Ship Selection Night -- Tonight!

usna1985

usna1985

15-Year Member
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Jun 9, 2006
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Tonight's the big night for those 1/C who are going SWO. They choose their ship and first homeport. It's a great event -- someone has described it as "The Price Is Right, the Oscars and the NFL Draft all rolled into one." Worth watching if you've never seen it (or even if you have).

It will be live streamed starting at 1830 (6:30 pm) EST. Go to the usna.edu homepage for the livestream link.
 
I’m very excited to watch! Never seen this event before and it sounds intriguing. DS is a Plebe and I wonder if it’s significant for them (in the sense of Army-Navy), or not so much.
 
Coast Guard live streams theirs in March. Fascinating to watch especially those that get the golden assignments and the ones getting the horrid ones.
 
DS is a Plebe and I wonder if it’s significant for them (in the sense of Army-Navy), or not so much.
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No effect on plebes. To my knowledge, they are welcome to attend. But it's really an event for the 1/C SWOs.

While there are some ships/ports that are generally more desirable than others, I don't think there are any "horrid" slots. Every job is what you make of it and one person's nightmare is another's dream.
 
I only managed to figure out a couple. Blue stood for "Blue Chip." This means that the mid was on that ship during 1/C cruise and the ship indicated they really wanted him/her. Must admit I don't know how the process works but the end result is that, if the mid wants that ship, he/she is guaranteed to get it. If the mid doesn't want it, he/she can pick something else and it becomes available for people picking later.

There is a color (it was yellow or red) for SWO Nuke. I think they first do a conventional ship tour and then go to Nuke Power School to train to operate nuclear powered surface ships (e.g., carriers). I think there might be some billets that SWO Nukes can select but so can conventional SWOs and some billets only available to SWO Nukes. I had some sense that red was SWO nuke only and yellow was optional.

I believe other colors (or maybe only green) relate to EDO (Engineering Duty Officer) option, Intel option and maybe Information Warfare option. There might be colors. But which was which . . . no clue. I do wish the camera had held steady on the color coding chart every so often so those at home could read it.

I hope a current mid can correct all that I got wrong!!
 
With the picture, it makes sense.

White was SWO Conventional only.
Yellow could be selected by either SWO Nuke, SWO conventional or Engineering Duty Officer (EDO).
Red could only be selected by SWO Nuke.
Green was Information Warfare Option selectees only.
Blue was blue chip.

As I recall, in prior years, the conventional only folks picked first and the rest picked at the end. Since many of those going Nuke/EDO/IWO stand high in their class, my guess is that they didn't like the fact they had to wait until the end when some of the excitement has died down. So this year, they went in straight order. Also, this year appears to be the first where some ships could be selected either by SWO Nuke or conventional but I'm going only on memory, which may be faulty.
 
What a great night! It was live streamed. Yes Mids pick by order of merit. They get to pick their theme music for the walk down to the stage, which made for some fun moments (how does the mid who picked hawaii-5-O music not pick a ship out of Hawaii??) My DD went SWO and picked last night. Amazing how complicated the picking of a ship is for them. Desirability of the port, rep of the ship, job they are looking for, time deployed, etc all play into it. I wonder sometimes how much they really know but I am civilian and really just learning. I do know that the midshipmen were pretty ecstatic and ready for adventure. Amazingly festive atmosphere. According to my DD virtually all are quite happy with their choices.
 
Congrats to your DD! I think the changes for this night have been fantastic and the fleet has done a great job supporting it to really welcome them to the fleet and their ships. It’s really made it almost competitive amongst the ships to get the best selectees they can and also challenge the Mids to turn it on for summer cruise with the blue chip. I mean 6 months from now most of these Mids will be reporting to their ships, some on deployment and leading sailors! Picking a ship is complicated for many. Location, type of ship, deployment schedule, dry dock schedule, reputation all play into it. Some factors are bigger than others for some Mids. For some it’s all about port. Others are getting married and trying to balance a port and deployment. Congrats to all the 1/C and also the NROTC Mids who will be selecting shortly too!
 
landlock said:
What a great night! It was live streamed. Yes Mids pick by order of merit. They get to pick their theme music for the walk down to the stage, which made for some fun moments (how does the mid who picked hawaii-5-O music not pick a ship out of Hawaii??) My DD went SWO and picked last night. Amazing how complicated the picking of a ship is for them. Desirability of the port, rep of the ship, job they are looking for, time deployed, etc all play into it. I wonder sometimes how much they really know but I am civilian and really just learning. I do know that the midshipmen were pretty ecstatic and ready for adventure. Amazingly festive atmosphere. According to my DD virtually all are quite happy with their choices.
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That’s so awesome to hear. How exciting!
 
Can somone expand upon the blue chip part? Do I understand that the ship actually picks those Mids? Is that from the cruises? Does the mid know they are selected ahead of time and have to agree to it ?

How does that particular selection happen?
 
NavyHoops said:
Congrats to your DD! I think the changes for this night have been fantastic and the fleet has done a great job supporting it to really welcome them to the fleet and their ships. It’s really made it almost competitive amongst the ships to get the best selectees they can and also challenge the Mids to turn it on for summer cruise with the blue chip. I mean 6 months from now most of these Mids will be reporting to their ships, some on deployment and leading sailors! Picking a ship is complicated for many. Location, type of ship, deployment schedule, dry dock schedule, reputation all play into it. Some factors are bigger than others for some Mids. For some it’s all about port. Others are getting married and trying to balance a port and deployment. Congrats to all the 1/C and also the NROTC Mids who will be selecting shortly too!
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Truly enjoyed watching last night's ship selection. Congratulations to the midshipmen for their first assignments.

DS is 1 1/C NROTC SWO candidate and is looking forward to making his selection in a few weeks. His old man is an old Yeoman, and found website http://www.uscarriers.net/sitemap.html that had very detailed records of previous ship deployments, COC, drydock schedules etc. I compiled a spreadsheet for him, with all of this information. He told me that it was going to be a huge help in his selecting. He's not near the top, but I hope that it does help.
 
Midshipman who do a cruise the summer between junior and senior year are assigned a ship. At the end of this several weeks long cruise, the crew of the that ship decides if they like the midshipman they have been assigned, and that they want that mid to pick them, they "blue chip" said midshipman. The mid is informed of this and receives a nice letter from the commander of the ship. Then on ship selection night they are assured of that ship, but can still pick any ship left on the big board. If you watched, they actually announced when a mid was blue chipped and to what ship as they walked to the stage. If the mid does not pick the blue chip ship the announcing officer states " a billet is now open on USS such and such" Most did not pick the blue chip ship. Not that many midshipman are "blue chipped".
 
It was a great night and a wonderful experience! Taking some pride with the Capital Gazette headline.."Ohioans take top spots"[emoji106]
 
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