Path for Submarines

Tobes

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2011
Messages
73
It seems odd that USNA does not offer Nuclear Engineering, what major(s) are typical of a USNA gradutes in the submarine force? Also, what is the typical timeline for NPS and Prototype after commissioning?

Merry Christmas!
 
There's a Nuclear Engineering track in the Mechanical Engineering major.

http://www.usna.edu/MechEngDept/history.htm

A Recent Change in the Program
The majority of Marine Engineering majors selected a career path in the nuclear navy. Beginning in the late 1980's, Marine and Mechanical Engineering evolved into similar academic programs. In the 1990's, the Systems Engineering major introduced a nuclear engineering option. At about the same time, the number of midshipmen selecting nuclear power at service selection began to decrease. As a result, interest in the Marine Engineering major declined. The Class of 2000 was the last class to graduate designated Marine Engineering majors. For the Class of 2001 and beyond, the Marine Engineering program has been merged with the Mechanical Engineering major, which includes a Marine Propulsion Track and a Nuclear Engineering Track.
As of August 2000, the Mechanical Engineering major will include the following specialty "tracks": Energy Systems, Engineering Mechanics, Marine Propulsion, Materials Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering. Midshipmen who major in Mechanical Engineering are invited to designate a track, but are not required to do so. A minimum of three specialized courses is required to complete a particular track.
 
Mids from all majors go subs. I know several history and political science majors going submarines, as well as chem guys and engineers. There's probably a larger proportion of engineers going subs than in other service communities, but it doesn't really matter that much.
Because we take so many required engineering and science/math courses, having an engineering degree really isn't that necessary. I know guys from previous classes who were humanities majors and are doing just as well in nuke school as the enginerds.

Some mids get to go to dive school before heading over to nuke school, but most pick start dates in the late summer or fall. Beyond that, I'm not sure how the timing works for the sub track.
 
And the USN has a program which enlists top-shelf engineering grads exclusively from a handful of major engineering programs ... GA Tech, Rennsalaer, UVA, Penn, maybe one or two others escaping me. These are specifically for nuke school, many going to surface nukes.
 
And the USN has a program which enlists top-shelf engineering grads exclusively from a handful of major engineering programs ... GA Tech, Rennsalaer, UVA, Penn, maybe one or two others escaping me. These are specifically for nuke school, many going to surface nukes.

Is this the Nuclear Propulsion Officer Candidate (NUPOC) program you speak of, or another one?
 
Not sure its official name. Sorry. All I know are USN guys who came up through these institutions and their ROTC programs.
 
Yes, I believe the program is NUPOC. DS looked into it as a backup plan for USNA when he was applying last year.
 
For those interested in nuclear school!

My son is currently attending the Naval nuclear school at Charleston as a civilian. The school has two parts, one being for enlisted Navy personnel and the other for Naval officers. Nuclear school for officers has approximately 90% naval officers and 10% civilians. The Naval officers are preparing for a nuclear career at sea in the Navy while the civilians are actually employees of the designer/manufacturer of the nuclear power plant. The civilians are preparing for a civilian career in either research, design, deployment or training.

The Navy offices attending the school come from both Annapolis and Naval ROTC students as well as some offices coming in from the fleet. A few of the schools represented that I am aware of include Annapolis, SUNY Maritime College, United States Merchant Marine Academy, MIT, Virginia Tech, Brigham Young and Carnegie Mellon to name a few. Very few of the students have had prior nuclear training. The students usually come from technical degrees such as mechanical, electrical and Marine engineering, chemistry, and mathematics. Most but not all have had prior training in physics, chemistry and calculus. At least on the civilian end, students are expected to have better than a 3.2 GPA and most have 3.4 or higher GPAs. The program takes six months to complete after which the students go on for further training on actual nuclear reactors. There are no nuclear reactors at the basic school.

Any candidates hoping to continue in the nuclear field could best prepare by choosing a course of study at college that they feel most comfortable with but certainly programs heavy in calculus and science would be a good preparation. The cost of study is intensive during the six-month period and applicants are screened carefully with particular interest in very high grades and a solid technical background.
 
Last edited:
It seems odd that USNA does not offer Nuclear Engineering, what major(s) are typical of a USNA gradutes in the submarine force? Also, what is the typical timeline for NPS and Prototype after commissioning?

Merry Christmas!

The following link shows the training pipeline (62 weeks plus "pipeline" gaps) and first two post-training assignments for sub officers. Note that the training is the same whether the newly commissioned Ensign is from USNA, NROTC, or OCS.
http://www.navy.com/careers/nuclear-energy/submarine-warfare-nuclear.html

My 2012 Mid is going subs as a chem major. So long as a person has the understanding of physics, chemistry, calculus, etc to get through the interview process (and pass the nuke curriculum), their major doesn't matter.
 
Back
Top