and women who can lead with integrity, honor, intelligence, dedication, and competence. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy ensures that such people are available to the nation as shipboard officers and as leaders in the transportation field who will meet the challenges of the present and the future.
The Academy represents Federal involvement in maritime training that is more than a century old. Since the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, the U.S. Government has initiated various programs to train its citizens for service in the merchant marine. The United States Merchant Marine Academy, dedicated in 1943, represents the realization of these efforts.
Between 1874 and 1936, diverse Federal legislation supported maritime training through schoolships, internships at sea and other methods. A disastrous fire in 1934 aboard the passenger ship MORRO CASTLE, in which 134 lives were lost, convinced the U.S. Congress that direct Federal involvement in efficient and standardized training was needed.
Congress passed the landmark Merchant Marine Act in 1936, and two years later, the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps was established. The first training was given at temporary facilities until the Academy's permanent site in Kings Point, N. Y. was acquired in early 1942. Construction of the Academy began immediately, and 15 months later the task was virtually completed.
The Academy was dedicated on September 30, 1943, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who noted that "the Academy serves the Merchant Marine as West Point serves the Army and Annapolis the Navy."
World War II required the Academy to forego normal operation and devote all of its resources toward meeting the emergency need for merchant marine officers. Enrollment rose to 2,700, and the planned course of instruction was reduced in length from four years to 24 months. Not-withstanding the war, shipboard training continued to be an integral part of the Academy curriculum, and midshipmen served at sea in combat zones the world over. One hundred and forty-two midshipmen gave their lives in service to their country, and many others survived torpedoes and aerial attacks. By war's end, the Academy had graduated 6,634 officers.
World War II proved that the Academy could successfully meet the needs of a nation in conflict. As the war drew to a close, plans were made to convert the Academy's wartime curriculum to a four-year, college level program to meet the peacetime requirements of the merchant marine. In August 1945, such a course was instituted.
The Academy has since grown in stature and has become one of the world's foremost institutions in the field of maritime education. Authorization for awarding the degree of bachelor of science to graduates was granted by Congress in 1949; the Academy was fully accredited as a degree-granting institution that same year; it was made a permanent institution by an Act of Congress in 1956.
The Academy's national value was again recognized as it accelerated graduating classes during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, and for its involvement in such programs as training officers of the first U.S. nuclear powered merchant ship, the SAVANNAH.
Admission requirements were amended in 1974 and the Academy became the first federal service academy to enroll women students, two years ahead of Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard.
During the Persian Gulf conflict in early 1991, and for many months prior to the war, both Academy graduates and midshipmen played key roles in the massive sealift of military supplies to the Middle East. Midshipmen training at sea also participated in the humanitarian sealift to Somalia in Operation Restore Hope.
While the Academy's curriculum has changed dramatically since 1943 to reflect the technological advances of America's merchant marine, the institution has maintained its unswerving commitment to quality education and excellence among its midshipmen. USMMA has a Faculty Student-Faculty Ratio of 12:1. The campus is 82 acres, 28 buildings; extensive waterfront facilities; more than 100 vessels and small craft at Kings Point, Long Island, New York, about 20 miles east of New York City. Curricula:
The library has accommodations for 300 readers and 180,000 volumes; special collections, periodicals, charts, archives, rare books, microfilm, microfiche, audio visual equipment, on-line index.
(Link: https://www.usmma.edu/about/usmma-history)